The Phoenix race witnessed a lot of new developments. First and foremost, Christopher Bell’s Toyota Camry stole the thunder from the Chevrolets and won its first race of the 2024 season. Secondly, racers got a feel of the short-track competition package, which worked out well for Bell. However, Brad Keselowski did not feel up to the mark.

The new aerodynamic package came combined with tires having thicker treads. It was designed to keep more heat in the tires on short tracks in hopes of increasing lap-time fall-off. The adjustment required crew chiefs to work harder on their drivers’ vehicles. While Bell’s crew chief sanctioned the changes, Keselowski countered his stance.

Brad Keselowski sticks to his previous opinion

Brad Keselowski shared his opinion with Bob Pockrass about the package: “I don’t know if I would say this is the best track to evaluate a lot of things.” He further added, “It’s a very unique track with the way it’s laid out, with the way it races. So it’s not always a good indicator of the number of things.”

The short track package saw the light of day last year at Phoenix Raceway. The test drive intended to roll out aerodynamic and downforce changes to the car to make it more compatible to maneuver at turns and on passing. But when drivers tried the changes up front on Friday’s practice, they had reservations about them.

Keselowski has not swayed from his stance after the package debut at the Shriner Children’s 500 race. He squarely opposed Christopher Bell’s crew chief, Adam Stevens’ view on the topic. Stevens reportedly expressed positivity about how the package worked out: “I think, if anything, you would say that there was an improvement there.”

He further added, “The other thing I liked was the tire and the track conditions and the reduced downforce overall kind of widened the racetrack out a little bit. You could run two-wide on both ends of the racetrack. You could pass high if you had to, pass low if you needed to. It was just overall racier, I would say.”

Replying to Stevens, Brad Keselowski firmly denied any hint of improvement. “I don’t think the car is perfect for short-track racing, but I do think the racing today was better than last fall at Phoenix.”

2023 ended on a poor note for Brad Keselowski, as he finished an average 15th place at the Championship race in Phoenix. But he has been able to turn around his prior fate considerably this time in the desert race, finishing 4th.

Keselowski earns his place among the desert elite

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RFK Racing soared to a respectable status by securing two places in the top 5 in the desert race. Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski were the drivers to thank for this, as they brought Ford to the forefront as well. Keselowski scored a top-five position for the first time since last fall in Las Vegas. 

He was dewy-eyed and optimistic while speaking about his performance in a post-race interview. “It was a good, solid day for us. We want to win these races, but we didn’t have anywhere near the speed [that Bell] did — I don’t know if anybody did, to be quite honest. We put ourselves in good position with a good pit call and a great restart at the end and we just tried to execute. The potential is there. We are just one step away and we are going to keep working on it until we get there.”

Brad Keselowski still has to snap a long winless streak of 102 Cup races. Hopefully, he will find his breakthrough in the next race at Bristol Motor Speedway, where Keselowski holds triple wins.

Brad Keselowski and RFK Racing’s Statement Performance Makes Little Dent in Their Playoff Hopes