“Common Man Doing Uncommon Things”: Brad Keselowski on NASCAR’s Portrayal for a Potential F1-Like Boost

There’s no denying that Drive to Survive skyrocketed Formula 1’s popularity across the world and even more so in the US. NASCAR too, seems to have picked up on that front as they will have their own version of the popular Netflix Docu-Series coming soon. But this raises a question: What would or what should NASCAR’s version of D2S be like? Brad Keselowski has some suggestions.

The RFK Racing driver and co-owner was recently asked about his views on this subject. And in Keselowski’s preferred version of the series, NASCAR should dilute down on one aspect of their product.

Brad Keselowski references past era as his personal favorite of NASCAR

Ahead of this week’s playoff race at Talladega, Keselowski was asked what NASCAR’s portrayal needs to be to achieve a popularity boom similar to what F1 experienced with Drive to Survive. The 2012 Cup champion claimed that everyone likes “a bit of drama and soap operas” as he shared his take with an example from the past.

“I think for our sport, I always go back to the Ken Squire days because I always loved the way that he talked about the sport. He talked about common man doing uncommon things, living on the edge of safety and all these other things,” he described.

“I always thought that it was so compelling. When I go back as a kid and rewatch the old CBS races with him on, I was always so thoroughly entertained by that mentality.”

Keselowski thinks NASCAR can do without talking about safety too much

Brad Keselowski further touched on an aspect of NASCAR that he finds quite interesting. That aspect is regarding how the sport portrays itself. “We work so hard for the safety and that’s important we should always work towards it.,” he said.

“But we almost to some degree, tell the story too much because it is pretty dangerous. It’s like we’re trying to convince ourselves it’s so safe.”

According to Keselowski, NASCAR can do without talking so much about it, that the sport almost waters it down for fans who don’t understand just how dangerous racing still is despite the big leaps on the safety side of things over the years.

In the end, Keselowski summed up his response with, “I love the way the sport used to be covered back in the Ken Squire days.”

Going back to that style of portraying NASCAR, Keselowski mentioned, would be his personal preference.