Brad Keselowski Hints at NASCAR Progress, but There’s a Catch

One of the big storylines heading into the race in Phoenix was whether the changes made by NASCAR to the Next Gen car would lead to an improvement in racing. Several drivers claimed that the changes weren’t big enough to make the racing feel different. Brad Keselowski was one of those few drivers who thought the racing was better. But not exactly better, either.

The RFK Racing driver and co-owner reacted to a statement by Adam Stevens, the crew chief of Phoenix race winner Christopher Bell, which was quoted by journalist Matt Weaver to back his own take on this very subject.

Weaver initially wrote, “Listen, this car is still a heavy, draggy slug and it just need more power, period, but I do think the tire and aero was better. You have to grade Phoenix on its own scale. Let’s revisit this after Martinsville because that’s the real test. That 20 defied physics. What a setup and drive.”

He later quoted the words by Bell’s crew chief, who claimed that one of the things he liked about the race was that the tire, the reduced downforce, and the track conditions “widened the racetrack” slightly, which led to two-wide racing on both ends, which led to drivers being able to pass high or pass low as per their liking. “It was just overall racier,” Stevens added.

It was to Stevens’ words then that Brad Keselowski wrote, “I don’t think the car is perfect for short track racing, but I do think the racing today was better than last fall at Phoenix.”

Brad Keselowski doesn’t think new package should be judged in Phoenix

Even though Brad Keselowski had positive feedback for the new package introduced in Phoenix, he did have one crucial piece of advice for those jumping to conclusions about it. As per Keselowski, Phoenix isn’t really the ideal place to judge, let alone make conclusions about the new package.

“I don’t know if I would say this is the best track to evaluate a lot of things,” he said in an interview with FOX. “It’s a very unique track with the way it’s laid out, with the way it races. So it’s not always a good indicator of the number of things.”

Keselowski’s words fall somewhat in line with those of Weaver, who also claimed that for the new package, it’s not Phoenix that’d be the true test or a true reflector of its effectiveness, it’d be Martinsville. So, in a nutshell, the changes brought by NASCAR to Phoenix didn’t lead to a radical increase in racing product quality.

But what it did lead to was progress, small progress, which, however small it might’ve been, was still progress.