HOMESTEAD, Fla. (WTVA/AP) - Here's a tweet for Brad Keselowski: NASCAR champion.
Roger Penske must like the sound of that, too.
The kid who stole the show at the season-opening Daytona 500 ended the year under the biggest spotlight of them all Sunday, beating five-time champion Jimmie Johnson to deliver the first Sprint Cup championship to Penske Racing.
It's a trophy that had eluded Penske since he first entered NASCAR in 1972. Although his motorsports organization is considered the gold standard of IndyCar racing - 15 Indianapolis 500 wins - and his empire has made Penske one of the most successful businessmen in America, his NASCAR team operation was always just average.
Then came Keselowski, the blue collar, Twitter-loving, Michigan native who convinced "The Captain" his NASCAR team could be a winner, too.
"Throughout my whole life, I've been told I'm not big enough, not fast enough, not strong enough and I don't have what it takes," Keselowski said after Sunday's race. "And I've used that as a chip on my shoulder to carry me through my whole career, my whole career. And it took until this year for me to realize that it was right, man, they were right. I'm not big enough, not fast enough, not strong enough. No person is. Only a team can do that. And these guys up, they make me big enough, they make me fast enough, they make me strong enough to do anything we want to do, and it's because of these guys. I can't be here without them."
Keselowski finished Sunday's race in 15th - Jeff Gordon took the checkered flag - and Jimmie Johnson had car troubles late to seal the championship for the blue deuce.
