Brad Keselowski has joked over the years that he isn’t that good with math. But there’s one equation that he knows by heart heading into Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway: the answer of three minus one is not always two.
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In Roush Fenway Racing’s case, the answer is one.
That’s the dilemma Keselowski and RFK teammates Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece face in the race. All three drivers have one last chance to qualify for the NASCAR Cup playoffs in Saturday’s race, but the sad fact is that only one can make it.
Maybe, that is. Because none of the three RFK drivers has reached victory lane thus far this season, they are all in a must-win position Saturday to make the playoffs. If none of the three reach victory lane, there will be no playoffs for the organization this year.
Keselowski: The Strategy For All 3 RFK Drivers Is Simple
The strategy is simple, Keselowski says: “Win the race. You’re trying to plan for races that has so much chaos, and it’s kind of absurd to try to do that, so you just try to survive and win at the end.”
That it will be every RFK man for himself in Saturday’s race is just a reality that each driver has to handle, knowing that if one of the three wins, the other two will miss the playoffs.
“Obviously, it’s not ideal, but realistic to what the situation is and trying to keep our head up and control what we can control now,” Keselowski said. “We can’t control what’s happened in the past.
“(Preece and Buescher) have good heads on their shoulders, and I don’t think they need a lot of coaching, which is one of the things I really appreciate about both of them. High character guys. I’m not expecting any surprises.”
But there is one surprise all three RFK drivers hope they have in store for the rest of the field.
“I feel like we’re due,” Keselowski said of his organization, which has not reached victory lane thus far this season. “We’ve had a lot of great runs. Ryan had a shot to win at Talladega and missed by a few feet. I’ve had three or four second-place runs here in the last year-and-a-half on restrictor plate tracks, so I kind of feel like we’re in a good spot to get one.”
Buescher Recalls a Similar Situation with Keselowski Two Years Ago
Buescher likes his two teammates, but that liking goes out the window in this situation.
“All bets are off might be a little stretch, but is it ‘Thou shall not wreck their teammate’?” he quipped, adding with a laugh, “Until at least they can go across the line backwards and finish second.
“We have worked really well together through the years and even before we were teammates. We’ve been around each other, we’ve been able to find ourselves towards the front of these races, and it’s hard to win them. So much happens in those closing laps, but you’ve got to make the best decisions you can in the moment, and it’s not really feasible to say, ‘You’re three cars acting as one the entire time.’”
Unless all three RFK cars are fighting for the same real estate, particularly in the last lap or two.
“You do your best, but a lot of times there’s just not the opportunity to keep three cars in a line pushing and making best speed at all given points, so, yes, there have been conversations and there is a mindset,” Buescher said. “You certainly don’t want to be wiping each other out. That’s not what we’re getting at when we say we’re gonna race each other hard all the way to the line.”
Buescher continued being chippy, recalling an incident he had with Keselowski during this race in 2023, which was the regular-season finale. Buescher won, and Keselowski finished runner-up. Regardless, they both made the playoffs that year, finishing seventh (Burscher) and eighth (Keselowski).
“I still say had things materialized a little differently, and I’ll say this because Brad isn’t here, but I still say had a run materialized a little bit differently behind him a couple years back that there would have been tire marks all up and down the side of my car to the start-finish line,” he said. “Maybe it’s a little easier for him because he’s the owner too, and not just a teammate.
“I don’t want to hurt his feelings, but it’s not how that last corner played out, and just the momentum shifted, but it’s (still) in my mind. He probably would have turned me if we would have gotten all the way to the tri-oval had it been necessary.”
Could Preece Be The Real Wildcard to Surprise Everyone on Saturday?
And then there’s Ryan Preece. Saturday will be the 213th start of his Cup career, and he’s still seeking his first win in the series, not to mention his first time in the playoffs. Could he check off both boxes Saturday night—even if it irks his teammates?
“For me and Chris, and Brad, we’ve talked about it,” Preece said about the implications in Saturday’s race. “The end goal is that one of us ends up in the playoffs, so it’s really hard to sit here and tell you what we’re all gonna do because we don’t know how that last lap is gonna play out (and) what order we’re gonna be in.”
Preece then reaffirmed RFK’s “one for all and all for one” mantra.
“We just know that if there’s an opportunity and when there is an opportunity throughout the race is to help each other, use each other to get to the front and control the race, and if you’re not up front, it’s your job to get there,” he said. “I think we’re all pretty selfish as race car drivers. That’s what we want to be and do, but in the back of our minds, at the same time, we know how important it is for the company to make sure that one of us gets in the playoffs.
“So whoever that is that has the best opportunity at that point in time, we’re gonna do the best we can to make sure that it happens.”
It remains to be seen how the final race of the regular season pans out for RFK Racing. With the expected chaos that Daytona is this time of the year, it’s anyone’s guess who fills the final postseason seat.
