AUSTIN, Texas — Brad Keselowski will have reserve driver Joey Hand on standby this weekend at Circuit of the Americas, but don't expect to see the 2012 Cup Series champion climb out of the car.
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He's going to fight through the pain as he continues to recover from a broken femur and just do what he can to score points.
"I've trained and worked for this my whole life and short of just not being able to drive, I feel like I can drive," Keselowski said on Saturday morning. "I know it's gonna hurt, but I can do it, so let's go."
To emphasize the point, Keselowski noted that he and Hand have not practiced a driver swap leading into this race. The two drivers are not the same size, so the team would have to make adjustments to the car to make Hand comfortable.
Obviously, the situation could change after practice and qualifying. Keselowski said that he won't know for sure if he can do the full race until he completes practice and qualifying, but two main factors would ultimately provide guidance.
"I'd either be really slow or really in pain, one of those two," he said. "And you know, I've been in simulators and got really comfortable with the pace I had and went go-karting, got really comfortable with being able to take the pain, so just go do it."
The Cup Series no longer uses the win-and-in system, so why would Keselowski put himself through this pain when he does not necessarily need to? He has two reasons, the first of which is that he's a race car driver. That's just the mentality.
The other reason is that he needs points. He is currently ninth in the Cup Series standings after trips to Daytona International Speedway and EchoPark Speedway. If he can just have a clean race at Circuit of the Americas — a track where his best finish is 14th in 2022 — he can potentially keep himself in contention for The Chase.
"I'm not expecting it to be easy, but I've put a bunch of work in and ready for the challenge," Keselowski said. "This is a very physical race track.
"Really all road courses are, but this one in particular, with all the curves and the curb strikes and the heavy brake zones. So doing a lot of workload, but I put the work in, and it's time to go race."
