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Brad Keselowski

Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski fight after Charlotte race

Jeff Gluck and Mike Hembree
USA TODAY Sports
Brad Keselowski angered several drivers at the end of the Bank of America 500.

CONCORD, N.C. – The tension and frustration of NASCAR's playoffs spilled over into post-race contact on the track, on pit road and in the garage Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway following the Bank of America 500.

Normally mild-mannered Matt Kenseth attacked Brad Keselowski in between Team Penske's transporters, putting Keselowski in a headlock before they were separated.

That confrontation capped a wild and confusing series of events which included contact between Kenseth, Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart.

Here's what happened:

--On a restart with 63 laps to go, Keselowski and Kenseth had a racing incident while vying for the lead. Keselowski thought Kenseth was pushing him and didn't leave a lane up high toward the wall for Kenseth, who had decided to try and pass. Kenseth was squeezed into the wall and bounced off it into Keselowski, damaging both cars.

--Later, a caution came out with six laps to go. Kenseth, who had gone a lap down after his damage, was the beneficiary of the free pass. On his way around the track, he drove across Keselowski's nose and damaged the front end of the No. 2 car.

VIDEO: See the fight after the Bank of America 500

--On the restart with two laps to go, Keselowski pushed Hamlin into Turn 1. Hamlin felt Keselowski plowed into him and was angered when he bobbled and fell to 11th. Keselowski lost his top-10 spot and fell to 16th due to his damaged car.

--After the race, Hamlin slowed down and jammed on his brakes to show his displeasure with Keselowski. As a result, Keselowski tried to spin Hamlin.

--Keselowski drove to pit road and chased Kenseth, who by then was undoing his safety belts (a common practice for drivers at that point after the race). He sideswiped Kenseth, then inadvertently hit the rear bumper of Tony Stewart.

--Stewart stopped his car, put it in reverse and rammed into Keselowski, destroying his front end. In an effort to get away from Stewart, Keselowski backed into Danica Patrick's car.

--Keselowski drove past everyone into the garage and Hamlin followed. Their cars made contact in the garage and were stuck together; Keselowski gassed his car up to get away -- leaving a burnout mark in the garage -- and drove across some equipment laying on the ground to reach his team's hauler.

--Still incensed, Hamlin climbed from his car first and attempted to move toward Keselowski's car, which was parked immediately in front of the No. 11 Toyota. A Hamlin crew member led him away from the cars, but, after Keselowski climbed from his car, Hamlin threw a towel and hit him in the helmet. After a few moments of pushing and shoving between crews, Keselowski walked to his hauler.

--Kenseth, livid at Keselowski hitting him on pit road, followed Keselowski and attacked him from behind in between the haulers. Crew members intervened after Kenseth put Keselowski in a headlock; Keselowski crew chief Paul Wolfe put Kenseth in a choke hold and pulled him away.

During the encounter between the haulers, Keselowski said, "You hit me under yellow. You hit me under yellow. You hit me under yellow."

"(Keselowski) was doing something with Denny," Kenseth said after the fight. "The race had ended, and he's running into cars on the cool-down lap. I mean, the race is over, and he comes down pit road and drives into the side of me. That's inexcusable. He's a champion, and he's supposed to know better."

After composing himself inside his hauler, Keselowski said Kenseth's late hit under caution damaged his car and caused him to fall back on the restart.

"When we restarted fifth with no right front on it, we fell all the way back to 16th and ruined our day," he said. "That gave us a big Chase hurt, which is unfortunate.

"Then, for some reason, after the race the 11 (Hamlin) stopped in front of me and tried to pick a fight. I don't know what that was all about, and he swung and hit at my car, so I figured if we're going to play car wars under yellow and after the race, I'll join, too.

"Those guys can dish it out, but they can't take it. I gave it back to them and now they want to fight, so I don't know what's up with that."

Hamlin called Keselowski "out of control. He's desperate, obviously, and it's either four or five of us are wrong or he's wrong because he's pissed off everyone. … That was unfortunate. Matt was nearly out of his car, and he just plowed into Matt and then ran into Tony and then went in through the garage and cleared out transmissions and did burnouts in the garage. Just acting like a dumbass instead of a champion."

Hamlin added Keselowski "will probably try to wreck everyone" at Talladega next week in the final race in the second round of the playoffs.

"He'll just be out of control like normal," Hamlin said. "We'll do what we have to do to get in, and that's the big picture."

It took NASCAR officials several minutes to get the crews separated.

Keselowski offered a different view of events.

"It was a whole sequence in events," Keselowski said after the parties had calmed somewhat. "The 20 car (Kenseth) got into the back of me on one of the restarts. Then he came around later in the race and buzzed me. Then the 11 stopped in front of me after the race and came after me. I don't know what that was about. ... These guys all seem to have problems with me for one reason or another. They can dish it out but they can't take it."

NASCAR's vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said the sanctioning body had called Keselowski into the hauler. When Keselowski emerged, he said he wanted to provide a clearer picture of what occurred.

Pemberton said any possible penalties would be announced Tuesday.

"We asked Brad to come in and talk to us a little bit and get his take on what went on in the closing laps of the race and the post-race incidents, so we've got that and we'll talk to some other people," he said, adding Joe Gibbs Racing mechanic Jesse Sanders was also called to the hauler for his role in the altercation.

As for penalties, Pemberton stressed NASCAR would have to review the final on-track laps and what led to the stormy garage.

"Most of the stuff happened on racetrack before pit road," he said. "Right now, we're in the middle of gathering video. We've got a lot of cameras available and different things, and that's why we don't make decisions tonight.

"Who went after who, whether there were punches thrown. We weren't there, we'll have to talk to other people that were to get that information."

Pemberton also said after talking to Keselowski he had a better understanding of what led to the fracas.

"Just explained what happened," Keselowski said. "I don't think they had a full picture of what happened, so I just told them exactly everything that happened. It was a long story."

On whether he expected to be penalized, Keselowski responded: "I don't know. I never know the answer to those questions. That's a good question for them, not me."

"Just a long night," he said. "Tempers got hot on all sides. Kind of exploded at the end. Unfortunate. I don't feel like I did anything necessarily wrong; not saying what I did was right, either. You know, they hit me and I hit 'em back. Maybe not the lesson you want to teach your kids, but this isn't the schoolyard. This is serious stuff here and we're all just trying to stand our ground."

Kenseth was infuriated with the safety issue as well.

"I don't know if he was mad at me," Kenseth said. "I had my HANS (safety device) off and my seat belts off and everything. He clobbered me at 50 mph. ... If you want to talk about it as a man, try to do that, but to try and wreck someone on the racetrack, come down pit road with other cars and people standing around with seat belts off and drive in the side of me."

Wolfe, who put Kenseth in a chokehold and pulled him away from Keselowski, blamed Hamlin for the incident.

"I think Denny started the whole thing after the checkered flag," he said. "Started pushing Brad around, and at some point we've got to stand our ground and not let that happen. From there, I guess some people got frustrated and the fight broke out. ​

"Everyone is just trying to stand up for what they believe is right. Unfortunately we're not in a great position going into Talladega, but we've got one more shot at it.

"Fortunately, we know we can go and win at Talladega. We're not in a position we want to be in, but we're not out of it yet."

Said Hamlin: "We had Brad behind us. We knew Brad was going to be aggressive (on the restart) because of his points. He just ran right into us. I just showed my displeasure on the cool down lap. Then on pit road, he ran into the 20 and 14. Then he ran into us again. Then he was doing burnouts in the garage area. He was just out of control. ... He cost us six spots but what goes around comes around."

Team owner Joe Gibbs, who did not see the incident, said "Matt is pretty calm, so I'm sure there was a reason for it."

Kenseth, who finished 19th, now is among the four drivers ranked lowest heading to Talladega. He is ranked ninth. The four lowest-ranked drivers among the remaining 12 will be eliminated from the Chase after that race.

Keselowski finished 16th and is 10th in points. Hamlin finished ninth and is seventh, just above the cutoff.

Kevin Harvick, who won Saturday night to punch his ticket for Round 3, said the fisticuffs and tempers showed NASCAR's revamped Chase format had added pressure to the playoffs and that every moment matters.

While Harvick didn't see what occurred in the garage area as he was celebrating with his Stewart-Haas Racing team in victory lane, he did say he saw Keselowski push Hamlin out of the way going into Turn 2 on the final restart.

When asked if NASCAR might levy penalties on the drivers involved, Harvick replied: "You're crazy; they love it."

He did say if Keselowski advanced and Kenseth didn't, he would expect further retaliation.

"I think every moment matters in this Chase, and Kenseth knew that that one particular moment could have been the end of his Chase. ... I would say if 2 goes forward (in Chase), 20 wrecks him. No doubt."

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck and Hembree @mikehembree

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