NASCAR Insider’s Dissects Brad Keselowski’s Cup Series Misery Amidst Winless Streak

Brad Keselowski, the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion, has endured a frustrating 2025 season. He started 21 races and yet stands winless with zero poles, just three top tens, and an average finish of 23.4. As a driver and owner of RFK Racing since 2022, Brad turned the tide on the team in his first year by getting Chris Buescher to victory lane, giving RFK their first win in 5 years. However, it would take until 2024 for Brad to reach Victory Lane, and in 2025, his fortunes seem to have plummeted.

While his RFK Racing teammates are surging in performance, Keselowski just seems to be struck by bad luck and faulty strategy. From getting wiped out on Lap 4 after a spin from Carson Hocevar at Chicago to the latest pit road fiasco at Sonoma, Keselowski seems to be in desperate need of some turn in form.

Brad Keselowski’s pit road drama just went from bad to worse

The No. 6 driver’s last Cup Series victory came at Darlington Raceway in May last year, snapping a lengthy drought after joining RFK Racing. That win raised hopes of revival for the Michigan native, until 2025 rolled in and the checkered flag started eluding him once more. Since then, blindness has returned. Brad has gone over 30 races without a victory, a stark contrast to his dominant 2020-2021 form when he produced multiple wins per season. This year, his position points, hovering near 33rd to 27th, speak volumes about how far his form has slipped.

Brad Keselowski’s latest stumble was in a road course showdown. At Sonoma, he finished 11th, but the drama extended far behind the wheel. According to NASCAR insiders on the Hauler Talk podcast, Brad Keselowski’s misfortune at pit road slot left him boxed in by the No. 51 Ford driven by Cody Ware, which had already suffered a two-lap delay due to a tire issue. The crew chief’s strategy couldn’t offset the calamity.

Mike Forde, NASCAR‘s managing director of racing communications, said, “I don’t know all the ins and outs because I didn’t review the film, but pitting behind the 6 car was the 51 [Cody Ware]. And to your point, I assumed that they probably picked that area because they figured that they wouldn’t really be close on the racetrack to the 51. No offense to the 51, but they got double, not penalized, but hindered because the 51 had lost a tire and was held for two laps. So, they had that 51 parked right behind them for two laps.”

At Sonoma, another pit road stunner made headlines. While pitting under green on lap 52, Brad found himself boxed in behind Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota, which clipped his crew’s tire changer as Gibbs drove through the empty stalls. This sprained his tire changer’s wrist and adversely affected Brad’s pit stop, only adding to his miserable outing. NASCAR later confirmed Gibbs followed the rulebook, so there was no saving grace for RFK.

On the incident with Ty Gibbs, Mike added, “Then they had the thing with the 54 [Ty Gibbs]. I don’t know what happened first — I think the 54 happened first — but I think it was just a lot of bad luck for the 6 team. That just added to their problems on pit road all day. Yeah, it’s kind of been that kind of season, unfortunately, for Keselowski. He does seem to be, and we’ve discussed that many times here in our talk, he always seems to be in the middle of some misfortune, one way or another.”

A steady stream of pit road blunders, most damagingly at Pocono and Sonoma, where strategic misfires and bad timing combined to derail competitive performances, has characterized the RFK Racing driver’s season. At Pocono Raceway, Brad Keselowski was going strong on lap 56 when crew chief Jeremy Bullins called him into the pits. Unfortunately, the pit lane was closed because of a caution for a spin by Shane van Gisbergen.

The camera had caught the tail flashing a red light, and the penalty dropped him to the rear. Despite fighting back to a respectable top 10 finish, the moment proved costly. He admitted it was his fault and accepted the blame, but competitors like Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick didn’t hold back, Harvick calling it a “failure on everybody’s part.”

Now, as NASCAR heads to Dover, all eyes will be on Brad to see if the pit road curse can once and for all come to an end. However, before we can get back on ovals, Michael McDowell had something to say to Keselowski about the latter’s disdain for road courses.

Michael McDowell fires back after Brad Keselowski

As NASCAR lines deeper into road course racing, the divide between specialists and skeptics has never been sharper. So far this season, six road course events. The Series calendar, and three of them, have unfolded within the last month. In a dominant stretch, Shane van Gisbergen swept all three from the pole, cementing himself as the road course king of 2025. But he has had his contenders.

Among the road course contenders trying to make their way into a place in the playoffs, Michael McDowell has stood out with a quietly strong resume. He finished fifth in Mexico City, fourth at Sonoma, and grabbed an 11th-place run at COTA earlier in the year. Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski has struggled to gain traction on these tracks, finishing 15th at COTA, 25th in Mexico City, a dismal 37th in Chicago, and 11th at Sonoma. Well, Keselowski was never the greatest road racer, but he was not bad by any means. He has multiple P2 finishes at Watkins Glen and even finished 3rd at Sonoma in 2017. However, as of 2025, Keselowski is not a fan of road courses.

“TOO Many Road courses in NASCAR” is an excerpt from Keselowski’s post on X, criticizing the sudden increase in road courses in the sport. While some, like Dale Earnhardt Jr., agreed with him, Michael McDowell had his reservations, and he explained why Keselowski thinks this way while speaking on the Door Bumper Clear podcast. 

Michael McDowell gave it back to the veteran driver, bluntly saying, “Brad is one of those guys that when this Next-Gen car came, the road course stuff was over for him. When it comes to the crowds, if you ask the fans, the fans love road races. They love it.” The stats back this up. Keselowski’s last top-5 finish at a road course was back in 2021 at the Daytona Road Course, and ever since the Next-Gen car debuted in 2022, Keselowski has just one top-10 road course finish.

Despite this brutal jab, McDowell was also honest about his own weaknesses. In a humorous tone, he added, “You can’t ask a guy that’s not very good at road courses if he thinks there should be more road courses. It’s like asking me if there should be more Dovers. There shouldn’t be more Dovers.” The road course vets love turning right in the Next-Gen, but oval traditionalists can’t seem to hack it, and vice versa.

Regardless of their course preference, both drivers are on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff standings. However, McDowell currently sits -70 away from the cutline in 22nd, while Brad Keselowski lags in 27th, -136 points behind. Winning would be the clearest path for either of the teams to log into the postseason, and with limited time remaining, every opportunity counts. Be it McDowell taking his best shot at Watkins Glen or Keselowski looking to strike gold twice at Darlington. Do you think either of them will make the playoffs? Let us know in the comments!