Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500

Sunday, 3 p.m. (FOX)

making it.”

“I feel like I had to keep him right there in order to win the race with only three or four laps to go,” Elliott continued. “So I hate that we both wrecked, but you can’t go back in time now.”

Instances of wrecking and post-wreck confrontations from the race leaders seem to be coming more frequently. Two weeks ago, Busch apologized to Elliott for a move that caused Elliott to crash out of the race, to which Elliott initially responded to by raising a middle finger to Busch. It was tough to tell at first if the spin was intentional or accidental, but Busch took the blame for it after the race, as did Elliott for the latest misstep Sunday.

“For whatever reason, whether it’s not having a chance to work on the cars, practice, the drivers not getting those experiences, we’re seeing more mistakes with this format, this style of racing, the no-practicetype stuff,” Keselowski said.

Keselowski added that he doesn’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing in terms of the on-track product.

“I think that makes for better racing in a lot of different ways,” Keselowski said. “So I hope we keep it up.”

The two-time 2020 race winner advocated for the format of NASCAR’s return races, which includes no practice or qualifying laps at the track prior to the green flag during COVID-19.

“We’ve seen some of the best racing we’ve ever seen in NASCAR accordingly,” Keselowski said. “I’m not just saying that because I’m in Victory Lane. I think a lot of people would say this was a tremendous race, and I hope they enjoyed it.”

Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who finished in third place at Bristol, did not directly connect the recent wrecks by top drivers to a lack of practice.

“I just think we do a nice job of making it look easy,” Johnson said. “When you cross the line, stuff goes wrong.”

“We walk that tightrope day in and day out,” the No. 48 driver continued. “100% is really all the car can take. You step over it and create situations that take you out if you try too hard.”

Johnson joked that the drivers’ “true colors” are finally showing with all the wrecks and that they fooled everyone by making it look easy to race without crashing.

Drivers’ “true colors” might be coming out off the track, too. Keselowski said that drivers have been stuck at home for so long, and are now taking their aggression out on each other.

“Early on in the race, everybody was hitting each other,” Keselowski said. “It carried in all the way to the end. Some people ran me over. I probably ran some people over.”