Dale Jr Draws Parallels With Winless Brad Keselowski As He Namedrops 2024 Daytona 500 Favorite

Last year, one of the most improved teams in the NASCAR Cup Series was Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. Ever since former Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski joined the team, things have looked up for the legendary motorsports team. In 2023, though the team picked up three race victories, owner Keselowski didn’t have any wins to his name. However, this season, Dale Earnhardt Jr strongly believes that Keselowski will be among the winners and will get the job done at The Great American Race.

There will be a lot of expectations on RFK Racing and Brad Keselowski will be looking to deliver on them. It has been a while since Jack Roush’s team has challenged for the championship, but if last season was any indication, they are definitely on the right path. And Daytona is where they were at their most dominant in 2023.

Dale Earnhardt Jr says Brad Keselowski is the second-best restrictor plate racer

It was not the Daytona 500 but the final race of the regular season at the same location last year where RFK Racing absolutely smoked the rest of the field. Chris Buescher came home to take the race victory while Brad Keselowski finished P2 making it a 1-2 finish for the Ford outfit. This year, they will be looking to get the race victory at the track again and perhaps it’s time the 2012 Cup Series champion won his first Daytona 500.

Dale Earnhardt Jr certainly believes so. The 2-time Xfinity Series champion raced against Keselowski for several years before he retired. Junior knows how good the RFK Racing driver is, especially at restrictor plate tracks. He acknowledged that the 40-year-old had hit a snag in the recent past but mentioned that every driver, including himself, goes through a phase like that.

“My pick to win the Daytona 500 this year is Brad Keselowski. He finished third in 2014. He’s got as many wins at Talladega I believe as I do, maybe 1 more than I do. In my eyes, next to Denny Hamlin, he might be the next best restrictor plate racer. He’s had some down moments, but so did I in my career when there’s a string of…you just don’t have the car. The car and you have to work together like one thing,” Junior said on a recent episode of The Dale Jr Download podcast.

If last season was any indication, Keselowski seemed to working quite well with his #6 car. However, it was Chris Buescher who got the most of the spotlight with a breakthrough season and three wins, as he even made it to the playoffs. However, this time, Dale Earnhardt Jr believes that Buescher’s dominance is set to take a backseat.

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Junior believes that Chris Buescher “overachieved” last year and even made a bold prediction when he said that the driver of the #17 might not even make it to the playoffs. He credited his former competitor Brad Keselowski with turning RFK Racing’s fortunes around and believes that 2024 will be the year of the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

“I had to take somebody out, who’s out? Buescher! Listen, I think that Brad ends up winning the race this year. I think that the performance in terms of statistically flips between the #6 and the #17. I think it’s Brad’s year. He might win the Daytona 500, so, but I believe that Buescher runs well, when you put Lajoie into the playoffs somebody has to leave, right? You can’t have #17, #18, somebody has to leave,” Junior said. 

“I felt like they overachieved last year and you know Roush, let’s not forget where Roush was and so, you know, let’s not forget where they were before this year, They were bad, they were years bad, bad, bad right? Brad comes in and I’m going to give Brad all the credit,” he added.

Brad Keselowski has been in NASCAR for well over a decade now and has won one Cup Series championship to his name. He’s someone fans would love to see win again. Will the driver of the #6 be able to find some of his old form back? 

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