Brad Keselowski to Part Ways With RFK Racing After 2026 NASCAR Season
Silly season is known by that name because, well, sometimes things get really silly. On Tuesday, the collective NASCAR industry got hit with unexpected breaking news, as Brad Keselowski will not return to RFK Racing, the team he has driven for and co-owned since the 2022 season, in 2027.
Keselowski and the team are working through the appropriate next steps to shed Keselowski of his ownership stake in the team as Keselowski looks for his next opportunity in the NASCAR National Series ranks.
In a statement after the announcement was dropped, Keselowski said, "I'm nowhere near ready to be done as a driver. I still have a lot I want to accomplish in this sport, and I'm looking forward to what comes next."
RFK Racing says it will remain a three-car team in 2027 despite only having Charters for two cars. Keselowski wasn’t just the team’s driver, and a co-owner, but he was also the head of the competition department.
Now, RFK Racing faces the difficult task of replacing a future Hall of Fame driver, part of its ownership team, and the competition director, who elevated the team from a four-year losing streak prior to his arrival to seven wins over the last five years.
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Toby’s Take: Has the Next Gen Car Lost Its Luster On 1.5-Mile Tracks?
While the Next Gen car, which was debuted in 2022, has put on lackluster shows on short tracks, road courses, and short tracks since its inception, NASCAR’s seventh generation race car has had outstanding shows, overall, on the 1.5-mile intermediate ovals.
However, last Sunday at Kansas Speedway, that wasn’t the case. A dull race, which was dominated by Kyle Larson, who led 235 of 267 laps on his path to a maximum-point-earning day, was fortunately saved by Chase Briscoe’s car coming to life enough in the final Stage to give Larson a challenge up front.
But was Sunday’s race a reason to feel concern that the show at the 1.5-milers is starting to slip? Or was it simply a case of a team hitting the setup on a weekend where qualifying and practice were rained out?
That remains to be seen, but it’s something to keep an eye on over the next two races at Las Vegas and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
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