Brad Keselowski’s biggest mistake at Pocono Raceway? Believing he had escaped the worst part of the Stage 2 Big One. The No. 22 came out of nowhere and just struck him hard on the front bumper. It wasn’t the No. 22’s fault; Logano was merely out of control from his wreck. But unfortunately, Keselowski got knocked out of contention. Annoyed by the type of racing he had witnessed recently, this just worsened his experience.

So Keselowski couldn’t hold back his frustration while discussing his Sunday at Pocono Raceway with Bob Pockrass: “Yeah, no, actually I thought we had a decent pace and were just trying to bide our time. The race was going to crack open with different strategies. Just trying not to—guys run really stupid races where they are like 3 wide on lap 5.”

Keselowski has a reason to be annoyed by it all. In a season where Toyota is clearly the car to beat, he and his team have come close to a good finish multiple times. And then, they ultimately end up losing out because of some bad luck or simply because his No. 6 Ford lacks the outright pace to beat the other, better cars.

This story is much more significant given how his season has panned out so far. Initially, Keselowski was recovering from a broken femur, which forced him to miss the preseason Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. Yet, despite the odds, he not only took part in the Daytona 500 but also finished the race in the top five. From then on, Keselowski displayed consistency, and his car was in the top 10 of the Cup Series standings.

It wasn’t long before it looked like he would easily clear the Chase cutoff. Yet now, with three consecutive DNFs plaguing his Cup Series run, he is right at the edge of the cutoff line. That has got to hurt, especially after the difficult stint he has been facing with RFK Racing as a driver/owner. In three seasons, he reached the playoffs only once.

With the championship format introducing new rules, Keselowski was trying to bring a positive change to his own career and RFK Racing‘s operation. Rumors suggest the team will already lose a mega sponsor like Castrol in the upcoming seasons, a massive blow to its operations. To counter that, it needs good finishes, and Keselowski is the key to the same.

Thus, it’s no wonder that when drivers got a little too eager at Pocono, he lashed out hard at them.

“You’re just trying not to get caught in their junk, and I missed the first wave of their junk but not the second. Yeah, it sucks. It really sucks. You know, I don’t feel like we could have done anything differently, so it’s just part of it,” he remarked.

Although his own season is in jeopardy with another DNF, he remains dedicated to RFK Racing and its operations. The team’s latest statement is proof of the same.

RFK Racing stays firm on running three cars next year

A big question mark for RFK Racing is that they will lose their third charter in 2027. Legacy Motor Club is going to take over the operations of the No. 60 car that Ryan Preece currently drives. As of now, there seem to be no options available to RFK, and the third charter sounds like a lost cause.

But it doesn’t deter the team. Chip Bowers, RFK Racing president, recently shared his thoughts about running a third car next season.

“We will run three cars,” Bowers said on the Gluckcast. “That’s unequivocally our focus moving forward.”

How will RFK Racing do it then? While Bowers understands that the ideal situation will involve them getting a third charter, he is also ready to field an open team in the Cup Series if the need arises. The entire organization has unanimously agreed on this. This shows RFK’s dreams of becoming a powerful entity in the NASCAR garage.