Since the mid 2000s Jack Roush’s NASCAR Cup Series program has been one in near constant performance decline. From having 5 cars in the 10 man Chase for the Nextel Cup in 2005 to having only 2 mid-pack teams in 2022 the rebranded RFK Racing has a long way to go to reach the peaks it once had. Even so, with Brad Keselowski coming over to be an owner/driver the hopes of Roush fans was high. Unfortunately for those fans though, RFK has actually taken a step back in performance compared to that of 2021. So it bears asing, what is going on with RFK Racing?
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58 comments
What do you think the future of RFK Racing looks like?
Better with Keselowski there. He’s going to be there for a long time probably the rest of his career given the ownership role. Roush has had some bad luck with the drivers he’s invested in like Kurt Busch, and Carl Edwards departure. A lot of people don’t know about the Kasey Kahne thing, but he’s had some misfortune.
Brad grinding it out to make it to the playoffs
Poor, but I hope that Brad learns from this year and gets back to where he was 10 years ago
After all he is my favorite driver
I think they will dominate bristol
The fact that Brad is 31st in points and guys like Todd Gilliand Harrison Burton Justin Haley and Michael McDowell are ahead of him is hilarious
He got docked 100 pts due to that single lug nut modification deal. Plus he’s had poor luck I feel . He’s crunched up a lot of equipment. It always seems like when “the big one” cuts lose Brad near it this year
BlueFlames24 He is where he is because of the penalty Nascar laid on him. That should not have happened but it was Nascar setting an example for the rest.
You sure have a weird sense of humor.
@BoostedDeere they got a warning for the WHEEL modification. The 100 point penalty was due to them repairing a broken duffuser. Still a bs call but just a correction
@Arctic -I never knew the wind defusser deal . I thought the 100 pt violation was the lug nut deal
Keselowskis a better driver than any of them !
I think the 6 needs a new crew chief. McCall is holding them back in my opinion.
I see validity in that statement.
It’s not just the crew chief that needs to be removed, I feel it’s time for Jack Roush to retire or he’s going to run the team into the ground
@Brandon Settle Honestly as a former Roush Fan who came back to them with Brad, the team has been slowly going downhill since Mark left imho, they just used to have the talent to mask the decline, but eventually the decline in the cars was going to catch up to them and bring down the talent.
Brad K has gone from being a top contender each week and winning races to running mid pack or back of the field. Such a shame from how dominant and strong Roush racing used to be.
@BoostedDeere yeah makes sense. It did seem like things were getting difficult with brad and Joey and brad not being as successful as he once was but I do think he could have stayed.
Sad because he is talented. Looks like he took the momey route instead of competitive route.
All these drivers are talented it’s 99.9% about the car. Roush though is really behind. New car this year other mid pack teams have seen a great amount of improvement but Roush is still the same as they have been the last decade. There are major issues at Roush. Just shows it wasn’t Newman, Kenseth, Stenthouse or Banes lack of anything.
After the duels I was excited to see what this team held and it has been downhill ever since. Chris has been okay given where that car is but Brad being that far down is shocking to say the least. It’s a long way to go for the team, but as of right now this is bad. I expected ALOT more
The penalty really didn’t help, I’d have to agree
Brad got 100 points taken away, he gonna be down a lot.
The flip Chris had and him getting Covid pretty much describes their whole season. I hope Chris Buescher is doing okay
@Benjamin Vattimo he could have just gotten covid? You realize people can get covid still
@Benjamin Vattimo that’s exactly what myself and many others have been saying. Nascar doesn’t want the reputation of their new car getting tarnished with a potential injury. Definitely not uncommon for Nascar to hide things as we’ve seen in the past with many different circumstances.
He didn’t get COVID but he came in contact with someone who did
The 2022 season pretty much a “write off” for both Chris and Brad. Don’t get me wrong I would like to see them or at least one of them succeed but I don’t see Brad or Chris making first round of the chase
@Dominick Giannotti redicoulous bullshit your spouting. So tired of you nut bags and your conspiracy theories the guy had a wreck then came in contact with someone with covid. That’s all.
Honestly it just goes to show how great Newman was in 2019. To get 14ish top 10s in that equipment was outstanding.
Speaking of Newman, I am sad he isn’t racing this year, I think with these new cars with less side force he would have adapted to them very well. And the rocket man was certainly capable of being flashy
Newman got a raw deal for sure.
Keselowskis a better driver than Newman any day and 2wice on SUNDAYS! BRADS got around 2wice as many Cup wins as Newman and is younger!.
HELLO NEWMAN !
NEWMAN!!!!!!
Honestly, everything that could have went wrong for them has went wrong. As a huge Brad fan and someone who likes Chris, I hate it.
Same
Me too, but I think this is Brads way of staking longevity in the sport. I mean he’s talking about top 15’s as if they were top 5’s lately so it seems as though he’s adjusted his expectations.
I think this year is off the table for them, but next year I’m hoping to see at least one win from the team; either driver. Christ they need one.
I’m an Avid Brad Keselowski Fan ,I didn’t like him when he wrecked Carl Edward’s the way he did, I’m also an AVID FORD fan, been watching NASCAR since Roush had 5 cars in the Game. Although Brad won the Cup championship for PENSKE in 2012 he was driving a Dodge ,then PENSKE switched to FORDS!.BY the way I’m from Michigan, a town about 35 miles from Rochester hills where Brad Keselowskis from . I think the main reason he Quit PENSKE is his team mate Joey Lagono started driving him Dirty .
The replacement of Kurt with McMurray and Ragan instead of Martin started their downfall and having Bayne and Stenhouse solidified it
@NCAL Nailed it. And look what happened the moment Kurt replaced McMurray in the 1. Instant playoff contender instead of a fringe 1st round exit
@kaden Oh I’m with you! I like Jamie Mac, I thought he got the best out of his #42 team. I don’t blame him for #26 team troubles really either. It’s more of a team issue, as you said.
I mean let’s be real Ricky carried roush since edwards left and newman had a better season but he had better luck as well, I think them letting Ricky go was a mistake because he was just on a 4 top 10 streak but Ik it’s just business
This is sad. Always been a long time Roush fan, from the drag racing in the 70’s and road racing in the 80’s to NASCAR. Since Cousin Carl left it’s been all downhill. Honestly when Fenway came on board I felt that was the beginning of the free fall. Now they are just back markers/ Field fillers
as a side note to Roush in the early days….in se. Michigan back in the 70’s, if you had a Ford to build you went to Gapp n Roush to get your street rod’s engines tooled and machined, they were the drag pros with the best goodies in the mid west!
Became a fan of Mark Martin when he and Roush exploded on the scene during the 1989 season. However, I think Roush brought a lot of the problems on himself in the last few years first by being so demanding with sponsorships. The sponsors were not willing to pay what Jack wanted so they slowly went away till it got to the point where Roush got desperate enough to take the smaller amounts but that also hurt the performance of the team. I think that Roush was further hurt by Penske and then SHR when it comes to the relationship with Ford. Look how fast Roush went downhill once Penske switched back to Fords when Dodge bolted at the same time they were having the sponsorship issues. To add insult to injury in Jack’s eyes his best drivers left to drive for Toyota which Roush despises. The final blow was SHR becoming Ford and Roush went even further down the Ford pecking order to Front Row territory. Sad to see it happening but if Dodge does come back and SHR moves over to Dodge it might be the best thing for RFK as they would move back up the ladder in Ford’s eyes because I am pretty sure that Roush will remain loyal to Ford.
As he should!!!
Even though I am a Keselowski fan, my expectations were not that high for year 1. Unfortunately though it has been a pretty rough ride ever since daytona, and the penalty made it worse. I just hope it gets turned around so next year they are more competitive.
It’s gonna be a long one…
As a Hendrick Fan. Keep digging for Brad K and Roush.. they will get out of it. maybe a bad season. but they will learn a little more before the year is up and might get better going into late season into next. Penske seems to have a bigger backing from ford then Roush seems to have… so never give up hope!
Brad keslowski is to much of a deuchebag to succeed as an owner, Jack made a bad decision, in my opinion!!!
The 6 has consistently had one of the fastest pit crews this year and the cars have at least been reliable. Terrible first year, but I have a strong feeling that Brad will have that team in MUCH better shape next year.
i remain hopeful RFK will come back one way or another. it’s year one and personally i had really high expectations so i’m kind of disappointed, but they have good people. kes is smart, chris can deliver solid drives without hurting the car. just a matter of if/when they put it all together
See that’s funny is before Buescher’s flip and covid, Buescher was doing decent. He hasn’t had a good season so far, but he’s been doing alot better than Brad K
RFK paint schemes are badass this year. It’s a shame they can’t run up front with them. I don’t think Brad realized the true scale of the task assigned to him and just how awful Roush Fenway Racing had become. He either should have tried to stay at Penske or sign with another competitive team. He is only 38 and IMO has a good amount of years left in the tank but if the organization continues performing like this he won’t have much of a career left. I’ve never been a Brad fan, but nothing would make me happier than that iconic #6 car becoming competitive again.
I think the future of RFK depends in part on how much Brad was aware of what was happening beneath the sheet metal during his time at Penske and, assuming he was knowledgeable, how quickly he help translate that both to the next gen car AND to RFK as a whole to bring them fully into the 21st century. It may take a few changes in the shop and a ton of Sim time for the drivers as well.
I’m a big Buescher fan and I think for their equipment and how the trend of the team has been looking like so far, Buescher and Keselowski have been doing pretty well (besides the penalty) and I think by the end of the season, one of them will at least have a win.