Category: Motorsports
Posted by Doug Guthrie (The Detroit News) on Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 12:43 AMVote for a Keselowski, but vote for Brian
Have you voted for your favorite Keselowski yet?
I'm going totally homer on the fan vote that started Monday for NASCAR''s most popular Nationwide driver.
Here's the link. Go there and vote. It takes two seconds.
I voted for the hometown guy, but I voted for big brother, Brian after getting e-mail from one of his fans.
"Brian is the hardest working racer out there today and is a man of the people. Brian drives his race car, builds his race car and drives (the hauler) to the track himself along with a crew of the hardest working guys in racing," explained Tim Bean of Fowlerville, who hopes race fans will rally their friends on Facebook and Twitter. "We need everyone to spread the word and get their friends to vote for Brian."
As soon as NASCAR opened the Internet polls, little brother Brad Keselowski jumped into the lead, ahead of Sprint Cup regulars Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer. The Rochester Hills native who drives for Dale Earnhardt Jr's Nationwide team won last year's fan vote, too.
So Brad, 25, doesn't need my vote.
Brian, 27, does, and as of this posting, he's ahead of many of the better known Nationwide series regulars.
Brad currently is third in the Nationwide points and is the hottest candidate for next year's Sprint Cup rookie of the year competition having already collected his first Sprint Cup victory at Talladega this season.
Brian is 23rd in the points and missed qualifying for Daytona last week, despite putting the car into the field for all 15 prior races this season. He's finished in the top 20 twice, including 14th at Talladega.
His dad, Bob, is his crew chief. Mom, Kay, is his spotter. Yes, the trusted voice in Brian's ear through every race is his mother's.
Come on! Brian's the funny one. The brothers even joke about being polar opposites. Well, Brian does. Brad tells you about it, and means it. Ask Carl Edwards how serious Brad can be.
Brian is the one driving the family car maintained in a shop in Pinkney with only a few skinny, but loyal sponsors. During the Detroit Red Wings' run to the Stanley Cup Finals, Brian got permission to put Red Wings logos on his race car and helmet. He didn't get paid. He did it because he's from here and he's a Wings fan. And, it got him introduced on the ice during Game 2 at Joe Louis.
So start stuffing the electronic ballot box, but here's the trick. NASCAR's computers are registering your computer's IP address so you only get one vote per day. But, there's a lot of days between now and Oct. 31 when the balloting ends, and I have access to four different Internet-connected computers. You can even squeeze in some votes for Brad too. Ain't democracy great?
You also can vote for your favorite truck series driver. And, if you are a totally serious NASCAR fan, select a favorite driver in each of NASCAR's regional touring series: NASCAR's Camping World Series East and West, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour, NASCAR Mexico Series and NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.
Our other Michigan NASCAR driver, Johnny Benson Jr., won the fan vote in the truck series last season. And you can still vote for the defending truck series champion even if he got knocked out of his ride by a younger driver with more sponsor money. Not that I'm bitter, but voting for Johnny made me feel a little better.
This is the second year for the fan vote. Last year more than 250,000 votes were recorded. The 2009 Most Popular Driver of the Year Awards will be presented at the various banquets for each series at season's end. Voting for the Nationwide and truck series end on Oct. 31.
