Ryan: Brad Keselowski would win NASCAR's popular vote

Nate Ryan, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

CHARLOTTE -- As Brad Keselowski took the lead on lap 236 Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, the grandstands erupted with a fervor usually reserved for lead changes involving Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Known to monitor Twitter during his postrace winner's interviews, Keselowski is as finely attuned to his surroundings as any NASCAR driver.

This was a rare occasion of being oblivious.

"I would have loved to have heard that," he said wistfully Tuesday. "That's one of my biggest regrets of being a race car driver is missing out on those moments. Because other sports like football or basketball or baseball, the crowd cheers and you really feel it. Racing, you've got none of that. It's really a big bummer."

But even if the cheers weren't audible, he understood their origin.

A groundswell is building for Keselowski's candidacy as a first-time Sprint Cup champion, and its source is his primary opponent.

After five championships by Jimmie Johnson, many in NASCAR Nation have cast their lot with Keselowski — a time-honored tradition for a fickle fan base that often boos its heroes while at the peak of their powers, whether it's Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip or now Johnson.

"I think I have a lot of Jimmie-hater fans," Keselowski said with a laugh. "I have the de-facto Jimmie-hater fan base right now. Which I'm not sure how I feel about it, because I try really hard to engage a very informed and positive fan base. But I'll take every fan I can get.

"It's natural. It's American culture to build somebody up just so you can tear them down, whether it's the president, a sports star. Maybe one day I'll be so fortunate as to be torn down."

That seemed unlikely given his Election Day performance as the object of affection at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, where Keselowski was on the stump trying to prove his title campaign remained alive despite trailing Johnson by seven points entering Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway.

Sitting in a white rocking chair beneath the iconic cars of legends such as David Pearson, Richard Petty, Waltrip, Bill Elliott and Bobby Allison, Keselowski made a compelling case for why he seems destined to carve out his own piece of history at the stock-car shrine.

NASCAR hasn't crowned a Generation Y champion yet, but the cherubic 28-year-old from Rochester Hills, Mich., would become an engaging, thoughtful and witty ambassador with seemingly boundless charisma if he became the sport's face.

In a 30-minute fan forum Tuesday, he regaled a crowd with self-deprecating humor (he copped to signing autographs with Joey Logano's name when being mistaken for his future Penske Racing teammate), savvy insight on the championship hunt (relating driver-crew chief tandems to personal relationships in which waves of trust can crest and crash quickly) and a keen perspective on the sport's history (reflecting candidly on Geoffrey Bodine's 2000 truck crash at Daytona, Keselowski said, "I thought no way he lives through that, and more than that I thought someone in the stands got hurt or killed." It was an incredible moment that showed how dangerous racing can be.")

When asked about his relationship with Earnhardt, who hired him to drive his Nationwide car in 2007 and provided a guest house on his sprawling property, Keselowski joked, "Dale made me sign this contract that I would never write a book about the experiences we shared together." Then he proceeded to detail his first July 4 at Earnhardt's Whisky River.

"They bought $2,000-3,000 worth of fireworks, invited a lot of really good-looking girls and made a mess," he said. "I thought, 'Man, I've made it.' I didn't have any money, but I didn't really care."

In the lengthiest anecdote, Keselowski bemusedly explained his strangest encounter with a fan happened last weekend. Someone swiped his ballcap out of his garage during practice Saturday, tweeted him about it minutes later and then approached him with the pilfered hat for an autograph just before he climbed into his No. 2 Dodge to race Sunday.

"I didn't sign it," he said to uproarious laughter. "It felt wrong. Should I have signed it?"

"That might be the best story we've heard all year," said NASCAR executive director Winston Kelley, who was conducting the last of 12 sessions with Chase drivers.

It's more proof Keselowski isn't gaining popularity solely because he's the alternative to Johnson. He shares the same introspective and confessional qualities that endear Earnhardt to his legions of fans.

But it's complemented by a greater degree of bravado. Though he was defeated by Johnson in a heads-up, slam-bang battle at Texas, Keselowski wasn't backing down Tuesday, noting "the message we're trying to send is we're not giving up. ... It's going to take a lot of punches for us to flinch.

"I like my chances," he added. "I feel we have the tools to win this championship."

If he can pull that upset at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Keselowski might not need to strain to hear the ensuing roar.