On Tuesday, the entire NASCAR industry was rocked by a surprise announcement – Brad Keselowski, a co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing since the end of 2021, would be leaving the organization, and his post as driver of the No. 6, at season’s end.
The announcement left many people with their jaws on the floor, as contract extension talks between Keselowski, the team’s co-owner and competition lead, and RFK Racing, were expected to be a formality, with the 42-year-old driver just recently stating he’d like to continue driving for several more years.
There’s no bad blood – at least on the surface – between Keselowski and those within the RFK Racing organization, as the team stated it respected the Rochester Hills, Michigan-native’s decision to explore career options. Keselowski’s teammates Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher also echoed that sentiment on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“Brad [Keselowski] has been a great mentor and has meant a ton to our resurgence and getting back to the point where we’re in the Playoffs and in the hunt to win races and won a handful of races over the last several years,” said Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Ford Mustang. “He will certainly be missed in a lot of ways, and I think that on the other side of it is we’re going to have to compete against him now. We know what he’s capable of because we’ve been able to experience it week in and week out for a long time.”
“I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Brad [Keselowski], but I understand this sport,” said Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “I’ve been on the side where things aren’t going your way. For me, I have nothing but good things to say about Brad as a teammate and I’ve really enjoyed racing with him.”
While there is obvious admiration for everything that Keselowski has been able to accomplish with RFK Racing on the team’s back to being competitive at the highest level, both Preece and Buescher made a point Saturday to relay their confidence in the people at RFK to continue the team in that positive direction.
“I think there’s just a lot of questions that we’re working on answering,” Preece said. “What I’ll say is this is an opportunity to keep building the house. It’s not going to get torn down. I see a lot of glass-half-empty things, and I’m a glass-half-full guy. I think we have a really solid foundation at RFK and right now I’m a race and it’s taken me too damn long to win races, and I feel like we want to keep going that way.”
“Ultimately, no,” Buescher said when asked if this would be a big blow to RFK. “Brad has been great and has been a huge part of that, but we’ve got a lot of sharp people and really talented people. We have some roles to fill, and we’ll work hard and try to make the best decisions there. If we can get that right, then we’ll be able to keep up and keep pushing forward. We’ve kind of established a great foundation and we owe so much of that to Brad and that will help set us going forward on a strong path.”
Executives from RFK Racing will address the media for the first time since the news on Tuesday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday at 7:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM PT.
