Brad Keselowski was shown on ESPN footage tossing a water bottle out of his car during Saturday night's Nationwide race at Atlanta. At first, ESPN thought the bottle may have been the cause for a caution on Lap 184. It wasn't - ESPN later showed footage of the debris which did bring out the caution. But the damage was done.
Keselowski was asked to explain what happened after the race:
"If the water bottle would have been the cause for the yellow it
went out of my car 15 to 20 laps before the yellow came out. I don’t know
verbatim what lap it was or specifically what lap it was. I guess that’s why I
was caught off guard with the comments about the water bottle causing a yellow.
I don’t know why the yellow’s come out. The yellow’s come out all the time in
the race without an explanation. It is what it is. That’s not a question for
me; it’s a question for everybody that runs the show. I’m sure they felt there
was a reason; they threw the yellow, that’s their right. That’s their job as
the sanctioning body of NASCAR, any questions to that need to go to them," he said.
"Do I
feel guilty for throwing a water bottle out of my car? No. Everybody throws
that stuff out the car. You watch on Lap 15 or 20 when the sun went down,
tear-offs and water bottles go out of every single car. That’s how racing
works. If you go down on the infield at these tracks after the race I’m sure
that you’ll find water bottles. NASCAR knows that, and if they decide to throw
a yellow that’s their prerogative, but most times they don’t. That’s their
call. I can’t speak for NASCAR. I’m not going to say that I didn’t throw a
water bottle. Heck ya, I threw about three of them out through the course of
the race and I do every race and will continue to do so. I think most of the
field will so I don’t know how the two are linked together without NASCAR saying
so.
"The questions need to go to (them) or Kevin’s questions do, not to me. I
can understand Kevin being frustrated. I’d be frustrated too. I was very
frustrated after Watkins Glen when I had the dominant car and didn’t win. But
you know sometimes in racing you do everything right and it just doesn’t work
out. If you’re not mad about it you’re not a racer. So how can I sit here and
bash Kevin? Kevin is a racer; he had the best car and didn’t win. If he wasn’t
mad as hell I’d personal be mad at him because that’s his job and that’s why
he’s a great racer. Just give his some time. He’ll figure out the situation
with NASCAR and cooler heads will prevail. That’s just the way it is.”
