MARTINSVILLE, VA — About an hour before he was scheduled to speak to reporters at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, Oct. 31, Brad Keselowski got some good news.
The former NASCAR Cup Series champion and the team he co-owns, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, reached a verbal agreement on his exit from the team. Keselowski said he is beginning the process of selling his 20% equity in RFK and is free from any restrictions to search for a new ride at the Cup or Truck Series level for 2027.
While Keselowski isn't allowed to take any of the sponsorship partners from RFK with him to a new team, he is free to drive for any manufacturer, not just Ford, whose cars he has piloted since 2013. It's possible that fans could see Keselowski behind the wheel of a Chevrolet,
Toyota or even a Dodge in 2027.
Keselowski said that negotiations with RFK were not adversarial.
"We were all able to work through a number of hurdles to achieve that," Keselowski said of his release. "I joined RFK with the idea that it would be my forever home, where I'd finish my career, transcend into management and ownership for the rest of my professional career in life. That was really where my heart was, and and it didn't play out the way that we hoped that would work out. But there were a lot of good things that did happen.
"One of the things I'm most proud of in my entire RFK experience is in the five years I was there, the team doubled in value and doubled in sponsorship. I don't think that was a coincidence. I don't think that just happened. I'd like to think that I was a big part of that and I'd like to think that I'll bring that same opportunity to the next team I go to."
Brad Keselowski tried to buy RFK Racing
News about Keselowski and RFK splitting after five years together broke near the end of September. Negotiating the exit of one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers began shortly after that. Amidst those talks, Keselowski said he made a "very serious offer to purchase" RFK Racing outright, an offer that was ultimately rebuffed.
Still, ownership in the sport is something Keselowski remains interested in, as do the many investors he's talked with. Keselowski said that the way NASCAR is viewed by folks with deep pockets has changed after the settlement last December of the antitrust trial between the governing body, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, which made charters evergreen and more akin to owning a professional sports franchise.
"The closing of the lawsuit has dramatically affected the perception of the sport. In particular in New York City, where a lot of these big investment firms are," Keselowski said. "This sport is now viewed as an asset, an ownership asset that has certainty and has a level of stability and the valuations have dramatically increased."
RFK said in a statement on Saturday that Keselowski will continue to be a "passive investor” of the team, “concluding his role in governance, competition oversight and board participation." Put simply, Keselowski will still have a small vested interest in RFK, but won’t have any say or influence on how the team operates moving forward. RFK said it had reached a "mutual agreement" with Keselowski to allow him to continue his racing career elsewhere.
Pressed on the definition of what his future involvement with RFK will be, Keselowski said, "A passive investor, I think, is the best way to articulate that."
What led to Brad Keselowski and RFK split?
Keselowski joined RFK ahead of the 2022 season and took on a trio of roles as driver, co-owner and head of competition. There’s no arguing that Keselowski’s impact in the shop was massive. Before his arrival, RFK drivers had not won a race in four seasons. Since Keselowski came aboard RFK, they’ve won seven races in five years and this season put two drivers – Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece – into the postseason Chase.
Buescher doesn’t believe that Keselowski leaving the team has rattled the shop.
"Certainly, there's change with that news, but we have been able to get into Chase and try to figure out how to to drive forward through that," Buescher said of the split between Keselowski and RFK. "I think everybody's been able to stay pretty focused on what's immediately ahead of us right now."
But since joining RFK as a driver, Keselowski has only gone to victory lane once in the No. 6 Ford, winning in 2024 at Darlington. Keselowski is the third-oldest active driver in the Cup Series and is currently riding a 93-race winless streak. The Michigan native missed the Chase this season by two spots in the points standings and failed to make the playoffs in the old format last year.
Still, Keselowski has been adamant about continuing his racing career and believes he can still win in the top-level of NASCAR in, as he has termed it, "tier one equipment." This is where Keselowski and RFK seemingly reached an impasse, as RFK President Chip Bowers said at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 3 that the team "wanted Brad to start focusing more on his role in competition" and wind down his racing career.
The 42-year-old Keselowski is not ready to let go of the steering wheel though. He believes he can still be an elite racecar driver.
"There still is more that I want to achieve behind the wheel. Unfortunately, what became very clear in the negotiation is my partners saw that differently, and we were not able to come to agreement," Keselowski said. "There are a number of opportunities in front of me in the Cup Series for 2027 and beyond. There's no doubt about that. I've had a number of outreaches. I'm eager and willing to execute one of them."
Brad Keselowski career
Keselowski is certainly one of the most recognizable names in NASCAR and one of the most accomplished active drivers.
He made his NASCAR debut at the age of 20 in 2004 in the Truck Series, and by 2009 had his first win in the Cup Series, taking the checkered flag at Talladega. Keselowski won the championship in the second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2010, then captured the Cup Series title driving the No. 2 Dodge for Team Penske.
Early in his career, Keselowski earned the nickname "Bad Brad" for his aggressive driving style, unwillingness to bow down to veterans and penchant for clashing with other drivers like Kyle and Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon. He went on to assemble a Hall of Fame-worthy résumé.
In addition to Keselowski’s Cup Series championship, he has won three crown jewel races, taking victories at the Southern 500 and the Brickyard 400 in 2018, and the Coca-Cola 600 in 2020. His 76 combined checkered flags across the three national touring circuits ranks 12th all-time.
"I truly believe I have what it takes to do that at the highest level, with winning races and contending for championships, both as a driver and a team leader. So, I'm certainly not ready to retire or walk away in any means from the sport," Keselowski said. "Racing in the 2027 season is still not a guarantee for me. To not be able to race, though, would be devastating to me. This is my life. This is what I love to do. I've worked my whole career and done all the things that you would want to do, but I'm not ready to be done."
Will Brad Keselowski drive for Dodge?
The question now, of course, is where will Keselowski be driving in 2027?
In the game of musical chairs that is NASCAR’s Silly Season, most of the open seats for the Cup Series have already been filled.
Some fans have speculated online about Keselowski potentially replacing Ty Dillon at Kaulig Racing – considering Kaulig’s connections with Dodge, the manufacturer of the machine Keselowski powered to a championship in 2012 – but Kaulig CEO Chris Rice threw cold water on that theory earlier this month during an interview on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, saying he hadn't had conversations with Keselowski and that Kaulig's plans for 2027 were already "done." Kaulig has fielded five Rams in the Truck Series this year and plans to switch from Chevrolet to Dodge in the Cup Series in the coming years.
Keselowski said that rekindling a relationship with Dodge would be something he would entertain though.
"I would say everything's on the table. I have not had a meaningful discussion with Dodge or Ram. I'm certainly very open-minded to it, alongside all of the (original engine manufacturers)," Keselowski said. "I feel like I control my own destiny, and there's a lot of power in that, for good or bad."
Will Brad Keselowski drive in the Truck Series?
Also on the table for Keselowski is a return to the Craftsman Truck Series. Keselowski has one win in 66 starts in trucks and previously owned and operated a team in the series – Brad Keselowski Racing – from 2007 to 2017. His late father Bob also drove and owned a team in the Truck Series, winning a race at Richmond in 1997.
When asked if racing in the Truck Series next season would be a fallback option if he can't secure a Cup Series ride, Keselowski said, "I would would not say option B. I would not say option A. I don't know if I have enough clarity on that. I'm obviously very interested in remaining a part of the Cup Series in a really meaningful way. I do have a lot of interest in the Triple Crown. I think we see how it plays out and what the opportunities cement themselves to be, and and go from there."
The Triple Crown is something that no NASCAR driver has ever accomplished: Winning the championship in each of the three national touring circuits. For Keselowski, a Truck Series title is the only one that is keeping him from being the first to do it.
Keselowski added that he has "all the assets" to own and operate a Truck Series team right now and "it's certainly something that interests" him, though he didn't commit to a return to driving in the series in 2027. Keselowski has appeared as analysts on Fox Sports for some Truck Series broadcasts this season as well and seems to have a pulse on the series.
In front of Keselowski now are decisions to make. He was adamant that there are opportunities available for him to race in the Cup Series next year and he deeply believes he can win races at the top level of the sport in good equipment. If a Cup Series seat doesn't open for Keselowski, he could always field his own machine in the Truck Series.
For now, everyone around the sport is in wait-and-see mode with the former champion and future Hall of Famer.
"I want to contend for wins as a driver, an owner, an operator, a manager, all the above. I want to be a part of seeing people be successful," Keselowski said. "I want to be a part of writing the script that is the future of this sport, so they can endure hopefully for decades and generations to come. That's probably what I value the most."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brad Keselowski made offer to buy RFK. Now he's looking for a new NASCAR ride.
