Keselowski's mom: 'He did save us'

• Family race team folded in 2006 because of lack of sponsorship
• Keselowski's grandfather, father, uncle all had race ties
• Now Keselowski is on verge of first Sprint Cup title

Kay Keselowski's voice softens, a mother's response to the pain her youngest son Brad has carried for six years.

The family's race team, spanning nearly half a century and three generations, folded in 2006 because of lack of sponsorship with Brad Keselowski holding the steering wheel. That memory lingers even as he's on the cusp of his first NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.

"To think that I was a part of bankrupting my family to try to pursue your own dream is a moment where you feel so selfish and incredibly low as a human being you don't even know how you're going to recover,'' he said.

Those words make his mom pause.

"To hear him say that ... is heartbreaking because it wasn't his fault,'' Kay Keselowski said. "He was there to try to help us as much as us helping him. It wasn't selfish on his part. To hear him take all the responsibility on that is so unfair to him.''

Keselowski enters Sunday's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway 20 points ahead of five-time champion Jimmie Johnson. While Keselowski can clinch the title by finishing 15th or better, a championship won't erase the guilt he feels toward the demise of his family's team.

Bob Keselowski, whose father John began racing motorcycles in the 1950s before switching to stock cars, said Brad often asked what went wrong that led to the team's downfall.

"I don't think we did anything wrong,'' Bob Keselowski said he told his son. "I just think that God had a way bigger plan than we had. Our family plan was to run a truck team. We were very content to be involved in NASCAR in the truck series level. My goal was to have a strong enough company where both my sons could race and they would run the operation.''

It was that way for Bob and his brother Ron. After a long apprenticeship, they took control of the family team in 1971 when their father retired. John Keselowski began racing cars in 1957 and his boys worked on the them in a garage behind their house, Bob starting when he was about 6.

Bob Keselowski, 61, notes that he's had one job outside of racing. He worked two months at a car dealership so he had enough money for tires when the family went to Daytona International Speedway in 1971 to race. He later drove, winning the 1989 ARCA title and a race in what is now the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 1997 at Richmond.

There watching the family's struggles and success were Bob and Kay's two sons, Brian and Brad. Brian learned fractions when he was about 8, helping set the tire stagger on his dad's car. Younger Brad, now 28, served as the team's engineer by 14, going to the wind tunnel and running formulas for his dad.

Both raced and Brad moved his way up to the family's truck team in 2004, ran a full season in 2005 and then the first two races of 2006 before the team shut down.

"For me, 2006 was the absolute lowest point of my life,'' said Bob Keselowski, whose mother also died that year.

The family sold the property with their 15,000-square foot race shop and trucks but it wasn't enough to cover what they owed.

"Watching them have to sell all of their assets and not even being able to get to the race track,'' Brad Keselowski said, "that's as low as it gets.''

As Keselowski's career advanced, he always looked back to his family's team and the debt his parents carried.

"He pulled us out of bankruptcy all by himself,'' Kay Keselowski said. "He gave us every penny he had to pay our bills and bring us back out. He ended up not having much himself but he paid all of that to the tune of six-digit numbers. He bailed us out; otherwise we would have lost probably our home and everything else that was involved in that.

"I think he felt he owed it to us. I never have felt that your children owe you anything other than love and respect, but he did that for us. He did save us.''