Brad Keselowski and RFK Racing discuss their NASCAR divorce

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing and owner-driver Brad Keselowski announced this week that they would be parting ways at the end of the season. On Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway both entities spoke about the situation.

The 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski was guarded but optimistic and RFK President Chip Bowers said the team was equally optimistic about moving forward repeatedly reiterating the team has nothing but good will for Keselowski, even as the team pursues a third charter.

Keselowski, who owns, drives, and serves as competition director at RFK, formally addressed the media Saturday at Las Vegas after releasing a statement for social media earlier this week saying, in part, he wished the team well and was proud of the progress he shared in since buying into the company in 2021 and moving into those roles for the 2022 season.

“This is not acrimonious,” RFK’s Bowers stressed of Keselowski’s situation. “If Brad would like to go race somewhere else, if Brad would like to be an owner somewhere else, or if Brad would like to lead competition somewhere else, he is more than happy to do so. There are some things we’ll need to work out privately in terms of his equity, but we’ll do that privately and it make take some time.

“Brad is an above-board pro, so we have no concerns he’s going to take information from us. We want Brad to be highly successful. So, whatever it is he wants to do, we want him to be able to pursue it. It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t figure out a way to make it work here. But it’s nobody’s fault. These things happen.”

Shortly after qualifying his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford 16th on the grid for Sunday’s race, Keselowski spoke with the media for the first time since announcing the news. He reminded that he was finishing the fifth and final year of his contract with the team.

He said he was open to a lot of alternatives from competing fulltime in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series where a title would make him the first to win championships in all three NASCAR premier series. He also said he’s open to pursuing ownership with a different team. But he was definitely not ready to stop driving.

“You know, go through these kind of road bumps and it’s part of the process, and I understand that,” Keselowski said of the situation. “But you know, I’ve grown through this process. I’m super comfortable with my abilities to own and operate a team. Feel like I can do it at the highest levels. Bullish on the future to do it. So that wouldn’t have been possible without this experience.”

He said he was hopeful that he would be in some race car come the 2027 season-opening Daytona International Speedway Speedweeks.

“When I’m in a vehicle in Daytona I’ll be confident of that, but right now I think there’s enough interest where I’m not sweating it,” Keselowski said. “There are things to work through, but there’s enough interest to where I’m confident that I’ll be somewhere next year.”

What comes next remains very much unknown not only to Keselowski but also his RFK teammates, Chase-qualified drivers Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher. They both expressed support for Keselowski and desire for the team to move forward in a positive way. They credit much of RFK’s recent success to Keselowski’s presence there.

“I’m not a part of those conversations,” Preece said of any awareness in Keselowski’s decision and the impending impact on the team’s ownership group, which also includes NASCAR Hall of Famer Jack Roush and the Fenway Sports Group.

“I think I was surprised for sure, but this is racing and this can happen,” Preece said, adding. “Just because something changes doesn’t mean you can’t still try to win races and build a lot of fast cars.”

Buescher also insisted any details of the situation weren’t his own to be addressed.

“I certainly have a great friendship with Brad as a team owner, a boss and a mentor, so a loss from my point, but I want the best for him going forward, whatever that looks like,” Buescher said. “I feel confident RFK will keep after it and working to improve ourselves and be involved in more Chases and more race wins.

“Brad has brought so much into RFK and we owe a lot of the resurgence to him and his input and the things he’s been able to implement and push us towards. He’s helped lay a great foundation to keep moving that ball forward.”

As an owner-driver himself, Denny Hamlin was asked Saturday about where he saw the Keselowski situation from a distance. Hamlin drives for Joe Gibbs Racing and is a co-owner in the 23XI Racing team.

“I just couldn’t imagine taking on both [roles] and I’ve got a pretty high tolerance for workloads,” Hamlin said of Keselowski serving as driver and competition director.

“So, it’ll be something that certainly is going to be a pretty big change over there. Obviously, there was a jump in performance, when he went over there, and whether that be through – could that be manufacturer stuff? Could that be technical stuff? Very wide range of reasons why teams run better after certain times or not, but, you know, the proof will be in what happens years down the road, right? And so, it certainly is going to be a big reset for the whole Roush Fenway group.”