Tuesday’s announcement that Brad Keselowski will no longer drive for his own team in 2027 — and likely won’t own the team — is a sign of two things.
The first is that Keselowski, like his modus operandi, is not afraid to fight when it comes to sticking to what he believes is important.
The second is that the more owners there are at the table, the more difficult it is for them to run a team without drama.
Brad Keselowski is officially out of RFK.
Having solid investors is good.
But any time you have to shorten a team’s name to initials because the number of owners makes the team name cumbersome, that might be the first sign that a strong leader is needed.
Keselowski was this leader of RFK from the public’s point of view.
He already had a media platform. Jack Roush couldn’t take it anymore and Fenway Sports Group always preferred to stay in the background, sometimes helping with sponsors and especially providing some advice.
Established team leader Steve Newmark, who had seen the team through transitions but also a decline in performance, left to become athletic director at the University of North Carolina.
New team president Chip Bowers, who was hired about a year ago, hasn’t been on the job long enough for his vision to produce results.
From the public’s perspective, Keselowski was the centerpiece of RFK’s leadership.
With a board where no one side apparently has majority control, Keselowski seems to think one way and the others think another.
Whether from a competitive or strategic perspective, a corporate investment or a personal perspective, it is clear that not everyone is on the same page.
No one should be in sync all the time, but given that Keselowski was the K in RFK, it seemed logical that his driver contract was up.
Over the past few weeks, rumors have swirled that Keselowski’s deal isn’t done. But people who were in the know seemed confident that whatever the problems, he would remain a driver for the team.
After all, the three parties have conducted difficult negotiations to reach agreements.
Say what you want about the fact that Keselowski only had one win in five years at RFK; he brought a presence to the organization that attracted employees and sponsors.
Starting next season, Keselowski (right) will no longer be teammates with Chris Buescher (center) and Ryan Preece.
Does Keselowski’s brain quirk and entrepreneurial spirit work for everyone? Certainly not.
But the team has improved its performance with more wins in the last five years than the previous five years with the K in the name. They also appear to have increased their sponsorship.
Right now, this whole situation seems like a step backwards for both. RF(no K) will have to find a new identity. It has strong drivers in Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece, but none of them shake things up as much as Keselowski, regardless of results.
And that’s not good for Keselowski.
He can look back with pride on everything he helped build at RFK, provided he is bought out. However, there are still things to be sorted out.
Keselowski grew up racing, so maybe it won’t be as tumultuous as it seems.
He’s seen struggles over team ownership before. He has seen team owners and drivers get kicked out only to reappear elsewhere.
But what he really wanted when joining RFK was to control the competition.
As the team said, they will have to look for a competition director since Keselowski was the one who oversaw all these aspects. That was one of Keselowski’s biggest gripes as a Team Penske driver: He couldn’t move the ship the way he wanted from a competition standpoint.
Will he be able to go somewhere where he has as much control over the competition department? Most likely not.
Then again, Keselowski’s entrepreneurial spirit could potentially lead him back to team ownership.
Could team ownership be in Keselowski’s future again?
But after this experience, who would he want to associate with? Better yet, who would want to partner with him?
No matter who is at fault, questions will arise about what went wrong in this partnership — a partnership that seemed a perfect fit for a Michigan kid teaming up with a longtime Michigan businessman to revive a historic name in sports.
Again, this is somewhat normal.
Emails contained in the 23XI lawsuit against NASCAR showed the infighting over competition spending advocated by Denny Hamlin. Team ownership can be complicated.
At the moment it’s really complicated, and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Keselowski is suddenly a free agent, and his best move might just be to wait and see what happens on other teams. Someone will need a driver at some point, and he might be the person to replace. He shouldn’t need to rush to get a ride. He can wait and find a good one.
Yes, he’s 42 years old, which means he’s not a driver you bring in and imagine the next 20 years.
But he’s a driver with veteran presence, a driver who can help any organization.
He won’t be a yes-man and he will challenge leadership, so there might be places where he won’t be the best fit.
But he brings a passion, a fan base and a resume that’s hard to ignore, even though they probably cost more than the rest.
The Keselowski-RFK split could be seen as the end of a short chapter in motor racing history.
But for both Keselowski and RF(no K), the biggest question is what remains to be written.
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Gn sports
