Last year, when NASCAR came to Talladega Superspeedway for the spring race, Brad Keselowski was on the hunt for a win. On the last lap, he was banging bumpers with Michael McDowell and pushed him out of the way to get the checkered flag. But, just when the RFK Racing driver thought he had the victory in his sights, Tyler Reddick made a cheeky move past him and stole the win. It was the second consecutive week where the #6 team finished in the runner-up spot, but at least they were contending for the wins.

Fast forward to the 2025 spring race at Talladega, Brad Keselowski and the #6 seem lost and have hit new lows to start the season. Although Ryan Preece was out there representing RFK Racing on the last lap run, Keselowski ended his race in a crash. This was his third DNF of this year and sees him placed 32nd in the points standings. Although it is a tough spot to be in, the veteran driver still believes his team can stage a comeback this year. And they’ve got reason to be optimistic.

Brad Keselowski isn’t out of the playoff race just yet

With the Toyota cars setting up the early pace in the race and hitting the pit road in stage one, the Ford cars made their move to pit for fuel on Lap 43. As the cluster of cars headed to the entry of the pit road, there was a stack-up between Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch, which sparked a wreck. “Yeah, I just was getting pushed that like as soon as I was coming off the corner and I never had a chance to turn left and get on the pit road and just got carried all the way down the straightaway until I wrecked. So it’s really disappointing.” Keselowski said about the crash.

Not only did this chain-reaction crash take out Keselowski, but fellow competitors Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman also got embroiled in the melee, turning a mostly positive moment into a major setback for the No. 6 team. The damages on Keselowski’s Ford were too great to repair, and in the blink of an eye, his race was done. In 2024, after 10 weeks of racing, the #6 team had picked up four top 5 results before the crucial win at Darlington. But, with multiple DNFs and no top 10 results, things are looking dire for them, and in turn, this inconsistency could prove detrimental to their chances of reaching the playoffs.

Despite being out of touch and leagues behind his competition, the veteran driver wasn’t too concerned about the big picture. “Keep trying. That’s what it is. That’s what the sport is. That’s why there’s 38 weeks. Oh yeah, yeah, we’re… we’re destroyed,” Keselowski added in an interview after the crash. Unlike last year, RFK Racing had the opportunity to take the car to the garage and make use of the new DVP rule, but Keselowski and his team were convinced that the #6 car was beyond repair.

Amidst the disappointment for the driver Brad Keselowski, the co-owner in him would’ve been content with what he saw at Talladega. Ideally, Chris Buescher and Keselowski were supposed to lead the team from the front this year, but Ryan Preece has stepped up as the lead driver. He did finish the race in the runner-up spot, but this joy quickly turned into despair as NASCAR disqualified the #60 team.

Trending

1

Rick Hendrick’s Insider Gives a List of Demands as Mind-Numbing Talladega Exposes NASCAR

2

Bubba Wallace Rubs Salt on Joey Logano’s Wound Amidst Troubling Talladega Result

3

Talladega goes from bad to Worse for Spire Motorsports After Losing Another Key Member before the Race

4

“Freakin’ Cheaters”: Denny Hamlin Fears ‘Shedeur Sanders Fate’ for NASCAR’s Radical All Star Idea

5

Fans Left Infuriated at NASCAR Teams as OEM Loyalty Brings ‘Justified Race Manipulation’

Things go from bad to worse for RFK Racing

After a P3 finish at Las Vegas earlier this year, Ryan Preece was on a tear again at the high banks of Talladega. He was out there alongside his fellow Ford driver and race winner, Austin Cindric, on the last lap thriller. Preece was well within the touching distance of the start-finish line, and the margin of victory between him and Cindric was 0.022 seconds.

“I’m really proud of everybody at RFK for this race car. I’m just really super appreciative from Jack, Brad, the Fenway Group for this opportunity. Honestly, without Kroger and BAM and Celsius and a lot of the other partners today, I’d probably be back in Connecticut. I’m really excited about the rest of this year. It’s a great day, but I wanted to win.” Preece said after the race, but little did he know that his best career finish was going to be canceled out during the post-race inspection.

NASCAR disqualified the #6 team for violating the spoiler rules. The RFK Racing Ford had three shims instead of two. Not just Preece, but Joey Logano was also disqualified by the officials for missing a bolt on the spoiler. Team Penske stated that they won’t appeal this decision, and there’s no clarity yet on how RFK Racing will deal with this situation.