Brad Keselowski’s day during the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway was nothing short of a rollercoaster. Even though he isn’t part of the playoff grid, the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion drove like he had something to prove. From starting dead last in 31st to charging through the field, Keselowski turned what looked like a long afternoon into one of grit and redemption.

Just weeks after his near-miss at Bristol, where he surged from P18 to finish a close runner-up behind Christopher Bell, Keselowski once again showed flashes of vintage speed. At Kansas, his relentless push paid off with an eighth-place finish, right in the thick of playoff traffic.

Speaking post-race, the No. 6 Ford driver couldn’t help but sound happy about his results.

“Yeah, it was a hell of a day. A lot of things went on. We weren’t really strong to start the day. Made some adjustments. Ended stage two. And the car got a lot better. We were trapped a lap down with our lucky dog stuff laid out. We fought through that, got to the lead lap, and just started picking them off. And then on the last few restarts, picked off a few more and got a decent finish out of it,” Brad Keselowski added.

And, he has all the reasons to be happy. By lap 42, Keselowski stole a brief moment of glory in the lead, thanks to his perfectly timed pit stops around lap 40. He then clocked his fastest lap on Lap 4 of the race at a scorching 170.412 MPH and flirted with the top five and top 10, all while the heavy hitters, Chase Elliot, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, and Christopher Bell, played King of the Hill in the late stages.

Further adding on about the No. 6 team, Keselowski said, “It’s good. It means the potential is there. We’ve just got to execute.”

The ride wasn’t all smooth sailing, though. Brad Keselowski finally hit pit road from the lead on lap 46 and later received a fuel penalty on lap 173 for taking fuel twice, sending him to the free pass car. By the first overtime attempt on lap 266, he was running 10th, proving he could slice through the back like a hot knife through butter as Chase Elliott took the checkered flag. His run reminded everyone that in NASCAR, a few missteps can keep even a rocket like Brad from the checkered flag spotlight.

Keselowski isn’t only setting fire to the track but also off it. The 41-year-old recently dropped a big hint that NASCAR may crank up the horsepower in 2026. He also criticizes the current next-gen car, rated at 670 HP, as feeling sluggish and suggested it has forced him to adjust his driving style.

If this upgrade happens, he believes it will emphasize throttle control and reinstate some of the driver finesse that has been somewhat muted under the current package. But as Brad Keselowski managed to get his Gen 7 car in the top 10, fellow Fords somewhat lacked the speed to compete at the Hollywood Casino 400.

Fords fail to find the pace

Despite Brad Keselowski gaining immense speed through the race, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher were nowhere near the top pack in the Hollywood Casino 400 race. Chris Buescher qualified P15 for the Kansas race, and by the end of stage one, he found himself hanging onto a modest P8. As the progress and stage two came up, the No. 17 driver dropped down to P11. Surviving all the cautions and restarts, Buescher could only manage a P15.

Adding to the queue of disappointments is Joey Logano, who finished P21. When asked about his performance, the driver didn’t mince his words but added, “It was a hard weekend. I thought we were recovering pretty well, scoring stage points in both stages after starting in the back. I’m like, ‘Alright, we’re OK here…. and I just got caught up in that wreck on the restart and tore something up. I don’t know, but it wouldn’t turn after that. We tried to throw a Hail Mary with two tires, but there were too many restarts, and you can’t hold them off. I kept getting used up, so it sucks… We’re plus-13. It is what it is. We’ve got to go race, but it’s gonna be close.”

Another Penske driver, Ryan Blaney, finished a few positions behind Logano despite believing he could have finished better. This was despite his being aggressive on multiple occasions.

“I thought we probably could have run eighth to 10th. That was kind of our max potential with this thing. I thought we got a little better through the day, which was good. We did two on the last stop and tried to get some track position and make something happen, but I sped. I was just trying to be aggressive, knowing that I really didn’t have much to lose, but I’m proud of the effort with this backup car and coming from the back. I just made a little mistake,” Ryan Blaney added.

However, the RFK driver, Ryan Preece, on the other hand, had a far more challenging race than Buescher, Blaney, and Logano. The No. 60 driver qualified 19th for the Hollywood Casino 400. And as the race took off on Sunday, Preece managed to gain two spots by the end of stage one; however, in stage two, he tumbled down to 34th place. Finding some place in the last race, the 35-year-old finished his race two laps down at 26th.