Keselowski buttoned-down in new role with Penske

FORT WORTH, Texas -- If you want contrite, or apologetic, don't expect it from Brad Keselowski, either in the last three weekends of the 2009 season or any time in the future.

What you'll get is a comfortably confident, newly-clean-shaven driver who's most concerned with satisfying the trust placed in him by legendary team owner Roger Penske.

That didn't include shaving, a move that Keselowski, no doubt aware of Penske Racing's tradition for a crisp, neat operation, said he made on his own.

"I was wondering and we took a bet on how long it was going to take," Keselowski said, laughing at the 18 questions it took before his appearance was brought up. "Nobody said a word to me, I just felt like shaving it off. Man, I'm serious. I'm kind of interested to see if Roger says anything -- I don't know if I'll get a phone call or not."

Keselowski, who of late has been in the middle of some heated post-race "discussions" and has backed away from none of them, got an eyeful of the Sprint Cup landscape Friday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway when he was surrounded by between 15-25 media members behind his hauler at a scheduled "availability."

But before you get the wrong idea, in addition to the previous observations you'll also get a 25-year-old who's wide-eyed and open-minded about what lies ahead of him.

"We're just trying to lay a base to know what to work on, because I really don't know if I can define what to work on right now," Keselowski said. "I really have no expectations, good or bad. Everything to me is just complete evaluation on both sides -- for them to evaluate me and figure out my strengths and weaknesses, and vice versa for the team.

"In the end we're all gonna gel together and be one, big, happy family. This is a good way to get off on the right foot, to have three races and then a full winter to address whatever things we feel like we need to address."

Earlier this week, Keselowski's deal to run full schedules in 2010 in the Cup and Nationwide series hit fast forward when Penske announced Keselowski would immediately replace David Stremme as driver of the No. 12 Dodge, which is 30th in the Cup owners' points after 33 races.

"I wasn't sure how [the switch] was going to go down and I don't know what went into that, because quite honestly it was none of my business," Keselowski said. "It's cool and I can respect [Stremme's] position. I could have respected him if he didn't decide to let me do that. It's a tough situation." (Continued)