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But even that's not the beginning of problems with the article and the logic within. The article starts with the following quote: "It is said that a person's true character is shown in the face of adversity."
The author then goes on to compare Busch and Keselowski's post-race actions at Nashville and draw conclusions about their "character" from "the difference...glaring through their comments and demeanor."
Busch, not happy with having finished second, sped through his media obligations answering those questions necessary and making the oft-heard remark, "If you're not first, you're last."
As I remember it also, right after the race, Busch was interviewed, and although he didn't spend a lot of time thanking his team or congratulating Joey Logano, he didn't spend any time running anyone down either.
He stated the fact that the No. 20 team had a better short-run car than his No. 18 team did and that he just couldn't get back to him.
According to other reports, Keselowski, on the other hand, was "gleaming with happiness after running all day in the top-five and finishing in third."
I don't know about anybody else, but I can read a few things from this, but nowhere can I find anything about "true character" or how either acted "in the face of adversity."
Both drivers were in the top-five or so throughout the race, so somewhere I missed the "adversity" part. Both drivers have in the past fought their way back from adversity, as have many others, but this wasn't one of them.
How many times have we seen Busch, Edwards, Johnson, and many others get penalized for something or another and/or trapped a lap down only to come charging back by the end? That's battling in the face of adversity.
Probably the epitome of that concept this year came from Busch himself in the Truck series race at Atlanta. Coming into the final laps, Busch knew he had lost third gear.
At the last restart with less than 10 laps to go, Busch found that second gear was gone as well, moved to the bottom of the track so as to not block traffic, and fell back to ninth place as he watched as all the other drivers came up to speed much faster than did he.
But even without those gears, Busch never let up and proceeded to pass all eight trucks in front of him to take the checkered flag by the end. That's looking into the face of adversity, not backing down, and turning what could have been a disaster with a badly broken truck into an incredible success.
And I'm sure Keselowski has done the same, though maybe not yet with quite the same "gusto" that Busch has shown time and again. Again, I haven't followed Keselowski's career with anywhere near the attention I have followed Busch's, so there may be even more times he has made great comebacks I don't even know about.
In either case, that ability to come back from a mistake or drive a car that's far from optimal—that's "true character" on the racetrack. But I have no idea what it says about either of them off the track, where "character" is a more meaningful term.
As for the interviews, the author goes on to point out not only the difference in demeanor between the two, but also the difference in "attitude" when it comes to ending up with finishes beneath what they were capable of on any given day.
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