Yesterday, Brad Keselowski and Roush Fenway Racing confirmed what many fans and members of the NASCAR community have known for months: Brad Keselowski will compete in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang for the 2022 season. With this deal, Keselowski also has an ownership stake in the team, solidifying that he would be at RFR for years to come.
Many would assume that Keselowski’s move to Roush is a downgrade and will be detrimental to his career. Though looking at the facts, it seems things may be working out well for the former champion.
Keselowski has experience owning and operating a team, with the now defunct Brad Keselowski Racing, a Truck Series team founded in 2007. BKR jump-started the careers of notable young talents, such as Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, among others. Though the team shut down at the end of the 2017 season, it was successful in its relatively short lifespan.
So of course Brad knows how to run a team, but many are still skeptical of the move to Roush. For the past decade, Roush Fenway has struggled greatly, with very small flashes of potential every season or so. With the team having been one of the most successful teams of the 2000s, it is no question that RFR is a shell of the team they used to be.
Many point to Tony Stewart’s ownership role in Haas. Haas was in a much worse position than the current Roush, Stewart’s 50% ownership stake took the team from backmarkers to championship winners in as little as two years.
The Generation 7 car would also play a factor in things. The Next Gen is supposedly cutting costs and limiting where teams can spend to get an advantage by offering a spec chassis for all teams. This would make the gap smaller between the top teams like Hendrick, Gibbs, and Penske, and the mid field teams such as Richard Childress Racing, Trackhouse Racing and even Roush Fenway Racing.
Overall, this decision will benefit both parties, Brad and the team. Keselowski has said before that he wants to be involved in NASCAR even beyond his driving years, and this is his chance to do so.
Photo Credit /// Tim Jarrold, SpeedwayMedia.com
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