NASCAR: Brad Keselowski turns William Byron in practice…over 2018 incident?

Brad Keselowski got “revenge” over an incident from the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series July race at Daytona International Speedway by turning William Byron in practice.

In last year’s NASCAR Cup Series July race at Daytona International Speedway, Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski was involved in a major wreck after Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron was leading the race and blocked a run that Keselowski had on him.

This wreck, however, which took place going into turn three on lap 54 of the 168-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona International Speedway oval in Daytona Beach, Florida, may not have happened had it not been for Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. running into the back of Keselowski and spinning him out.

Here is a video of this wreck.

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But Keselowski didn’t see it that way.

After the wreck, here is what he had to say, according to NASCAR.

"“I need to wreck more people so they’ll stop throwing bad blocks.”"

A year later, he finally got his “revenge” on Byron — by trying to wreck him in practice for Saturday night’s 160-lap Coke Zero Sugar 400 at the track.

Byron was able to save his #24 Chevrolet from spinning, but not before it sustained damage that will force him to use a backup car for the race.

Here is a video of this incident.

While this did not stem from Byron making a blocking move, Keselowski admitted that he tried to wreck him, as he stated the following after the incident, according to NASCAR.

"“Just had a big run. He put me in a position where I had to lift, and I keep telling these guys I’m not lifting. Just trying to send a message. I’m not lifting. I’m tired of getting wrecked at these (superspeedway) tracks. They’re all watching. They know.”"

Here is how Byron responded to Keselowski intentionally turning him, according to NASCAR.

"“It’s practice. I don’t think that was really necessary to turn us there…I didn’t really expect that, but that’s all right. It wasn’t like I changed four lanes down the backstretch and blocked him. I was just kind of holding my lane, and he just used his run to drive into my left rear.”"

Will this incident between these two drivers lead to anything in Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race itself? Tune in to NBC at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 6 for the live broadcast of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona International Speedway.