It’s getting really heated between RFK Racing and Spire Motorsports. A verbal war has unfolded in the aftermath of Carson Hocevar spinning out Brad Keselowski in Darlington. The RFK owner-driver said that he’s going to pay it back, and now things are at the point of boiling over on track. 

Spire Motorsports’ owner Jeff Dickerson was in conversation with Jeff Gluck of The Athletic earlier in the week and warned Keselowski of consequences if the RFK owner-driver were to take out Hocevar and affect his Chase. 

But Keselowski isn’t going to back down, and when presented with the question by the media on Saturday at the World Wide Technology Raceway, Keselowski was not pulling his punches. 

“Bring it, said Keselowski, according to Racer. “I’ll fight back with anybody in the garage. I am not afraid of that.”

“We don’t want to get in a crashing cars contest,” was what Dickerson said. “They’ve got two cars in the Chase, too. What are we doing? What, he wants to dump Carson, so then Carson goes and gets [Chris Buescher]? All these unwritten rules out there. Chase guys, non-Chase guys. It’s like Brad knows these rules; he wrote them. So, if a non-Chase guy wants to do that, OK, then I guess whatever happens, happens. It’s the same to us. I can tell you, if Carson is going to get wrecked, there will be a commensurate response”

It wasn’t just the threat of taking out Chris Buescher or Ryan Preece, who are still in the Chase for RFK Racing. Dickerson also said that Keselowski “knew what he was doing” ahead of the spin when he held up Hocevar on fresher tires for 12 laps. 

“Just not really interested in any comments from people who aren’t in the race cars,” was the No. 6 RFK Ford driver’s retort. 

While Keselowski wasn’t really clear on how he would end up racing Hocevar, given that he had time to reflect on the incident and his immediate reactions, his response when asked about it was cryptic.

“You live, and you figure it out in the moment, and it’ll play out however it plays out,” said Keselowski. 

Another point of discussion in the middle of this verbal war has been what happens to the 2012 Cup Series winner if he follows through on his words? Keselowski knows all too well what happened the last time a driver called his shot and took it too. 

Not too long ago, Ryan Preece and RFK Racing’s appeal against NASCAR’s penalty was rejected. Preece took out Ty Gibbs in Texas after he said that he would on the radio earlier in the race. Preece was fined $50,000 and handed a 25-point penalty. 

“NASCAR has to do what they have to do to protect the sport; there’s a line, and it moves,” said Keselowski when asked about a possible penalty. “I guess we’ll see in real time.”

The RFK owner-driver believes that it’s on NASCAR to make those distinctions and to set the standards so that the line is a clear one. Yet for him, payback will be based on the situation he is in on the track and not as much on the thoughts of a penalty. 

Spire boss Dickerson’s comments and threats came in a way to neutralize the situation, but Keselowski’s responses to various questions from the media all lead to the suggestion that the situation is far from neutralized.

“There’s good bad blood and bad bad blood; it depends who gets caught in the crossfire. The sport gets caught in balancing professionalism and entertainment, not tipping its hand one way or another each time,” was a cryptic reply from Keselowski. “I don’t think it’s all done.”

Keselowski is clearly not over it yet, and he believes the issues between Spire and RFK, after either side’s boss let out their thoughts, are far from over. 

No one expected that RFK Racing and Spire Motorsports would be teams having an impact on the Chase, but here they are with an intriguing storyline and comments from both sides that lead us to believe this battle may be worth paying more attention to than who is winning at World Wide Technology Raceway. 

Get your popcorn ready, folks; we will, for sure.