NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski has had a few reasons to voice his frustrations this season, including recently following the incident with Carson Hocevar. While he avoided being wrecked this past weekend at Gateway by Hocevar, the co-owner of RFK Racing had something else to complain about on the radio during the race.
In the latest NASCAR Radioactive from the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway, part of the in-car audio used included Keselowski voicing his frustration over the radio regarding driving with a worse engine provided by Ford as Joey Logano blew right past him.
“Yeah, I wish I was a Ford considered good enough to get one of the good engines. But instead we’re called the s*** box team and get the s*** box stuff. F****** just motored right by me with a motor that’s significantly better. That’s a f****** a bunch of b*******.”
Brad Keselowski during the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway
Keselowski and RFK certainly have reason to be bothered by their lack of on-track success this season compared to fellow Ford team Team Penske. There also has to be added frustration in general with Ford as a manufacturer from teams, as it sits third in the manufacturer standings this season (1,032 points) and has nearly a third as many wins (6) as Toyota (15). In the owner standings, Team Penske is in fourth place (2,135 points), seventh (2,117) and 14th place (2,055 points) while RFK is in 12th (2,060), 13th (2,057) and 18th through 28 races this year.
This also isn’t the first time this season that Ford has faced public criticism. In July, amid Toyota’s on-track dominance, Kevin Harvick called Ford a “little bit dysfunctional” and criticized the teams working with the manufacturer for not working together the way that Toyota does with Joe Gibbs Racing, 23XI Racing and Legacy Motor Club.
While Ford might not like coming under fire this much publicly, the frustrations largely seem to be justified. Even if RFK and Team Penske are using the same FR9 engines, it seems pretty apparent the car setups aren’t the same and there isn’t nearly as much collaboration between the teams under the Ford alliance.
The issue for Keselowski and RFK is that Jack Roush, the co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, is fully aligned with Ford and has no desire to change that. Keselowski also bares some responsibility here given he invested in the team knowing the situation. Ultimately, voicing frustrations publicly and potentially turning up the heat on Ford might be the only way for positive changes to be made for the future.
More must-reads:
- NASCAR Starting Lineup for Tomorrow: Bass Pro Shops Night Race Lineup after Cup Series Qualifying Canceled
- Carson Hocevar Praised By Frequent Critic for Interaction with NASCAR Fans, Setting Example for Other Drivers
- NASCAR Qualifying Order Today: Cup Series Qualifying Info for Bristol Motor Speedway
