MADISON, Ill. (AP) \u2014 After getting spun out by Carson Hocevar in the Southern 500, Brad Keselowski issued a warning: \u201cHis day\u2019s coming, and it\u2019s coming hard. Watch out, Carson.\u201d<\/p>\n
Promotional posters are billing Sunday’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway as Round 2 in a \u201cA Rivalry Worth Watching: Hurricane Hocevar vs. Bad Brad Keselowski.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the dispute is between only those two, it’s caught the attention of the 16 drivers competing in NASCAR’s new postseason Chase for the championship who could get caught up in a wreck as collateral damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen two guys have gone at it the weekend before, you\u2019re definitely aware of it, especially if they\u2019re right in front of you running nose to tail,\u201d said Ryan Blaney, who is third in the Chase standings. \u201cYou\u2019re going to pay a little bit more of attention of when they get next to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Or, as Joey Logano said: \u201cYou’ve been living under a rock if you don’t know who they are.”<\/p>\n
Keselowski didn’t exactly back off of his threat for retribution, saying Saturday that he’ll \u201cfigure it out in the moment.\u201d Keselowski is out of the running in the Chase, so there\u2019s more at stake for Hocevar, who ranks 12th.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously my car\u2019s not in the playoffs or Chase, but we still have lots to race for and commitments and things we want to do, and a lot of people that work really hard on the car,” Keselowski said. “I have to balance that with the fact that different things happened last weekend, and that\u2019s always a challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my challenge this weekend is to balance out maximizing the performance I can this weekend while also not letting a fire spread.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Keselowski’s efforts to prevent further damage to his team’s cars could ignite problems for someone else’s championship hopes.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, if Brad\u2019s around him, I would keep my eyes peeled a little bit more,\u201d said Kyle Larson, who’s in seventh place in the Chase. \u201cBut more just like when you\u2019re behind it, you\u2019re hoping something cool happens … and you don\u2019t get caught up in it. But yeah, it’d be funny.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chase format keeps pressure on<\/p>\n
Perhaps no one feels the difference of the Chase more than Chase Briscoe.<\/p>\n
Under last year’s playoff format, Briscoe’s win at Darlington clinched him a spot in the next round and made the trip to Gateway essentially a bye week because there was no requirement to keep racking up championship points.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I didn\u2019t win this weekend, it didn\u2019t mean anything,\u201d said Briscoe, who is fifth in the Chase. \u201cSo it\u2019s way more stress now, I think, just knowing that you can\u2019t have a bad week. The elimination can happen at any point because you can just mathematically be out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blaney said under the old playoff format, \u201cthe mindset was just don\u2019t mess this up and go have a decent three races and get into the next round.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow you can\u2019t do that. You can\u2019t ease your way into the Chase,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to stay in touch with the top guys for 10 weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
That’s a change of pace from the old playoff format, which eliminated drivers from championship contention every few races.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery week, I\u2019m treating it like it\u2019s the last race,\u201d said Denny Hamlin, the current Chase leader. \u201cSo I mean, I think it\u2019s more 10 weeks of the anxiety versus the only three times, and then you got your finale. So I think that the intensity and the anxiety for 16 guys is here every week through this format.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamlin’s hopes<\/p>\n
After having his 25-point Chase lead cut to 12 last week, Hamlin heads to a track where’s he is the defending champion and finished runner-up the previous two years. Still, he was reserved in his level of confidence at the 1 1\/4-mile oval in suburban St. Louis that\u2019s known for vastly different turns at the two ends of the track.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had race-winning pace when it mattered, but I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve been as good as the results have shown,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cSo there was a lot to dig into this week and try to get better at.\u201d<\/p>\n