Keselowski finally sees results of RFK rebuild
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One of the best things to happen to rebranded RFK Racing came exactly one year ago when NASCAR found an illegal part on Brad Keselowski’s car. The illegal modification was found following just the fifth race of Keselowski’s first season as part owner of the once-proud organization founded by Jack Roush. The ensuing penalty was crippling and essentially ended Keselowski’s championship chances with 31 races left in the season.
Keselowski recognized RFK wasn’t good enough for the 2012 Cup champion to continue his run of eight consecutive playoff appearances.
The penalty was the wakeup call the entire organization needed to make a cultural shift.
“We deserved that penalty, and that penalty made us better,” he said. “It challenged everybody within the company to recognize ‘Hey, we can’t keep doing business the way we we’re doing it. We’re not getting results and now we’ve got all this drama to deal with.’
“I look back at it now 12 months later and think ‘That was the best thing that happened to us.’ It forced us to change how we act, forced people to straighten up, forced us to look internally rather than externally at our problems and really fix them. We’ve changed a lot of the way we do business as a company because of that.”
A full year later, Keselowski nearly won on Sunday at Atlanta. He was passed on the final lap by former Team Penske teammate Joey Logano for the win and settled for second — his best finish in 46 races dating back to his final days with Penske in 2021. His last victory was with Penske on April 25, 2021 at Talladega.
The progress has been slow but building since Keselowski entered the organization founded by Roush and formerly known as Roush Fenway Racing. Chris Buescher won at Bristol last September to end a 223-race losing streak for the organization, and the speed in the RFK Fords had dramatically improved by the end of the year.
Keselowski, who led laps in only six races last year, has led laps in all five races so far this season and scored stage points in eight of 10 stages.
He heads to Austin this weekend ranked fifth in the Cup standings.
Buescher has led in two races and has run 62.4 percent of the laps this season inside the top 15 compared to 39.9 percent last year. He is 13th in the standings and a solid contender to win on Sunday in the first road course race of the season.