This story may have actually started at the close of the 2012 season when Keselowski won the Sprint Cup Championship
Photo – Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

And now for the rest of this story…and fans can expect more chapters in the coming weeks and months

Apparently there is a rumored back-story to the Penske rear-end housing parts taken by NASCAR officials at Texas Motor Speedway this past weekend. And this rumor may, at least in part, be what Keselowski is referring to when he said,

“You have no idea what this team has endured in the last seven days…”

And perhaps, what the Penske teams have endured is for longer than seven days. This story may actually have started when the season ended in 2012 and re-started in Daytona 2013.

Competition is as old as dirt, when it comes to any sport and in NASCAR, competitors have found their own ways to beat their rivals on the track. Fans don’t always hear the story of competition that extends off-the-track and behind the scenes. From the beginning, based on Keselowski’s comments, there was the feeling there was more to this story than meets the eye on first look and the rest of this story is a peek at what fans can look forward to for the rest of this season.

For the past decade the dominant organization in the garage has been Hendrick Motor Sports. What is most interesting about this part of the story is, throughout their successful reign there has always been that little gray cloud following five-time champion Jimmie Johnson, as many question the several violations found throughout their dominance of the Sprint Cup Series. Many speculate there are more questions about what NASCAR hasn’t found that has truly enabled the Hendrick organization, known to proficiently work the gray areas of NASCAR rules to gain their advantage.

Why is that so interesting?

This past weekend, in the Texas Motor Speedway garage, parked next to Joey Logano‘s team was Jeff Gordon’s team and next to Brad Keselowski‘s team was Jimmie Johnson’s team; Hendrick Motor Sports teammates parked next to their rival Penske teammates.  With the side-by-side rival teams giving ample opportunity for crew members to look and listen to almost everything throughout the weekend, the rumor is that one of the Hendrick teams may have tipped NASCAR, asking them to take a closer look at the Penske Racing cars.

Remember last year when attempts by Jimmie Johnson to play mind games with Brad Keselowski went by with no impact to his Penske team’s success?

Well, it seems this year, the mind games and competition have kicked up a notch and this time, based on Keselowski’s reaction this past weekend, the Hendrick teams may have found a soft spot to rattle the Penske teams. Yet answered, is the real question,  whether the Hendrick teams are only fueling a deeper passion within the Penske organization?

As fans are following this story throughout the weekend, another clue there could be more to this story than said – or not said, is the officials at NASCAR, including director of competition, Robin Pemberton never said the Penske parts taken by officials were “illegal.” NASCAR avoided that specific word when speaking about their actions and decision to take the rear-end housing parts from the #2 and #22 cars.

Jimmie Johnson’s championship dominance ended in 2011 when Tony Stewart, a Hendrick Motor Sports affiliate team member, won the Sprint Cup championship. But last year was an anomaly, when for the first time in six years, a non-Hendrick organization won the Sprint Cup title with Brad Keselowski at Penske Racing with out-going manufacturer Dodge.

This year, Penske Racing, now with Ford, has two drivers with admirable starts to the 2013 season, with Joey Logano joining the 2012 champion as a teammate. And now the plot to this story thickens, as fans recall the latest profanity-laced rant by Tony Stewart directed at Joey Logano at Fontana. And before that it was the Toyota team of Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Denny Hamlin, with a heated rivalry developing with his former teammate, Joey Logano.  So now, fans realize this story began well before the race this weekend at Texas and there will undoubtedly be more chapters forthcoming.

Remember last year, when fans were complaining about a lack of action on the track and how all the drivers were too politically correct?

Well, there is certainly a contrast to that this season and while the Hendrick/Chevy and Penske/Ford teams are playing against each other, there might just be another team rivalry developing with Gibbs/Toyota moving closer to their goal of taking home a Sprint Cup title in 2013.

Fans will need to watch closely and with anticipation of more heated exchanges and behind the scenes shenanigans in the coming weeks and months, simply because as with most sports, Sprint Cup competition runs deep both ‘on’ and ‘off’ the track.