By David Morgan, Associate Editor
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Not even a broken leg was going to keep Brad Keselowski out of the cockpit for the 68th running of the Daytona 500.
The 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion, who suffered a broken femur during an accident over the offseason, was cleared to return to his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford earlier this week and made his first appearance at Daytona on Wednesday morning, sporting a cane to help him walk as he made his way to the car for the opening practice for the Great American Race.
Though he had his doubts of being able to walk again, not to mention get back in his race car, the 42-year-old pushed through to get back to the World Center of Racing ready to make a run at finally winning the Daytona 500.
“I’m eight weeks in and I tell you until about three to five weeks in, there was a question if I was going to walk again, let alone drive a race car,” said Keselowski.
“I mean, those were the thoughts that were going through my mind. So, I was confident I was going to put the work in and I was going to own whatever result there was. There were certainly a lot of moments where you’re like, ‘Ooh, this isn’t a layup.’ About that week four, week five, I made some pretty big steps in progress, quite literally, but again, didn’t know until I got in the car what was going to be.
“Until you get in a race car going 190 miles an hour, you don’t know. You don’t know how it’s going to be.”
Keselowski noted that he felt good enough in practice to move on to race in the Duels on Thursday night and will see how he feels from there leading into the Daytona 500.
“When I’m in the car I feel, I know I’ve got an injury don’t get me wrong, but I feel the best in the car,” Keselowski said. “The seat’s molded to me really well and you get a little adrenaline flowing, it felt pretty good.”
“…We’ll have the Duel Thursday, I felt good enough [Wednesday] to easily do the Duel. The Duel is 50 or 60 laps, which is roughly just over a quarter of the race, 27, 28 percent of the race. It’ll be a tremendous indicator of what I’ll have for Sunday.
“Thankfully the way this race week works, you get kind of these little bites and doses of each one a little more intense and we can get a good feel for it.”
Keselowski has been in this position before, recovering from an injury to get back in his car and compete again on a high level. The last being most notably his return from a broken ankle suffered in a testing crash to go on and win a number of weeks later. But this time, he explained, is on a whole new level.
“This is way more serious,” Keselowski said comparing the injuries. “When I broke my ankle, that sucked. Don’t get me wrong, it was very painful, but in a couple of weeks, I was fairly mobile. This is a much more significant injury, unfortunately. It’s hard to explain to people that have never broke their femur before what it’s like. It’s not the same as breaking your leg below your knee.
“Your femur is the biggest bone in your body, it’s got a lot of things running through it and it has to heal. You can’t really cast it. You can’t really do any of those things, so you just have to kind of tough it out. A normal broken leg is eight to 12 weeks. This is like six months, so it’s just totally different.”
Despite the seriousness of the injury and the road back to the race track, Keselowski did manage to bring some levity to the situation, noting that he felt like a soldier in the Civil War as he laid on the ground with a broken leg.
“When I was laying on the ground and I was completely immobile after I broke my leg, what was going through my mind was like, oh my God, think about like the Confederate soldiers in the Civil War, like they would just cut their leg off right here. And I understood why they would do it, because it hurt so bad,” Keselowski joked.
“It was by far the worst pain I’ve ever went through. I get why they would bring out the hacksaw and just [sawing noise]. There was a part of me was like that might actually feel better.”
Keselowski added that he does have some concern for the road course race at COTA ahead in two weeks, and will have Joey Hand on standby to relief drive for him, but there wasn’t anything that was going to keep him away from Daytona.
If he has to grit through a painful Speedweek to have a chance at winning the Daytona 500, he was doing to do whatever it takes.
“I don’t want to miss a race. This is what I do. I love it. Tough isn’t what you say, it’s what you do,” said Keselowski.
“So, I guess we’ll find out how I make it through this whole process, but what matters to me is not a label. What matters to me is being able to run this race and having a shot to win. That’s what I care about.”
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