This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Bristol Motor Speedway. In light of this, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing driver-owner Brad Keselowski previewed the race weekend. This is a racetrack where he has won three times in the past and is hopeful for a fourth. Ahead of this year’s race, the #6 driver spoke of last year’s spring race at Bristol.
On that day, he could only muster 3rd fastest on the day, while Denny Hamlin won. However, the RFK Racing star did have some interesting tactics on display. That weekend was the first time the drivers were racing on concrete since the track switched back from 2 years of dirt racing. However, that race had some unexpected consequences, though it did make for some entertaining racing.
As it turned out, there was a lot of tire wear during the course of the race. It pretty much led to a number of failures and wear and tear in the race. The race was so chaotic that there were even some red flags on display. In the end, Hamlin was able to outlast everyone, though Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski gave him a good fight.
Brad Keselowski opened up on his strategy for tackling Bristol
Keselowski said on Instagram, “Every week is its own science experiment. I can remember very vividly in the Bristol spring 2024 race, we were like, ‘Oh! The tires are screwed up.’ I remember this specific moment, I was on the bottom lane exiting Turns 3 and 4. Looked down on the dash very briefly and I saw the lap time I was running. Everything has just now changed and I have got to adapt immediately to the condition right here, right now.”
“The seals have this running joke of, you don’t have to be the fastest swimmer, but you can’t be the slowest. In that moment at Bristol, that’s what I was thinking. I don’t want to be super slow and save too much. What if I run 2nd or 3rd, there’s at least 1-2 people driving their car harder and faster and when they break, I’ll get a yellow. This is the mentality when you’re driving, ‘Okay, I’ve got to adapt. Oh, that’s a really slow lap, tires are terrible. What am I going to do?’ You’re navigating through traffic and this lightbulb goes off in your head. I just need to run 2nd to 3rd for the next 400 laps. Then when it gets to the end, when there’s 40-50 laps, just go and see what the h— happens.”
In essence, the #6 driver was running a very tactical race, especially with all the chaos around him. As a result, the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion had to quickly adjust his style in an appropriate manner. Additionally, Keselowski also needed to manage his pace, so that he was not too slow to lose ground, and not too fast to waste tire life.
That was when a brainwave struck the RFK Racing driver-owner. His new plan was to stay within the Top 3 for most of the race, and then in the final few laps, just gun it. At the time, the veteran had no idea whether he would actually win the race, but he was simply going for broke as he had nothing to lose.
The driver has struggled a fair bit in 2025
Over the last few years, Brad Keselowski has not been in particularly good form. The last time he won more than one race in a season was in 2020 when he triumphed four times and finished 2nd in the championship. He won one more in 2021, which was his last one for Team Penske before he moved to RFK as driver-owner.
The next two years witnessed a bit of a dry spell as the veteran driver struggled to find his feet in his new team. Finally, in 2024, he snapped his losing streak with a win at Darlington. However, the #6 driver has not reached Victory Lane since then and is hunting for his first win of the 2025 campaign. What might also hurt his pride a little, is the fact that his teammates Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece have been consistently fighting near the front.
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