Brad Keselowski has confirmed that he might hand over to a substitute driver mid-race early this year, as he continues to recover from a badly broken femur.
The former NASCAR Cup Series champion broke the bone on a family ski trip in December, slipping on a patch of ice and being rushed to hospital to undergo emergency surgery on the injury.
A miraculous recovery saw Keselowski – who was walking with a cane all of last week at Daytona – make it back for the season opener and even challenge for the win, but he's now admitted that he's still considering making use of a reserve driver.
NASCAR allows drivers to stop mid-race and be replaced by a substitute if necessary while still receiving points for whatever finish the sub is able to produce, as was seen in the Xfinity Series last year when Parker Kligerman stepped in mid-race for Connor Zilisch at Daytona when the latter was still recovering from a broken collarbone. Astonishingly, Kligerman recovered from the time lost swapping drivers and managed to take the race win on Zilisch's behalf.
Keselowski: More medical tests to undergo
Keselowski is expected to complete Sunday's race at Atlanta without too many issues, but next week's road course race at COTA may present more trouble.
Asked on Saturday if he'd have a driver on hand next weekend, he said: “Yes, Joey Hand. We’re glad to have him. He’s the Ford reserve driver for the road courses. He’s won many of the big races you can win around the world. He’s a great guy, and he’s been very helpful.”
Speaking specifically about the prospect of a mid-race switcheroo, he said: “No, it is possible. We’ve gone through all that, and we have a lot of good options with him.”
The veteran continued: "I’m just going to see how I feel. I’ve got more medical and physical tests to get through next week. I’ll see how those go and make a decision on what’s best for the team.”
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