The only thing constant in life is change, and change is imminent on the horizon of NASCAR. The 2023 season of the NASCAR Cup Series has proven that the smaller teams can get more than just a one-up on the heavyweights. The biggest example of this has been Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing (RFK Racing). When the season started, RFK Racing was not seen as a team that could make much of an impact, especially with bigger teams like Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing in the picture. In the last five races of the regular season, they have taken on the competition and come out head and shoulders above everyone else.
Ever since Pocono, RFK Racing has been a serious force to be reckoned with. They won three of the last five regular-season races with two back-to-back wins, thanks to Chris Buescher at Richmond and Michigan. At the Daytona race on Saturday, they shocked the world when they achieved a historic 1-2 finish. According to former driver and NASCAR analyst Kyle Petty, the person who is majorly responsible for the upward curve is a former employee of Roger Penske, the K in RFK, Brad Keselowski.
“Knows How to Exploit Those Opportunities’ – Insider Heaps Praise on Team’s Talisman
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In a recent episode of the NASCAR on NBC podcast, Nate Ryan and Kyle Petty discussed the final race of the regular season at Daytona. One of the first things they spoke about was the rise of RFK Racing. Petty was filled with praise for the team’s driver and co-owner Brad Keselowski, who has sort of led a revolution at the company ever since he joined from Team Penske.
“You gotta give Brad credit and because I think Brad’s attitude, how Brad approaches the sport, the way he thinks about the sport. I think it’s bled over into the whole organization. And I’m not saying the changes that we’re seeing today all started with Brad because I don’t believe that to be a fact either because changes that were put in place two or three years ago are now beginning to, we’re beginning to see more of it but Brad knows how to exploit those, those opportunities,” Petty said.
There can be no question that there have been positive developments across all departments at RFK Racing, which is earning them pretty impressive results on track. According to Petty, Daytona was the biggest indication that things were moving in the right direction.
“And I think that’s what we saw Saturday night. Last night was RFK exploiting the opportunity to be the last two men standing, but to take advantage of the last two men standing and power their way to the front,” the former NASCAR driver added.
A 1-2 finish is special for any motorsport team, be it in NASCAR, Formula One, Moto GP, or anywhere else. But that is not the end-all-be-all goal for Brad Keselowski who believes that he is building something special at RFK Racing.
Long Way to the Top, but RFK Racing Is on the Right Course
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Keselowski was over the moon with his team’s 1-2 finish at Daytona, but he was careful not to be carried away. The driver-cum-co-owner said that while results like that can go a long way, there is a much bigger goal that needs to be achieved, winning championships.
“I’m proud of everybody in the team and certainly Chris for his efforts but, you know, the bigger picture is to have a sustainable race team that can win for championships for a few years to come and be a perennial championship contender,” he said.
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However, he didn’t take away from what he and Chris Buescher had achieved at Daytona on Saturday.
“Today was good progress for that on that front. 1-2 finishes are huge for teams and this certainly another case of that for us,” he said.
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It takes a lot to make a motorsport team successful. Money, a ton of effort, dealing with financial instability year in and year out. But when it all finally falls into place and clicks, it holds the potential to become a dynasty. And it seems like RFK Racing is only just getting started.
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