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Ford’s Dark Horse Failure Behind Brad Keselowski’s Recent Cup Series Handicap, Claims Kyle Petty

Published 04/10/2024, 4:03 AM EDT

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USA Today via Reuters

All of the good work that Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing did last year seems almost non-existent so far this season. Co-owner and driver Brad Keselowski has failed to live up to expectations after his teammate won three races in 2023 and set a standard for the team. However, it may not be down to Keselowski or RFK Racing. According to Kyle Petty, the culprit behind this mess is none other than Ford.

Why Brad Keselowski and RFK Racing had to start from scratch 

It’s not like the driver of the #6 car has performed poorly in every single race in 2024, having garnered two top-five finishes already. However, given the form that they were in towards the end of last year’s regular season, fans expected the former Cup Series champion to have won by now. 

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In a recent conversation on GoPRNLive, as per Kyle Petty, this lackluster performance has more to do with how Ford had a couple of bodywork styles for the Dark Horse Mustang. It turns out that the bodywork that was used second was worse than the one used initially. That’s something no one expected, and it clearly showed in the lack of Ford cars in Victory Lane so far this year. Evidently, RFK Racing has also been pretty severely impacted by it as well.

“So I think they thought this car was gonna be a step forward, and remember they had that other body style, and work and you work and you get it and you understand it. Even if it’s bad, you understand where it’s at. And then all of a sudden, you get another body style, you think it’s gonna pick up where this one left off, but it didn’t. They went backwards with this, they feel internally. A lot of them feel internally that they…so now they’re having to build back again. You talk about where Brad was, they’re not in the same place. They’ve got a different car. They’ve had to go to a different place and start again,” Petty explained on an episode of GoPRNLive.

Having said that, Brad Keselowski will probably go down as one of the best drivers of the modern era, but not without making an unwanted record. The 40-year-old has not won a race in almost three years and the way things are going, breaking that streak seems highly unlikely at the moment. But the RFK Racing owner isn’t letting that get to him as he recently revealed his plan moving forward. 

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Keselowski is looking forward to the next two months

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Martinsville marked the 106th race without a win for the RFK Racing boss and, while he insists that has not really been thinking about it, surely he is looking for ways to change that soon. As per a report in The Tennessean, the time to shine for RFK Racing (and Ford) is upon us.

“We’d like to have a little bit more speed. Our execution as a team has been really strong. We’ve made some progress (with Ford) for sure. We’ll be really curious to see how we are through April and May (with Ford) when you kind of get into some of the steady parts of the schedule. That will be a good chance for us to shine,” Keselowski had said ahead of the race at Martinsville.

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The driver even took to X on Tuesday to showcase his never-give-up attitude. The tweet that read, “Setbacks fuel comebacks. #6NeverQuits”, perfectly highlighted that win or no win, Keselowski is not one to back down.

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It will be interesting to see if the driver of the #6 car really manages to perform well in the upcoming weeks and proves his doubters wrong. What do you think? 

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Written by:

Nilavro Ghosh

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Nilavro Ghosh is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports, where he is known for his creative yet easy-to-read writing style. Before taking up his role as a sports journalist at ES, Nilavro has written for some of the top publishing houses, like The Telegraph. While most journalists stop at covering live events and taking the news to the readers, Nilavro goes the extra mile to give fans a platform for them to express their thoughts through his 'race reaction' pieces.
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Edited by:

Ariva Debnath