'I'm being tested,': Keselowski remains steadfast despite 'frustrating' Daytona 500 history
DAYTONA BEACH — After a decade full of near misses in the Daytona 500, Brad Keselowski is asking for some divine intervention.
“I try to put on my faith hat and look up at the good Lord and say, ‘I’m being tested,’ and that one day, he’s going to come through for me and things are going to play out,” Keselowski said. “I guess we’ll see.”
While there’s no shame in asking for some upstairs assistance, few could blame the 2012 Cup Series champion for feeling that only the supernatural could help at this point. In fact, he sums up his 13 Daytona starts in one defining word.
“Frustrating.”
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How close has he been? Well, much closer than his 22.6 average finish would indicate, especially in the last 10 years.
Here goes:
2013: Finished fourth.
2014: Finished third.
2015: Blew an engine while running 10th with 40 laps to go, finished 41st.
2016: Finished 20th.
2017: Collected in a wreck while running 12th with 59 laps to go, finished 27th.
2018: Crashed after contact with Chase Elliott while running third late in the second stage, finished 32nd.
2019: Spun out after a flat tire due to contact with 14 laps to go, rallied to finish 12th after a rain delay and overtime.
2020: Crashed after contact from Aric Almirola while battling Ryan Newman for the lead with 17 laps to go, finished 36th.
2021: Crashed by then-teammate Joey Logano while passing for the lead on the backstretch on the last lap, finished 13th.
2022: Started alongside eventual-winner Austin Cindric on the front row in overtime, attempted passes broke up the drafting line in the outside lane, finished ninth.
A checkered past with no checkered flags — that’s Keselowski in the Daytona 500.
His track record — quite literally in the superspeedway sense of the word — more than proves it hasn’t been a skill issue. He’s piled up six wins at Talladega and won the summer race at Daytona in 2016.
“It’s all got to come together and it just hasn’t,” Keselowski observed. “I’ve been in position and I’m proud to have been in that position to be fast and running up front and I’m confident if I keep doing that, it will pay off.”
One would think last year’s result may have left the deepest bruise of them all. Keselowski arrived in Daytona having just ended his 12-year relationship with Team Penske, driving the No. 6 Ford for newly minted Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. And he had speed from the jump, winning one of the Thursday Duels with teammate Chris Buescher winning the other.
He was in position, again, on Sunday as well. But of all the cars to cross the line first, it was Cindric in the No. 2, the very car Keselowski piloted for the previous 11 years.
“I think a lot of people thought it would sting but I have a lot of friends I care about over there,” Keselowski said. “I don’t feel like I got outdrove. I kind of feel the opposite. I feel like I ran the best race at Daytona and didn’t win it. So, when I self-reflect in the mirror, I don’t have an issue with who won it, other than being disappointed it wasn’t me.”
Trying the chicken
RFK Racing’s strong showing at Daytona would be one of a few bright spots in a season largely filled with lessons for the first-year team co-owner.
“A lot of lessons,” Keselowski confirmed. “Some easy, some hard lessons by the very nature of it.”
For much of the season, Keselowski and Buescher were unable to replicate the speed shown in the 2022 season opener. That started to turn later in the year, highlighted by a win in the fall Bristol night race for Buescher, giving Keselowski his first points-paying victory as an owner.
“It would’ve been a little less surreal if I wasn’t in position to win the race before he did,” Keselowski said, smiling. "I’m glad he was there to pull it off when it fell through my hands.”
Capitalizing on good showings and elevating finishes on weeks when the cars are a bit off, those are the two main goals Keselowski has set for the organization this year.
A year after leaving one of the sport’s premier rides to join an upstart program, Keselowski remains confident and satisfied with the decision.
“I think a number of factors made this a really good move for me,” Keselowski explained. “The ability to have an ownership role in the sport so I can be around for a long time. A lot of drivers leaving the sport right now, there’s no spot for them to participate in it past their driving career. I grew up loving racing my entire life and I can’t imagine life without it.
"I was staring down the barrel, whether it was five or 10 years away, not being able to do that really more and that was really scary to me. Another piece of it was I like where the sport is going. I think I got in on the ownership side in a window where the sport has an opportunity for growth. The businessman in me sees that as an incredible opportunity that I’m positioning myself to take advantage of."
And there's more.
“And the third side, I think I needed a challenge and something fresh and different for me in my career. I had a great run at Team Penske, but like anything, when you’ve been somewhere 10-12 years, you look around and say, ‘The steak was good, I want to try the chicken.' "
Through the years and beers
In terms of his career, Keselowski, a couple of days shy of his 39th birthday, may not be at the finish line but if his foray into ownership is any indication, he can see it from here.
Personally, Keselowski admits he’s changed quite a bit since downing a three-foot-tall Miller Lite and admitting to the world live on SportsCenter, “I have a little buzz going here,” in Victory Lane after claiming his lone championship at Homestead-Miami way back in 2012. He added that maturation is inevitable for us all.
Such is life.
But in terms of his expectations, drive and focus, he said the combination of such that fueled him on his way to the top over a decade ago, remains.
“Winning the Daytona 500 and another championship are probably 1A and 1B and I’m working toward that every day,” Keselowski said. “I have a hunger and desire I don’t think is much different than when I was getting started in the sport.
“Everybody changes with time but that desire I feel has been steadfast.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR: Brad Keselowski looks inward and upward for help in Daytona 500
