"Bring it" -- Calculated Brad Keselowski is still…

"Bring it" -- Calculated Brad Keselowski is still frustrated with Carson Hocevar

It was always very unlikely that Brad Keselowski was going to walk into his press conference on Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway and remain adamant that there would be retaliation on Carson Hocevar.

He didn’t quite go that far but he is still clearly very miffed.

Keselowski’s RFK No. 6 crashed off the nose of Hocevar’s Spire No. 77 on Lap 107 of the Southern 500 last Sunday night. The 2012 Cup Series champion was very frustrated with the youngster afterwards, giving Above the Yellow Line Media the following quote.

"His day’s coming and it’s coming hard. Watch out, Carson."

Where does he land nearly a week later?

"Certainly, I had more than a few minutes to reflect," Keselowski said. "Each race weekend presents its own challenges and coming to Gateway, obviously, my car is not in The Playoffs or Chase, but we still have a lot to race for and commitments and things that we have to do and a lot of people that work really hard on the car. I have to balance that with the fact that (the) different things that happened last weekend.

"My challenge this weekend is to balance that with going out and maximizing the performance I can this weekend, while also not letting a fire spread for all intents and purposes of being taken advantage of.

"So how to walk that line is difficult. It's kind of one of those things you just live and you figure it out in the moment and it'll play out however it plays out."

In other words, he’s not signaling in this press conference that something very specific is coming to Hocevar but he is still miffed and still feels as though he was taken advantage of at Darlington.

Earlier in the week during a Zoom teleconference, Hocevar said Keselowski could have come over and had the conversation with him after the race. Keselowski said there was no point.

“I don't think that's really possible,” Keselowski said. “I think you just got to go race and figure it out with the circumstances as they unfold.”

Does Keselowski think the entire garage, with so many Cup Series drivers expressing their angst with him, could have a group intervention with him like what happened to a young and aggressive Ernie Irvan in 1991?

In short, no.

“We're in a different day and age, which is greater than our sport,” Keselowski said. “It transcends our society as a whole where that level of social interaction is not valued the same way it was 10 to 30 years ago. And at some point, everybody just has to touch the hot stove and learn.”

Hocevar ultimately thinks a feud is good for business, NASCAR's and his own.

"I have to think so," Hocevar said. "I scroll on TikTok or whatever, and I'm pretty much my whole 'for you' page. It's just me on my own page. There's one that got a million something views. That has to be good for the sport. You look at the comments and you can tell it's not all normal NASCAR fans that were getting it on their algorithm.

"We got back 15 something years, look at Richmond stories, or SPEED documentaries with Kevin Harvick v. Ricky Rudd. Bristol with Dale vs. Labonte. Some of these tracks didn't always have the best races but there were some single file races and all people remember are the guys running into each other.

"Those are things that get people talking and are remembered for years."

After all, there's posters all over the track this weekend with a boxing style image of him and Keselowski.

"I saw that and was shocked by it," Hocevar said.

With NASCAR coming down harder in how it penalizes drivers for following through with their threats of retaliation, conventional wisdom suggests that Keselowski would have to pay a hefty price for following through.

On the other hand, he is not racing for a championship and the points do not mean that much to him at this point, not that he said as much.

"I guess we'll see in real time," Keselowski said.

And if NASCAR feels to penalize whatever action he takes?

"NASCAR's got to do what it's got to do to keep the sport successful and to protect it for generations to come," Keselowski said. "There's somewhat of a good feel for where those lines are, although they move over time and generations of different people in the industry. Overall, they have to do what they have to do and I respect that."

After the race on Sunday, Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson said Keselowski ‘knows what he did’ to warrant the contact with Hocevar. Keselowski said he was not concerned with the commentary from someone that doesn’t drive a race car.

Dickerson also said any retaliation from Keselowski could bleed over into his cars that are racing for a championship -- Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher.

“Bring it,” Keselowski said. “I'll fight back with anybody in the garage. I'm not afraid of that.”

Preece himself echoed that sentiment.

"Be careful what you look for because you might find it," Preece said.