“Nothing We Could Do” – Brad Keselowski Defends Decision in Atlanta That Ended Up Hurting Him

Not many times will NASCAR drivers prefer rain to hit a race, considering it can complicate the running order or result in more cautions. But during a rain-shortened Atlanta race on Sunday, veteran NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski would have preferred the weather Gods to come in earlier. After the race, the RFK driver and co-owner shared how they were running low on fuel and had to gamble on a decisive pit strategy.

Despite the circumstances, he agreed with his team’s decision to avoid running the risk of running out of fuel. Had everything worked out for him, this could have been the opportunity for Keselowski to grab the first win of the season.

Brad Keselowski supports NASCAR’s decision to call the race early

In a Twitter post, the RFK driver mentioned how he barely had the fuel required had he stayed out and waited for the rain to start falling. He mentioned that despite it being a tough call, he agreed with the decision from his team to pit without waiting any longer for the caution to drop.

We had 12 laps of fuel left.
The race went almost 20 from here.

We made a tough call. But the right call to pit. Nothing we could do about the timing of the yellow or rain 🤷🏼‍♂️ https://t.co/QC3lWf4a12

— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) July 10, 2023

Keselowski mentioned, “We had 12 laps of fuel left. The race went almost 20 from here. We made a tough call. But the right call to pit. Nothing we could do about the timing of the yellow or rain.” 

Keselowski believes the race at Atlanta was a “good day” for him

Even though it would have been a lot better if he was able to stay out and claim his first win of the season, he still remained positive after the conclusion of the race. Speaking to the press, Keselowski mentioned, “It was a good day. We were right where we needed to be but didn’t get the breaks we needed. I was really happy with our performance and quality of the cars we had.”

After being unable to win the Quaker State 400, Keselowski now stands at 81 races without a single win. Of course, that isn’t as bad as it may sound. Throughout history, there have been several drivers who have had long winless streaks before getting back to victory lane.

He would want to secure one in the bag as soon as possible since he currently sits in the lower half of the top 16 drivers who are eligible for the playoffs. More winless drivers winning a race could really complicate the 2012 champion’s chances of making the playoffs.