“We just haven’t gotten the results.” Brad Keselowski said these words prior to the Darlington race, indicating the bad luck his team was mired in. While Denny Hamlin has risen beyond his new crew chief relationship with Chris Gayle, it seems like his contemporary Cup Series veteran is yet to do so, with miserable results to start the season. Keselowski joined hands with Jeremy Bullins, his 2020 crew chief, ahead of 2025. And Darlington looked like their escape from a torrid streak – but with no luck.

Through eight races this season, the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion is yet to record a top-ten finish or lead a single lap. The RFK Racing No. 6 team’s lack of speed was glaringly visible. A glimmer of hope briefly appeared at the egg-shaped oval where Brad Keselowski won last year, but it disappeared soon enough. Yet, his crew chief chooses to see the glass as half full.

Brad Keselowski’s team is biding its time

Rolling off from the 20th place, the No. 6 Ford was off to a decent start. A lot of expectation enshrouded Brad Keselowski, given that he was the defending winner of the Goodyear 400. Last year in May, Keselowski led for 37 laps to win the race, snapping a 110-race drab streak. So people looked for the Castrol-painted No. 6 initially at the 2025 race. Keselowski’s team executed well in the first stage – dodging two cautions spurred by Kyle Larson and Carson Hocevar. By the end of Stage 1, Keselowski was 6th while his teammate Chris Buescher wheeled his car to 4th. However, trouble descended on the 6 team soon after.

As teams pitted for fresh tires on lap 135, Brad Keselowski spun due to a right-rear tire issue. On lap 137, NASCAR waved a caution flag for debris, as something came off of the right-rear tire of the No. 6. Apparently, Keselowski’s wheel nut came off – that left him mired in 36th place, four laps down. This incident more or less sealed the fate of the No. 6 team, so crew chief Jeremy Bullins sighed about the situation in a post-race interview with Toby Christie: “Yeah, we had a great car today. Probably had one of the better cars in the long run. Just that unfortunate pit stop knocking the right rear tight, the wheel came off – cost us a couple of laps. Got one of them back, just could never get in the race situation to get us back.” Eventually, Keselowski finished 33rd.

Keselowski may be experiencing the lowest of lows in his career, but Bullins is optimistic. “At some point, you either [gotta] laugh or cry about it. We’re going to laugh, keep our heads up, keep working, and keep digging. We know we’re a better team, we’ll be finishing these races, and we’ll be fine.” Even Brad Keselowski admitted before the Darlington race that maybe their time to shine in 2025 has not arrived yet. “I kind of have this feeling that we’re getting a lot of the bad luck out of the way very early in the season. That’s kind of the overwhelming sentiment and that if we stay the course, it will come back to us.”

Jeremy Bullins is a 31-time NASCAR National Series winner and a 10-time Cup Series winner. Previously, he won 5 Cup races with Brad Keselowski under Team Penske’s banner in the 2020-2021 seasons. However, he knows very well how heartbreaks are associated with glory. So, Bullins continued: “You know, I’ve been through stuff like this in the past. I just try not to question why or what, just keep digging and keep bringing cars to the track – sooner or later it’s all going to click.”

The overarching optimism is prevalent in the RFK Racing team. However, they may have ignored one key factor that may have contributed to their Darlington misery.

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They did not follow the trend

Well, Darlington Raceway signifies ‘Throwback Weekend.’ Celebrating the track’s 75th anniversary, most Cup Series drivers showed up with retro paint schemes. For instance, Denny Hamlin‘s No. 11 Toyota was a tribute to Carl Edwards from the 2000s. Then, Ryan Blaney sported his father Dave Blaney’s 2006 Charlotte Xfinity Series throwback scheme on the No. 12 Ford. Yet Brad Keselowski stood out in this retro party. His No. 6 Ford sported its traditional paint scheme with Castrol writ large on it.

We all know how fate played a big factor during the 2025 Goodyear 400. Ryan Blaney had almost clinched his first Darlington victory until Kyle Larson brought out a second caution. That muddled up his plans, and Denny Hamlin surged ahead for the victory instead. So who knows, maybe Brad Keselowski unintentionally ticked off the ‘Lady in Black’ by not honoring the retro tradition?

Before the race kicked off, the RFK Racing team owner confessed his reasons for not following the throwback trend. “It’s hard to get all the different people to line up to pull it off. For my car this weekend, we have Castrol on it. We did throwbacks the last few times here. It’s kind of like we ran out of a little bit of energy to pull off one that was good enough to make a mark, so to speak. The other thing is…we have global brands on our cars, and they have global initiatives and things that are going on, and they want to make sure they hit those. With limited windows to do that, it doesn’t always work out. I think from a body of work on the throwback stuff we’ve done a lot and I’m really proud of what we’ve done.”

Evidently, Brad Keselowski’s luck did not pan out this weekend. Let us wait and see if patience and consistency will do good for the No. 6 team in the coming weeks.