Dale Earnhardt Jr Reveals the ?Overachievers? of the 2023 Season and Ryan Blaney Is Not One of Them

With the 2023 season all done and dusted, the NASCAR pundits are preoccupied with the overviews of whatever has happened throughout this eventful year. From Ryan Blaney’s unexpected entry into Championship 4 to Kevin Harvick’s retirement, every topic is up for discussion. Needless to say, nobody can cast a blind eye to the resurgence of the Fords either.

It is safe to say that Ford found its redemption by holding the hands of Chris Buescher and RFK Racing owner Brad Keselowski. Amidst a season that has been predominantly a battle between the Chevrolets and the Toyotas, RFK Racing’s Fords scored back-to-back wins and moved steadily up the leaderboard. Even Dale Earnhardt Jr?did not miss the constant hard work that this fairly new Cup Series team has put in to be where they are today.

Dale Earnhardt Jr gives flowers to the RFK Racing boss-driver duo

It’s true that Brad Keselowski has always finished behind Chris Buescher this year. Back in Richmond, Buescher won the race while Keselowski finished 6th. Just the following week, Buescher won again at Michigan and the #6 sensation finished fourth. Even the regular season finisher at Daytona had the #17 Ford pilot win the race, with his owner as the runner-up. It seemed like Brad Keselowski always fell short of that elusive win.

But he did not fall short of carrying out his duties as an owner. In a recent episode of the Dale Jr Download, the 15-time most popular driver said, “This is the highest finishing position for Roush or RFK as it is known now since Greg Biffle in 2012. Chris Buescher, who was 7th…I think Brad was 8th in points. I believe that they may be the overachievers of the year for me. Or the ones who get the biggest award for trying to improve.”

Just a year back, neither Brad Keselowski nor Chris Buescher had qualified for the playoffs. Moreover, they suffered from an L2 penalty that took away 100 driver’s points and 100 owner’s points from them, significantly affecting their postseason performance. From that slump, this team has turned around and uplifted to such a level that other big-shot teams felt intimidated by it.

Dale Earnhardt Jr credited Ryan Blaney’s win to Brad Keselowski and RFK Racing’s breakthrough. “Nobody could get the Ford to run. They did, and it really woke up the other Ford teams,” said Junior. “Instead of sitting there saying well we got a car we can’t compete with, we got to wait till next year, this car you just can’t make it work… well, RFK did.”

“They figured it out. It actually motivated the Penskes and the others to go to work.”?Even Co-host Mike Davis agreed. “That’s a huge point, I agree with that completely,” said Davis.

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However, to some, it could appear that Keselowski is a better owner than a driver. His personal performance juxtaposed with his team’s performance this year says a lot about it. One could wonder, what matters more to Brad Keselowski, his team, or his own career as a driver?

This could be the real reason behind Brad Keselowski owning a NASCAR team

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As known to every NASCAR enthusiast, almost every driver retires in their late 30s or early 40s. But it’s often seen that these drivers exit the doors of NASCAR and race elsewhere. Take Tony Stewart or Clint Bowyer for example. Even after retiring from NASCAR, they still race at SRX and other events like the Alcohol Dragster series. So the question is, why quit NASCAR and go elsewhere?

NASCAR is a sport that is hugely dominated by the sponsors. Without a sponsorship, there is no future for a driver in the arena of NASCAR. Although the sponsors pay for their supremacy, this dependency on the sponsors has its downsides too.

Not every day is the same. And that goes for everyone on this planet. A race-winning driver could suddenly meet the cusp of a downfall in their career. Chase Elliott is perhaps the biggest example of one such case. It often happens that the sponsors revoke their money from the drivers once they fail to put up the show that is expected of them, leaving the drivers out of business. But that will not be the case for Brad Keselowski.

Brad Keselowski is the owner and the driver. He would never fire himself. Even if he loses sponsorships, he’ll be very much in the business as a team owner. Moreover, even after he retires, he’ll still be a team owner. Hence, running out of things to do will never haunt this 39-year-old speedster.

Do you agree with this take?

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