Keller's Happy Hour not Happy

Jason Keller

In the opening minutes of Friday's final Busch Series practice session a fire erupted in the engine compartment of Jason Keller's No. 57 Ford, scorching the hood and sending the ppc Racing team to work under the hood on the primary motor. Within minutes of returning to the track, Keller spun in turn 3 requiring the use of a backup car for tomorrow's race. Keller was seen and released from the infield care center following the incident.

JASON KELLER-57-Albertsons Ford Taurus

TAKE US THROUGH WHAT HAPPENED. "I need to sit down and assess what happened with the crew chief (Steve Addington). It caught on fire the first time. I don't know why but it did, and apparently an oil line came apart the second time, surely as a byproduct because of the fire. Unfortunately we were rushing to get out there and it's just one of those things."

DID YOU ASK FOR THE USE OF YOUR BACKUP CAR AFTER THE FIRST INCIDENT? "I'm not sure. I'd have to ask Steve. All of that happened the first time go-round, I don't know what transpired to do everything the first time. We'll just have to get together and assess everything."

IT'S BEEN A PRETTY EMOTIONAL PRACTICE SESSION WITH TWO SEPARATE INCIDENTS. "It unfortunate, but some things you just have to accept. I wanted to kick and scream and yell and lay on the ground and throw a temper tantrum but that's not going to fix it. We'll just have to go on."

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE SECOND INCIDENT? "I think an oil line came apart the second time as a byproduct of it being so hot under the hood the first time."

WHERE DID YOU SPIN? "Getting into three. I hit the wall in the middle of three and four. I knew I was in trouble when I turned down in there because there was oil everywhere."

WAS IT YOUR FIRST SPEED LAP? "Pretty much, yeah."

HOW IS THE BACK-UP CAR? "I don't even know what car we have here to be honest with you. We'll have to get together and see."

WAS THERE ANY DISCUSSION OF PUTTING A BACKUP MOTOR IN THE CAR AFTER THE FIRE? "Like I said, everything was happening so fast, I don't know what their thought process was or anything like that. They must have thought they could fix it or they wouldn't have tried to fix it. I don't know."