Brad Keselowski prepares for a new season in the NASCAR Cup Series, beginning with the 66th Daytona 500 (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish).
A line from a Tom Petty record sums up the bill for several NASCAR Cup Series veterans heading into the 66th Daytona 500 because “the waiting is the hardest part.”
Sometimes the wait to finally capture Daytona 500 glory is worthwhile, as proven by legends such as Kurt Busch, Darrell Waltrip, Buddy Baker and Dale Earnhardt. All four legends won the big one late in their careers, which ended up as their only Daytona 500 victories.
However, there are others like Ricky Rudd, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin and Dave Marcis, all who’ve raced in well over 25 Daytona 500s, but never visited the holy grounds of victory lane in “The Great American Race.”
In this year’s 500, three men come to mind with 15 or more Daytona 500 starts without a victory. Those are Kyle Busch (19th attempt), Martin Truex, Jr. (20th attempt) and Brad Keselowski (15th attempt) — all former Cup champions and among the 75 Greatest NASCAR Drivers. Each of them has dealt with agony and heartbreak ranging from last-lap crashes to getting beaten by inches.
For Keselowski, Sunday’s race will mark his 15th attempt at winning the Daytona 500. Compared to Busch and Truex, Keselowski is on a 98-race winless streak as his last win came at Talladega Superspeedway in spring 2021. This was when he was still driving for Team Penske before making the move to RFK Racing to become a driver/owner.
Two weeks ago in Los Angeles, Keselowski explained during media availabilities that his approach of his 15th Daytona 500 is giving it his all. Always on the prowl at superspeedway races, Keselowski admitted there have been times his wins were a result of moments he wasn’t the front runner. But he’d trade all the laps he’s led at Daytona over the years just to lead the final lap for that elusive victory.
“Nobody ever seems to care who has led the most laps, but I appreciate you bringing it up. It just hasn’t come together. I always feel like on plate tracks there are races that I’ve won that maybe I didn’t earn and just things came together, but then there’s races where you feel like you’ve earned the win and it doesn’t come together,” Keselowski explained. “Daytona has been that way for me the last three races, where I feel like we made the right moves, had a great team, great car, I feel like I made all the right moves and happenstance didn’t play in our favor. It’s frustrating, but there’s nothing I can do about it. You keep moving on and keep pushing forward.
“I want to make sure if I go to Daytona and don’t win, whether it be this year, years past or years to come, that I did everything,” Keselowski continued. “I put in all the effort, made all the right moves, studied all the right things to study, worked with the team to bring the best car and have the best pit stops, and then there comes a point where you just have to accept the fact that if you don’t win it and you’ve done all those things at the highest level possible that it just wasn’t meant to be.”
Keselowski rolls onto the qualifying cue during Wednesday’s Daytona 500 qualifying session (Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish).
It hasn’t been since 1981 that a driver/owner won the race, which came when Richard Petty won his seventh and final Daytona 500. Keselowski can accomplish it and also snap his long drought in the win column.
In many aspects, folks see him as one of the sentimental favorites as his No. 6 Ford Mustang has proven to be fast in the 500-mile race. Keselowski has led a combined 109 laps since joining RFK, but finished ninth in 2022 and 22nd last year after a late wreck.
While flattered by being considered a sentimental favorite, Keselowski sees the results as they are and all he can do is do the talking on the track. Specifically, when the race comes down to the wire which has bitten him over the years.
“They’re not what people want sometimes but I just feel like I can only answer for myself and I just know that we’ve been in position. We’ve led the most laps, we’ve won the stages,” said Keselowski during Daytona 500 Media Day. “We’ve won a lot of races on the other plate tracks and the 500 is the only missing thing for me.
“To win it would check a big bucket off the list. I feel like we are doing all the right things for that to be real. In the end, you get to the last 30 or 40 laps and stuff just happens. All you can do is be in position and hope that the bad stuff doesn’t happen to you and you have a shot.”
Luck was on his side during his duel race on Thursday when he was able to continue after being in the forefront of the big wreck which involved Busch, Ryan Blaney, William Byron and several others. Despite sustaining damage, Keselowski soldiered on and finished seventh. He will roll off 16th Sunday, weather permitting.
A mirror full of carnage for Keselowski during the second Duel race at Daytona (Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish).
It’s common knowledge the Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s premiere race and Keselowski knows that. When asked how can the race be further magnetized, he didn’t have a proper answer to the question. Instead, he explained how every driver wants to make the race an unforgettable memory, especially as one will leave immortalized into the coveted Harley J. Earl Trophy after 500 hard-fought miles.
“Every race is its own race. But Daytona just is another magnitude,” said Keselowski. “You know you come here and you have months of preparation, the biggest purse, biggest rating. It’s a race that people remember in a season of races that inevitably there’s going to be some forgettable ones. You want to make that memory a good one.
“At the end of the day, Daytona is one of those places where you just don’t have a good points day at Daytona. It just doesn’t happen. You either win it or you don’t.
“And that’s tough, right? Because there’s only going to be one and there’s going to be 39 that went home unhappy. So it’s just hard to explain the feelings of this place. That feeling of leaving the tunnel when you haven’t won, it’s not a good feeling. But you try to take pride in the things you did right and you move on.”
Winning the race is far from the only task Keselowski has these days. The 39-year-old racer from Michigan hopes the team’s third year since becoming co-owner at RFK is its best one yet. A year ago, the organization won three races with Chris Buescher, including the summer Daytona race.
Although Keselowski didn’t win in 2023, he improved significantly and finished eighth in the final standings, one spot behind Buescher. During the off-season, more work was done within the organization to make the next step and be back among the consistent front runners like yesteryears when Roush had several drivers that fought for wins and championships from the 1990s through early 2010s.
Safe to say, expectations are high for the 2012 Cup champion.
Keselowski finished 15th at Phoenix, ending 2023 with a seventh-place points finish (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish).
“I think we had a really good off-season,” Keselowski commented. “We finished 2023 with some pretty good confidence, Chris ran really well at Phoenix. I ran pretty good there, but we had strong playoffs. We ended up 7th and 8th in the final standings, which was a pretty significant improvement from where we ended at 2022.
“From there, I think we’ve made a lot of key investments, key moves to just be even stronger for this year. Some of those more tangible than others with the Ford and the Dark Horse Mustang, which I’m sure is going to get, rightfully so, a lot of love and attention. Some of those less visible with people and experience and training and resources and processes and all those kind of buzzwords that don’t really mean a lot to everybody, but they do mean a lot to the results.
“My expectations coming into the year are pretty high. I think we’re going to be a team that can win multiple races with the 6 and 17 and hopefully take another step up from where we were last year. If we do everything right, maybe even be a championship threat.”
Additionally, RFK has announced a tech alliance to further grow the organization.
They’re going into 2024 with Rick Ware Racing still being a part of RFK’s alliance as Justin Haley is piloting the No. 51 Ford after being a Kaulig Racing mainstay for several years.
When it comes down to it, Keselowski sees the technological side as vital for having strong resources and helping a fellow Cup team out going forward.
“(RFK Tech Alliance) is really just a super important initiative for me and really for the whole company to just be able to bring in the best technology possible to compete at the highest level and stay ahead of where the world’s going or at least keep up with the world’s going to be able to apply that to our team,” Keselowski explained.
“We want to win races and winning races is about having great teams. Having great teams is about having great resources and technology is an outstanding resource to help our team, no different than it is in your guys’ life. You’ve seen technology come and go in it serves us all in different ways. But the race team, we want to bring people in and we want to see them be successful. And for that to happen, they’re going to need some great tools. And those tools, more often than not today, are technology-based.”
Justin Haley enters his first season with Rick Ware Racing, an RFK Racing alliance squad (Photo: Jared Bokanoski | The Podium Finish).
Furthermore, RFK will have a third entry as David Ragan was tapped to run the Stage 60 entry at Daytona. Ragan was able to make the field after being one of the two fastest open cars in Wednesday’s qualifying session. The July 2011 winner at Daytona will roll off 40th.
With the numbers game being important in superspeedway racing, Keselowski saw the opportunity of entering the No. 60 team in boosting the team’s chances of being contenders. A shot in the arm of what could be a key ingredient of helping the team score their third Daytona 500 win as Matt Kenseth represents Roush’s only wins in 2009 and 2012.
“Whether the numbers be running up front enough times and eventually you’ll get the win or those numbers being having more cars running up front and eventually you’ll have more shots at the win,” said Keselowski. “There’s a lot of ways to lose this race and you don’t want it to be numbers at the end of the day. David represents a shot for us to have a quality team and driver representing one of our best partners withBuildSubs to go out and win this race.”
David Ragan will make his 17th Daytona 500 start, the first with RFK since 2011 (Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish).
Keselowski and the rest of the RFK gang will look to make this year’s Daytona 500 count and perhaps create a new chapter of everlasting memories. The Great American Race begins Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the defending winner.
