Brad Keselowski warns against NASCAR drivers having ‘false sense of confidence’ in return

Keselowski explained why he has little to no trust in his fellow drivers afters NASCAR’s 10-week hiatus.

NASCAR drivers haven’t competed on a real track in a real race since early March, and, as the sport returns Sunday after missing eight races because of the coronavirus pandemic, the first time drivers climb into their seats behind the wheel will be at the beginning of the race at Darlington Raceway.

But the sport’s return comes with complications and several adjustments that will make the event quite different from a traditional race day. In the first four races NASCAR announced for its return, there will be no practice or qualifying — with an exception for the latter at the Coca-Cola 600.

And since the stateside COVID-19 outbreak began months ago, drivers haven’t been behind the wheel of their stock cars or had the chance to run some test laps.

Understandably, that makes Brad Keselowski a little nervous. While the 2012 Cup Series champ spoke with NBC Sports on Wednesday, Mike Tirico asked how much trust he has in his fellow, rusty drivers.

Keselowski said: “Very little to none.”

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But he also explained how the NASCAR world’s pivot to iRacing during the coronavirus-related hiatus may hinder drivers on the track when they initially return for the first of four races in two weeks.

The No. 2 Team Penske Ford driver told Tirico:

“There’s been a lot of talk about how NASCAR pivoted into e-racing, and if you followed the iRacing series that NASCAR had, they had some good success with that, ratings and so forth. But the reality is it’s not the same.

“The tactics are not the same. It looks pretty good, the graphics are pretty cool, but the way the cars drive is not the same. The way the race slows is not the same. Everything about it is much, much different.

“So the problem with that is if you’ve had success with some of the simulators or the internet events, you build almost a false sense of confidence. And that false sense of confidence, when you get on the real race track, can be a big problem. So there’s a lot of drivers that have been putting a lot of time behind the simulator, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”

And the famously formidable nature of Darlington’s 1.366-mile track certainly doesn’t help anything. Keselowski said if drivers had to pick the most challenging track to resume competition on — and do it without practice or qualifying — Darlington would be among the most difficult.

Several drivers, such as Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer and William Byron, previously explained to For The Win how realistic iRacing is compared with real life, from the traction on the track to how quickly their tires wear out. But no matter how much time they spend with a simulator, they often say nothing replaces being in an actual car.

NASCAR’s first race back following its season suspension because of the coronavirus pandemic is Sunday, May 17 at Darlington Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX). The race’s official name is The Real Heroes 400.

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