“Decrease That Gap” – Brad Keselowski Looks to Tony Stewart to Overcome His NASCAR Handicap

Drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series don’t always stick to racing on just the weekends, with drivers taking part in other series. Be it SRX, CARS Tour, or other Late/Super Late Model Series, they tend to keep themselves busy when not competing in the highest level of stock car racing. For RFK driver-owner Brad Keselowski, it’s not about being busy. It is about being prepared for the weekends, something the 2012 Cup Series champion opened up about recently.

Keselowski’s decision to participate full-time in Tony Stewart’s SRX Series this year is largely down to the #6 driver making up for limited testing and practicing in the Cup Series.

Brad Keselowski is racing in SRX to help himself in the Cup Series

Keselowski misses the increased practice timings from when he entered the Cup Series around 15 years ago and seeks to make use of SRX races on Thursdays to make up for that lost time.

The driver-owner said, “I see these other guys that run the dirt races, and a few guys that run the Xfinity race and truck races and that’s a bigger advantage than it ever has been given the current landscape. So, I’ve got to find a way to decrease that gap.” This also comes in line with a point Denny Hamlin made last month, about drivers running in the Xfinity and Truck races on the same weekend having an advantage over the other drivers.

Talking about Kyle Larson’s All-Star race win, the JGR driver expressed, “Like at North Wilkesboro, there’s little patches that, until I ran and got a bunch of reps at the racetrack, I didn’t know that it was way faster if you do it this way. And I’m sure after a bazillion laps of running, Kyle Larson knew every in and out. Like it proved out because he was the first one to run the apron in turns 3 and 4, coming off of turn 4, he was the first one in the Cup race to drive all the way down to the concrete.”

Keselowski disagreed with Steve Letarte’s take on NASCAR practice times

Earlier this week, former Hendrick Motorsports Crew Chief Steve Letarte expressed how giving more time for practice will hurt competition and will be counterproductive for smaller teams. Speaking on how an extended practice session will allow big teams like Hendrick and JGR to get more information for the simulators, Letarte said, “Let me tell you what, if you gave these guys two hours of practice, you know what happened. The big teams will whip everybody’s butt. It wouldn’t be close.” 

Keselowski retweeted the video and expressed, “Love Steve, Hate the take. Cup series needs practice back right now.” It will indeed be fascinating to see which part of Letarte’s argument the RFK driver disagrees with, considering Letarte himself was associated with a big team like Hendrick Motorsports for close to two decades.