There was one thing that 23XI Racing and RFK Racing had in common after NASCAR brought out the checkered flag last Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. And it was that only one of the two playoff drivers from each team advanced into the round of 8. For 23XI Racing, luck turned its back on Bubba Wallace and for RFK, team owner Brad Keselowski fell out of contention.

The former Team Penske driver did not have quite the day that he was hoping for. Despite his misery, Keselowski’s spotter revealed the one thing that the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway lacked overall. And it was not something regarding his team or his driver.

TJ Majors demanded more of what Brad Keselowski struggled with

Last Sunday’s race seems to be one of the most critically analyzed road course races of the current season. But the main egg of the criticism was how the Bank Of America Royal 400 failed to live up to the expectations of a full-fledged NASCAR race solely for the fact that it lacked the usual thrill that stockcar racing flaunts.

When it comes to the ovals, cars throttle at top speed and go three or even four-wide at times to beat each other. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option last week. Due to the frequent turns in the races, each driver had to take the utmost care of steering left and right with equal expertise. Needless to say, stomping all the way on the accelerator was also not an option.

The number 6 Ford icon’s driver felt like the race lacked action. After all, what is a NASCAR race without a car or two spinning out and two more making contact? NASCAR is undoubtedly a fair sport, but it is also a fan-oriented entertainment business. On that note, one might ask, was Charlotte ROVAL a good race in terms of entertainment?

Seems like Keselowski’s spotter TJ Majors has an answer to that! He revealed why he felt like the race was so uneventful. “To me, the cars just have too much grip still and they’re just too easy to drive on the road courses. We need the finesse factor back just from what I see,” he said.

Majors felt like the race had very few on-track incidents. In a recent episode of ‘Door, Bumper, Clear’, Majors admitted, “Now they just don’t get in trouble much. The cars are just stuck, and I know they slide, they miss chicane now and then, but nothing like what we’ve seen in the past.”

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Ironically, the one thing that the number 6 team had a lot of problems with was exactly what TJ Majors demanded from the road course races.

Brad Keselowski’s championship-winning chances slipped away like a tire lacking grip

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RFK Racing did not qualify very well for the race as Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski entered the race 20th and 19th, respectively. Despite the sour start, Buescher was able to salvage the day with a 7th-place finish, which was enough to push him to 5th in the point standings and 7 points above the cutline.

Despite his driver’s success, Keselowski failed to make it to the next round. His day was one of frustration. His Ford Mustang missed the front stretch chicane during Stage 1 and slid forth, inviting a pass-through penalty. Moreover, his pit strategy did not appear quite well-defined.

He pitted for the first time on lap 67 for four tires and fuel, and then again when the fifth yellow flag came out because he felt like one of the tires was going down. To add more to his doom, Keselowski spun with merely 17 laps remaining, which forced him to settle for a disappointing 18th-place finish. According to speedsport.com, the 39-year-old Michigan native said, “We were all kind of throwing ‘Hail Mary’s’ there at the end, trying to get the spots we could get and it just didn’t work out,”

Sadly, Keselowski’s hope for finishing at the top remained a hope. And with that, he remains winless and out of the 2023 playoff. But definitely not out of the playoff conversation, as his driver is still in the rumble.

Read more: NASCAR World Crowns Brad Keselowski the ?Best Boss Ever? After Penultimate Sacrifice