“Years From Now…”: Brad Keselowski’s NASCAR Prophecy From 2018 Has Sadly Come True

NASCAR has made significant strides in prioritizing safety over the years, which is commendable. However, this might’ve come at the cost of reducing the speed of the cars. During the 2018 season, Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski made a prediction at Texas Motor Speedway after Ryan Blaney became the first Cup Series driver to cross the 200mph barrier. He predicted that this might never happen again, and with the introduction of the Next Gen car, it appears that his prophecy has come true.

The new cars were designed to improve safety and reduce costs for teams. However, in the process, it also reduced the speed of the cars even further, making it nearly impossible for drivers to recreate Blaney’s qualifying speed record ever again.

Brad Keselowski had called the achievement a big moment for the sport

A day after the qualifying session had taken place at the Texas Motor Speedway during that season, Keselowski shared his thoughts over social media highlighting how this would go down as a “big moment for the sport.” He even predicted that this was “potentially the last time we ever see a stock car go 200+ MPH,” especially during qualifying runs.

Furthermore, the present-day RFK driver expressed his pride at having been a part of the era when cars could achieve such high speeds. He was not wrong in his sentiment, as the introduction of the Gen 7 cars last year demonstrated how the days of achieving such high speeds had become a relic of the past.

Even heading into this weekend’s race at the Texas Motor Speedway, there is a good chance that nobody would be able to break Blaney’s record or even reach anywhere near that threshold. This is despite Texas being one of the fastest tracks on the NASCAR schedule.

Blaney was not the only one to cross the 200 Mph barrier

Interestingly, that day in Texas, Blaney had not been the only driver who had achieved this incredible record. In fact, there were two drivers who crossed the 200 Mph speed during the 2018 qualifications.

While Blaney had crossed the line on pole position with a speed of 200.505 mph around the 1 1/2-mile track, fellow driver Clint Bowyer lined up right behind him at 200.230 mph. Both laps had been just under the 27-second mark, and Blaney had been quoted, mentioning how it felt like holding his breath for that duration of time.

The Gen 6 cars would have been possibly that last time when such high speeds and the thrills associated with them were possible. Hence, Keselwoski’s prediction was correct, because we might never relive that incredible era ever again.