Brad Keselowski believes the path forward for RFK Racing lies in moving as one unit. Four races into the NASCAR Cup Series season, the team sits scattered across the standings, yet the owner-driver sees room for improvement. Chris Buescher holds the fort for the organization inside the top 10 in the points table. Keselowski stands 16th, while Ryan Preece sits 18th after scoring his first Cup win of the season at the season-opening exhibition at Bowman Gray Stadium.
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Even so, the trio believes the season still has many laps left. Last year, all three RFK drivers closed the season inside the top 20 in the standings, though the team fell short of a playoff berth. Keselowski now hopes to turn the tide with a move into the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. The 2012 Cup champion has run teams in lower divisions before.
His former outfit, Brad Keselowski Racing, once competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series before shutting shop in 2017. But money and long-term planning both played a role in that call. Speaking ahead of the race weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Keselowski said any step into the O’Reilly Series would hinge on one factor: funding.
“I have interest in the O’Reilly Series, but as long as it’s an addition to what we’re doing in Cup and not taking away from what we’re doing in Cup. That’s really code for we need to raise a lot of money. To do the O’Reilly Series in a way that would be additive to our Cup Series efforts and not subtract from it, we would need to raise about $15-20 million. That check hasn’t come across our desk. Maybe one day it will, but it hasn’t. Our focus right now is on the Cup cars because we don’t want to take away from it.”
Keselowski also noted the landscape within the series, where Ford-backed entries remain limited compared with rivals. “I don’t want to speak too much for Ford and where their place is in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, but certainly I think you’re right that there are only a handful of Fords in the series,” he continued.
The idea has also surfaced in recent podcast appearances. During a discussion on The Dale Jr. Download, Keselowski spoke about what it would take to launch a program in the series. “If a Cup driver could run full-time. That’s about it,” he said.
The 2010 NASCAR O’Reilly champion added that if RFK were to step into the series, the plan would also involve multiple cars competing against teams like Joe Gibbs Racing and JR Motorsports. The lineup, he suggested, could include one Cup driver along with two rising drivers. For now, however, the focus remains on the Cup garage until the numbers line up.
