Brad Keselowski Highlights RCR’s Heartbreak With Tyler Reddick as He Reveals a Big Loss of Investment for Team Owners

The 2023 Cup Series season has been fantastic for Brad Keselowski and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. Both of their drivers qualified for the playoffs and Chris Buescher is still in the hunt for the championship. Keselowski’s performance as a co-owner has really been impressive. It seems like he knows almost all the tricks of the trade to make a team successful. However, the veteran racer is not willing to do something a lot of teams have successfully done in the past.

NASCAR is not really a team sport as far as the fans are concerned. In most other sports, like basketball, football, or baseball, the team is what fans support. That is even the case with some Formula One teams like Ferrari and McLaren. However, in NASCAR, fans often support the driver over the teams, and that is a cause for concern for team owners as per Brad Keselowski.

Brad Keselowski puts the team ahead of the individual

There has always been a tradition in NASCAR of glorifying a driver over the team. In the current grid, drivers like Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch are good examples of this. They have always been celebrated just a bit more than their teammates. But that does not always reap the best of rewards. Drivers who boast a massive following can leave the team for a better deal somewhere else.

For example, Tyler Reddick was being touted as the next big thing in NASCAR when he was a part of Richard Childress Racing. He was given a chance at RCR when there were no other takers. But as soon as his racing skills truly started coming to the forefront, 23XI Racing swooped in. Today, Tyler Reddick is in the round of 8 whereas no one from RCR managed to make it that far.

Brad Keselowski does not necessarily have a problem with drivers being pushed as stars. He got a similar treatment at Team Penske himself. But back in the day, it was a driver’s sponsor that used to look after their image and popularity. Sponsors are unwilling to do that anymore unless the driver is already established. The pushing bit has fallen to the teams. If a driver leaves after a team has invested a lot of time, effort, and money behind them, it definitely would be a huge loss.

“If that driver leaves and goes to another team, that’s just a complete loss,” Keselowski explained as per Racing America, adding, “That’s my way of saying that we’re not fully aligned, at this time as a sport to fully capitalize on driver star power. And because we’re not aligned that creates a lack of really true incentives and we’re not getting enough movement there. But I think it’s really important that we create some kind of system that connects all of this.”

Brad Keselowski mentioned earlier that the team’s partners and sponsors are unwilling to push drivers to fame like they used to in the past. According to the former Team Penske man, it is a burden on them.

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RFK Racing co-owner reveals “burden” faced by teams and sponsors

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It is important that drivers return the faith that a team’s partner shows in them. If they are marketed in a big way and they fail to deliver on the track, it has a negative impact on the sponsor’s image. Brad Keselowski gave the example of how well things had worked out with Rusty Wallace and Miller Beer, and Jeff Gordon and DuPont.

Sadly, the RFK Racing co-owner does not believe that team partners are willing to do that any longer. He also said that it is not feasible for a team to make that kind of investment in one person without any security for the future.

“I think our partners are less willing to do that than they were in years past, so that really puts the burden on the team to do so. And I think that’s a huge burden for them, and to that point, if a driver leaves, it’s a big loss in that investment, which is not great. And they don’t get anything long-lasting value out of it,” the veteran racer said.

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Do you think that drivers should be put ahead of the team when it comes to popularity in NASCAR? Or will the sport be better off if it were the teams that fans watch the sport for? Let us know your thoughts.