Keselowski ready to be NASCAR villain

Decades ago, a young and cocky Darrell Waltrip introduced himself at Daytona as the guy who was going to retire Richard Petty.

Meet the new Darrell Waltrip.

Brad Keselowski hasn't said he is going to retire Jeff Gordon, but through his brashness, relentless driving and apparent willingness to accept the role of villain, he has announced he'll defer to no one.

For that, the new driver of Penske Racing's No. 12 Dodge - the car that won the Daytona 500 two years ago - won't apologize.

"In competitive sports, any time your competitors are happy with you, they're beating you," Keselowski said Thursday.

Waltrip went on to win three championships and more races than all but Petty and three others, and he created a lot of controversy and interest along the way.

No one's saying Keselowski is headed for the new NASCAR Hall of Fame that opens this year, but the evidence so far suggests he has enough talent and attitude to cause a lot of commotion.

With decent equipment from Penske and NASCAR's bosses promising drivers more leeway to police themselves on the track and blow off steam off of it, Keselowski could become one of the more compelling stories of 2010.

Already in his 19-race Sprint Cup career, he has pulled off a huge upset - giving part-time Phoenix Racing its first major league win at Talladega last fall when he refused to let Carl Edwards block him on the last lap - and run afoul of several drivers.

"Brad's kind of like myself," said NASCAR's resident villain, Kyle Busch. "He always wants to do the best he can and try to win. He's made a lot of enemies along the way, which I'm sure I have, too. And he hasn't done a whole lot to smooth any of those over."

Anyone paying attention knows Keselowski and Denny Hamlin have been feuding for two years in the Nationwide Series. That rift came to a head in November at Phoenix, when a revenge-minded Keselowski blatantly punted Hamlin.

Hamlin vowed counter-revenge and got it the following week at Homestead, spinning Keselowski out and bragging that the one-lap penalty he drew for rough driving was "well worth it."

So how about now?

Keselowski says he sent Hamlin a "Peace on Earth" Christmas card. Hamlin says there's a clean slate for the new season, but Thursday at Media Day, he couldn't resist taking a shot.

"Ultimately I feel I've probably given him more press than what he deserves," Hamlin said.

Keselowski turns 26 next week and looks younger. He got his break in NASCAR when Dale Earnhardt Jr. took notice of him and put him in capable JR Motorsports equipment.

Junior's eye for talent might ultimately prove to be his greater gift.

Keselowski has been a lightning rod for controversy and yet, much like Waltrip, he's articulate, intelligent and introspective. Given a choice, he says, he'd rather be a good guy.

Again - given a choice.

"My attitude towards racing is to do what it takes to win," he said. "I'd prefer to win honorably. I can't always say that I've done that.

"Hopefully we can put together strong enough cars this year to where we can win without drama. A goal of mine is to win a race and look back and nobody say, 'He screwed me over to do it.'"

This should be fun.