Brad Keselowski looking past truck series ownership

Brad Keselowski (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)

BRISTOL, Tenn. –Brad Keselowski is a thinker and a planner.

With an eye toward a future as a potential Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series owner, Keselowski announced this week that he will cease operating Brad Keselowski Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at the end of the season.

On Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Keselowski met with reporters behind his No. 2 Team Penske Ford transporter and elaborated on his decision, which may involve transforming his shop space into an ongoing business that ultimately could support a Cup ownership.

“We’re not ready to announce anything, but I know where I want to go and we’re in the middle of putting all that together,” Keselowski said. “Until it’s together, I don’t want to get too far down the road with it, but I know that I’m committed to the facility and the community to have an operational and functioning business in that area and plan to do just that.

“Hopefully, that opens a spot to retain a good number of our people.”

With that approach, Keselowski is taking a page from such team owners as Roger Penske, Rick Hendrick and Jack Roush, who operate business concerns outside of NASCAR racing and use business-to-business opportunities to enhance their appeal to potential sponsors.

“If you look at all the business owners at this level – and really all three of these levels – they have a sustainable, profitable business outside of motorsports, and that’s going to remain the key for any owner to have success, because the reality is I can only be a race car driver for so long.

“When that time comes up, my business would have had to shut down because I don’t have a profit center, and having that profit center is what helps you get through the ebbs and flows that every race team has, so I need to have one of those profit centers.

“That doesn’t mean that I’ll be a Cup owner one day, but that means when the time is right, if we achieve the goals that I have, I’ll have the opportunity to make that decision myself and not have it made for me.”

In the meantime, Keselowski believes the Truck Series will do just fine without him.

“The Truck Series has been around a long time,” Keselowski said. “It’s going to be around a lot longer than me, so I’m not so self-centered to think that series is based solely on my team and participation. It’ll be around. It’ll be all right.”

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.