Brad Keselowski Shares the Valuable Engine Lesson He Learned the Hard Way Early in his NASCAR Career

As the new season is on the horizon, NASCAR drivers are intensely testing the Next Gen cars to get up to speed with them. The most recent tests were at the Charlotte Motor Speedway and several drivers got the first taste of the new car, including Brad Keselowski.

But during all of his laps at testing, Keselowski did an interesting thing; he turned the engine off every time he approached the line.

This resulted in a weird but fascinating sound of the car just piercing through the wind that one fan captured and thanked the RFK driver for on Twitter. And Keselowski responded with an explanation of why he was turning off the engine at the end of every lap.

“Early in my career we were testing at IRP and the engine blew on the last lap of the test. We couldn’t afford to fix it and I almost never raced again. From there on out I always shut the engine off rather than drive it in. Never know when you’ll need that extra lap of engine,” Keselowski wrote.

Brad Keselowski gives his verdict on the Next Gen Cars

Keselowski, who moved from Team Penske to Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing as a driver and as a team owner, had two separate verdicts on the new car.

From an owner’s point of view, Keselowski expressed his concerns with the limited number of cars RFK Racing will have in the opening five races of the season. Instead of the standard seven, they will have five, which include a test car and two separate cars for both teams.

This is because of the supply chain issues which are affecting most teams at the moment.

But as a driver, Keselowski seems to be a fan of the new cars.

He wrote on Twitter, “The cars are so far proving to be a significant improvement in terms of how they require talent to drive & cost to operate- compared to years past.” 

NASCAR has several more tests lined up for the Next Gen cars in the coming weeks.

So, team owner and driver Brad Keselowski might have a few sleepless nights due to his excitement as a driver and his concern as a team owner.

Also Read: Did Team Penske Place a Copyright on Brad Keselowski’s Name Font?