CUP: President To Honor Keselowski

Defending Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski and members of his Penske Racing team are scheduled to be honored at the White House today by President Obama.

There was no indication Tuesday morning that the scheduled event would be changed because of Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon.

As part of the White House event, Keselowski will meet with wounded veterans. His foundation works with members of the armed services who have been injured in war, and the president also is expected to honor Keselowski for those contributions.

The White House meeting comes at a rather uncomfortable time for Keselowski and NASCAR, with the champion sort of moving from the doghouse to the big house in the span of a few days.

After NASCAR confiscated parts from his race car and the car of Penske teammate Joey Logano prior to Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway, Keselowski criticized NASCAR in a no-holds-barred interview with reporters, saying, in part, that the sanctioning body had targeted his team.

NASCAR chairman Brian France said Monday that Keselowski will not be fined for his comments, but the Penske team is expected to be penalized this week for the Texas infractions.

Keselowski won his first Sprint Cup championship last season, outrunning Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson in the season finale at Homestead. Seven races into this season, he is second in points to Johnson.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 31 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.