Brad Keselowski led 55 laps at the World Wide Technology Raceway, and yet he couldn’t find the pace when he really needed it. In a race filled with cautions and restarts, the RFK Racing owner-driver found some for and nailed every restart except for the one on lap 220 when Joey Logano finally managed to overtake the No. 6 RFK Ford.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Once he was overtaken, Keselowski was left frustrated, and he let his crew know exactly what he thought in that moment: “I wish I was one of the Fords that gets a good engine. Instead, we’re considered a s*** box. It’s f****** b********,” is what Keselowski said. And his spotter, T.J. Majors, tried to motivate Keselowski, keeping him focused on the race.
While it is clear that Team Penske is the premier Ford team and RFK Racing comes second in that order, the RFK co-owner’s comments may have been detrimental to the relationship with the blue oval. Instead, Keselowski’s crew chief, Jeremy Bullins, believes the difference between the engines, if any, is negligible.
“I know it’s frustrating sometimes when you get passed,” said Bullins on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “But certainly from four to four, I think we’re all fairly close.”
“I think no matter what OEM you’re talking about, when you have cars that are in the playoffs, if there’s something that’s a little bit better, I’m sure those cars have it,” said Bullins. “To be honest, it’s not something that I get caught up in because from my end, we’re a customer in the engine shop, and I know they’re doing the best they can to give us the most horsepower they can, and they do that every week no matter what. So is there a chance that somebody has a motor that’s one or two horsepower better than you? Of course there is.”
Bullins accepted that Chase cars do have an edge over others in the field, but that difference isn’t huge. And Keselowski’s frustrations were legit given that he finally found some speed out of his No. 6 Ford, but not enough to hold off the Penske charge.
Bullins, in fact, even thanked Ford and its official engine manufacturer, Roush Yates, for the support and the kind of data and updates that Bullins and RFK Racing receive.
“When there’s a spec that comes out or an upgrade, I’ll certainly be aware of what’s going on there,” said Bullins. “But as far as seeing each individual engine curve, no, that’s not something that’s normal. But Roush Yates and Doug(Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines) and everybody over there does a great job of giving us what we need.”
While Keselowski was left disgruntled after Logano overtook him on lap 220, in that sequence the fans didn’t really see the battle for the lead, but something else altogether.
Carson Hocevar was closing in on Keselowski, and everyone was ready to see round two of the action that began in Darlington when Keselowski was spun out by Hocevar and then threatened to pay it back to the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet driver.
Hocevar is in the Chase and Keselowski isn’t, so there was a lot of buildup and verbal war ahead of the race at Gateway. Spire boss Jeff Dickerson had also threatened that if Keselowski were to ruin Hocevar’s Chase, the No. 77 Spire driver would turn his attention to wrecking Chris Buescher or Ryan Preece, the two RFK drivers in the Chase.
Keselowski didn’t take well to the comments from Dickerson, and he said he was ready to battle and lay it all out on the track. That build-up led to the belief that something would go down between the 77 and the 6. But what turned out on track was rather different, with Hocevar somehow allowing Keselowski room instead of getting up into the rear of the RFK owner-driver.
Hocevar eventually finished the race in 8th, picking up 34 points, and jumped to 9th in the Chase rankings.
Keselowski, on the other hand, finished 12th, but leading 55 laps would have added some sort of a boost for the 2012 Cup Series winner. Keselowski last won at Darlington in May 2024. He hasn’t won in 87 races now in over 2 years and four months. But the last time he won, he snapped a 110-race-long winless streak.
Leading laps may be exactly what Keselowski needed to get back his mojo. But whether it’s fully back is what we will have to wait and see.