NASCAR chairman Brian France and International Speedway Corporation chairman Lesa France Kennedy met individually with the Penske Racing driver on Friday to strongly emphasize he needs to more informed before speaking.

“Everybody loves Brad’s candor, Brian included,” Brett Jewkes, NASCAR’s chief communications officer, said on Saturday. “But there are some things Brad’s not as informed on. He’s not aware of things that are being worked on or achieved.

“The message Brian wanted to send was you need to understand the issues you’re talking about a little deeper before you talk about them.”

Keselowski was not penalized. He declined through members of his public relations department to discuss the meeting. His only comments came via Twitter.

“Spent some time with the Lesa and Brian from the NASCAR team after yesterday’s [USA Today] article, the passion we all share for our sport is amazing!” Keselowski wrote.

Jewkes said the meeting was not just about the USA Today article. He did not specify what Keselowski said to earn a trip to France’s office across the street from Daytona International Speedway two days before the Daytona 500.

But Keselowski did mention France and his sister directly along the lines of sponsors, teams and tracks not always working together with NASCAR.

“And until all three of those can unite, we’re a house divided, and we’re making bad decisions that are affecting how to generate revenue for the sport,” Keselowski said in the newspaper.

This is not the first time Keselowski has been called on the carpet for being outspoken. He was fined $25,000 in 2011 for criticizing NASCAR’s move to fuel injection.

He also was fined $25,000 for tweeting during a red flag stoppage last year at Phoenix, defying a request by NASCAR that drivers don’t carry cell phones inside their cars after he tweeted during a stoppage in the 2012 Daytona 500.

“Brad has been asking for more dialogue with Brian,” Jewkes said. “He wants to be a leader in the garage. Frankly, Brian wants more dialogue with him. [Friday], there was a good reason to have dialogue.”

Tony Stewart predicted this might happen. The three-time champion said during last year’s banquet that Keselowski hasn’t learned to be cautious and encouraged people to let him be himself.

“Hopefully, that won’t bite him like it has a lot of drivers in the past,” Stewart said of Keselowski being outspoken. “It’s refreshing. It’s nice to see somebody who just speaks from the heart and isn’t guarded, and that’s the way all of us should be.

“I think that’s what the fans want to hear. But I’m so scared that at some point, somebody is going to turn on him, and it goes downhill from there.”

Four-time champion Jeff Gordon said he could see NASCAR wanting Keselowski to be more informed.

“It’s not out of the ordinary for a new champion to feel confident to be able to express an opinion on things,” he said. “Brad cares a lot about the sport. He’s not trying to do anything that would hurt the sport. When you’re that open, it doesn’t surprise me NASCAR is wanting to talk about it.”

Jewkes made it clear the meeting was not to discourage Keselowski from speaking his mind.

“The most important thing is Brian wants him to be candid,” Jewkes said of Keselowski. “He wants him to speak his mind. But we all prefer he be up to speed on everything.”

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The Kings’ high-scoring center still is unlikely to play in the defending Stanley Cup champions’ banner-raising season opener against Chicago on Saturday, but might not miss much more time.

“To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect,” Kopitar said. “It felt good, and we’ll see day by day how I progress.”

Kings coach Darryl Sutter was encouraged by Kopitar’s post-practice return to the ice just nine days after getting hurt in a collision on the boards while playing for Mora IK in Sweden. Kopitar skated with coaching consultant Bernie Nicholls, shooting a few pucks with no obvious limitations.

“I didn’t go all-out right off the hop,” Kopitar said. “Just curious to explore the turns and stuff, and I didn’t have any problems. I thought it would be a little worse than it was. … I’m very optimistic. It’s in my nature.”

Kopitar has been the Kings’ leading scorer in each of the past five seasons, with a career-high 51 assists among his 76 points last year. The seventh-year pro was the NHL’s top playoff scorer last summer with 20 points, tied with linemate Dustin Brown.

Kopitar played alongside his brother, Gasper, at Mora IK, and Anaheim Ducks forward Bobby Ryan also joined the team later in the NHL lockout. Although the injury probably will deprive Kopitar of the chance to celebrate the Kings’ championship on the ice this weekend, he’s still glad he played during the labor stoppage.

“No regrets whatsoever,” Kopitar said. “I’ve been hit plenty of times when it looked way worse, and nothing happened.”

The Kings improbably managed to keep together their entire roster from last season’s Cup run until Sunday, when they traded little-used enforcer Kevin Westgarth to Carolina for Anthony Stewart, who skated with his new teammates Monday. But Los Angeles likely will be missing at least two key components when the first Stanley Cup banner goes in the Staples Center rafters.

“One of the reasons that we won the championship last year is … the lineup that we were able to use from the middle of January on was pretty much intact,” Sutter said.

Veteran defenseman Willie Mitchell had knee surgery in the offseason and still isn’t back to full strength, forcing the Kings to dig into their defensive depth. The Kings aren’t sure when Mitchell will be ready to return.

But Jonathan Quick, the Kings’ Conn Smythe Trophy-winning goalie, appears to be in top shape after offseason surgery to repair a disk problem in his back. The injury caused pain for Quick whenever he wasn’t on the ice during Los Angeles’ championship run last season, but the timing of his offseason surgery allowed him to work with the Kings’ medical staff during rehabilitation this fall.

“They didn’t push me if I was in any pain, and the trainers and doctors did a great job,” said Quick, a Vezina Trophy finalist last year. “I’m back to 100 percent.”

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