As they head to Sunday’s race, Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece have a lot to say about Brad Keselowski. While talking about their team owner/teammate, they also dropped a throwback to his famous feud with another NASCAR legend. It seems that his teammates took a lot of inspiration from him as his drivers, even though they might not have supported him in the past.

Back in 2010, Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards gave a fantastic yet dangerous moment to the entire NASCAR community. While racing each other at Atlanta, Carl Edwards decided to take revenge on Brad Keselowski for their year-long feud. Earlier, Edwards was spun out and flipped by Keselowski in the air at Talladega.

So this time, Carl Edwards decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. At 195 mph, Carl Edwards spun out his rival’s car, sending him airborne. For Edwards, it was karma delivered on time. For Keselowski, it was a horrific end to the fight. “At least I didn’t do it intentionally when it happened,” he said.

During their pre-race interview, Chris Buescher made a surprising admission that he did not favor his current team owner during that feud. Even though he was among the developmental drivers of the team, his loyalties lay with Carl Edwards back then.

“I guess I have to admit at some point that I was under the RFK banner when the Carl and Brad feud was going on. And so I guess I wasn’t really on Brad’s side at that point, but we haven’t had that discussion in person.”

But today, racing as one of his drivers and teammates, Buescher is happy that he is with Brad Keselowski. Keselowski is currently in a unique situation as the only team owner/driver in the NASCAR Cup Series. It gives him a unique chance to go through the same point of view as his drivers. Since he is racing the same car, their issues become his issues.

Buescher knows that and appreciates this aspect of Keselowski’s presence at RFK Racing.

“It has been the most unique way to talk about race cars and your ownership, right? Because anything that we are experiencing, a race car, anything that we want to be better, he’s living at the same time, right? 

“He wants that to be better. He wants our cars to turn better in the middle, and he wants the rear to be planted on the racetrack. And he understands exactly where we’re coming from. It’s not going to somebody that is trying to guess where our headspace is at.”

In Buescher’s eyes, it is the most effective method of making the race car better and faster. Brad Keselowski wants to win more races and championships, and he is trying his level best to find out the best solutions for their issues.

While Buescher talks about Keselowski’s ability to turn the team around with his personal experience with the car, his teammate Ryan Preece reveals the true goals they have as a team this year.

Brad Keselowski’s hard benchmark for the 2026 season

Needless to say, RFK Racing has not been the best team on the grid for some years. It is trying to do its best, but with limited data from Ford, it is still facing hiccups. Although Brad Keselowski’s goals do not care about such minor obstacles.

As Ryan Preece reveals, “He wants to win five plus races this year between all of us. So, that’s the goal: constantly trying to push boundaries and be faster and make cars faster. 

“And that’s what, much like Chris just said, I can appreciate him running around between buildings making sure that every side of that of RFK is heading in the right direction to give us opportunities to win races, whether it be the pit crew, the cars, or the sponsors. We are trying to win in all aspects.”

With three cars on the grid, that does not seem like a far-fetched idea. Especially considering the few golden moments that the team has had this year. The Daytona 500 itself gave them some positive signs. Keselowski was able to launch to the front of the grid during the final laps.

Unfortunately, he was spun out by Riley Herbst. But that does not mean that Keselowski was not in contention for a win before that. Even last year, the team had multiple opportunities to turn their top-5s and podium finishes into wins. 

So RFK Racing has that speed on occasions. They just need to turn up their consistency and keep it up for a longer period of time.