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Brad Keselowski can appear brash, thoughtful, contrarian and competitive — and he might need all those attributes to vie for a NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2020.
Think of all the reasons he shouldn’t win the championship:
- After last season, he lost the crew chief with whom he had built all his Cup success, as Paul Wolfe was moved to work with Joey Logano, while Jeremy Bullins moved from working with Ryan Blaney to Keselowski.
- He has made it to the final four finalists just once in the six years that the elimination format has been created.
- And then there’s that nagging thing about a contract; Keselowski doesn’t have one for 2021.
Keselowski, who Sunday captured the Supermarket Heroes 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway when he snuck by a wrecking Chase Elliot and Joey Logano with less than three laps to go for his second victory of the season, said afterward he believes his team could compete for the championship. He has seen how well they gelled over nine races and thinks by the time the playoffs start on Race 27, they could be difficult to beat.
“[We’re] trying to put ourselves in a position to make a real run at a championship,” he said. “Hopefully we can do just that. I feel like we're coming together as a team."
The 36-year-old Keselowski is in one of those unique driver crossroads. He has won 15 races since the start of 2016, and while he has made it only once to the championship round, he is always one of those threats. He has won at least three races in each of the last four years and appears he should make it five this season.
“I'm super proud to be here and to get a second win in the season — that's, for me, my fifth year with multiple wins in a row, which is really good,” Keselowski said. “I’m really happy and proud of that.”
That type of resume should command some solid coin. But sponsorship is key in the racing world, and Keselowski has seen former anchor sponsor Miller cut back to one race, and he has a rotating cast of sponsors on his car to make up the 36-race schedule.
He has been opinionated on how NASCAR operates, and hasn’t been afraid to call teams or people out if he feels wronged. That has hurt some feelings and made some teams wonder if Keselowski would be the best fit.
Keselowski also owns his own business, shutting down his truck team years ago and pouring millions into his Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing 3-D design and production business. It’s a significant investment that he made from money earned from racing, banking on a new industry that he knew could take several years to turn a profit. No other driver has such a side business.
All those reason — excuses? — not to find the funding for Keselowski could make sense. In a sport, though, where performance tends to be king, it’s hard to argue that someone will want to shoehorn Keselowski into their program. He’s pretty much guaranteed wins and a driver who doesn’t back down when challenged.
The longer it takes for Keselowski and Penske to figure out whether they remain together, the longer that could weigh on Keselowski. But Keselowski probably will just put his head down, leave any frustrations of contract talk in the motorhome lot and go race. That’s what got him to where he is in the first place.
“I haven't thought of it that way [as a distraction],” Keselowski said. “I haven't put that much thought into anything other than competing and winning and wanting to be in a spot to compete and win for a long time.
“I don't let it be a distraction. I can't always speak for others. The experience I've had with the team, they're not either.”
When Keselowski won the Cup title at 28 years old in 2012, he guzzled too much of his sponsor’s product and appeared a little tipsy on television. Some didn’t think it was the best look, but Keselowski felt it was time for celebration and didn’t care too much what people said.
He needs his team to have that don’t-give-a-damn attitude. And Bullins, who had previous success with Keselowski in the Xfinity Series, seems ready for it.
“I'd never doubt what you're capable of with Brad,” Bullins said. “We had a ton of success with the Xfinity car.
“We won some races that we were dominant and had the best car and we won some races where we didn't have the best car but we fought all day, put ourselves in position to win.”
And the contract becoming a distraction?
“He and I have talked a lot about it,” Bullins said. “We both have said it's not going to be a distraction to what we're doing. If we keep having days like this, it won't matter anyways.”
On The Air
Monday
NASCAR Xfinity Cheddar’s 300 (Bristol), 7 p.m., FS1
Saturday
NASCAR Gander Trucks Vet Tix 200 (Atlanta), 1 p.m., FS1NASCAR Xfinity EchoPark 200 (Atlanta), 4:30 p.m., FOX
Sunday
NASCAR Cup Folds of Honor 500 (Atlanta), 3 p.m., FOX
Stat of Note
Jimmie Johnson’s third-place finish matched his best finish for the fourth time since his last win at Dover in June 2017, a winless streak that is now 104 races.
Social Spotlight
— Clint Bowyer after his 41st birthday Saturday
They Said It
“The part that’s frustrating is that afterwards a simple apology — like, be a man and come up to someone and say, ‘Hey, my bad.’ But I had to force an apology, which, to me, is childish.”
— Joey Logano on Chase Elliott
