Memorable moments: A look at Kyle Busch’s 200 career NASCAR victories

By Dustin LongMar 17, 2019, 7:08 PM EDT

FONTANA, Calif. — Kyle Busch overcame a pit road speeding penalty to score his 200th career NASCAR victory at Auto Club Speedway, where Busch has had a rich history.

Busch scored his first career Cup victory Sept. 4, 2005 at Auto Club Speedway. He was the winner in a memorable finish at this track in 2013 — victory No. 130 in his NASCAR career. Running third, Busch swept past the dueling cars of Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin as they made contact, sending Hamlin into the wall.

Sunday, he earned his 200th career NASCAR victory. Here is a look at some of those memorable wins and the list of all his victories:

Kyle Busch celebrates victory in the Funai 250 NASCAR Busch Series race at Richmond International Raceway May 14, 2004. (Photo by A. Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

Victory No. 1 — May 14, 2004: Richmond Raceway — Busch Series: The 19-year-old started on the pole and led 236 of 250 laps to score the victory. “That was awesome,” Busch said in victory lane. Busch had to hold off Greg Biffle for the win. Said Biffle: “I could have gotten to his bumper at the end of the race. I figured I’d let him go. I didn’t want to race like that. He ran a good race.”

Victory No. 9 — Sept. 9, 2005: California Speedway — Nextel Cup Series: The 20-year-old became the youngest Cup winner at the time when he took the checkered flag at what is now called Auto Club Speedway. Busch announced in victory lane that he was donating his race winnings to the Hurricane Katrina relief fund. More than 1,800 people were killed in the storm, which flooded New Orleans.

Victory No. 24 — March 9, 2008: Atlanta Motor Speedway — Nextel Cup Series: Busch scored his first Cup victory for Joe Gibbs Racing and also gave Toyota its first victory in NASCAR’s top series.

Victories No. 76, 77, 78 — Aug. 18, 20-21, 2010: Bristol Motor Speedway — Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide, Sprint Cup Series: He swept all three races, becoming the first driver in NASCAR history to win in each of its top three series on the same weekend. It was during driver introductions for the Cup race that Brad Keselowski said into the microphone that “Kyle Busch is an ass.” Keselowski was upset about contact between the two of them the night before in the Nationwide race. He would repeat this feat in 2017 with victories No. 178-180.

Kyle Busch celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 28, 2015. (Photo by Tim Bradbury/Getty Images)

Victory No. 143 — June 28, 2015: Sonoma Raceway — Sprint Cup Series: Scored his first Cup win in his fifth series start that season. He missed the first 11 points races after breaking his right left and left foot in a crash in the Xfinity Series season opener in February at Daytona.

Victory No. 154 — Nov. 22, 2015: Homestead-Miami Speedway — Sprint Cup Series: He wins the season-ending race to cap his comeback from missing the first 11 points races and captures his first Cup championship.

Victory No. 188 — May 27, 2018: Charlotte Motor Speedway — Monster Energy Cup Series: He scored his first points-paying Cup victory at this track. The win gave him at least one win at all 23 facilities that host Cup races. He led 377 of 400 laps. Said Busch: “It’s just something cool tonight to be able to accomplish something that I’ve been dreaming about since I was a kid. I remember being eight, nine, 10 years old and wanting to win races at Charlotte, wanting to win the Coke 600, wanting to win the All-Star Race and just remembering watching those races under the lights here and dreaming of one day going to Victory Lane, and now finally it’s here.”

Victory No. 200 — March 17, 2019: Auto Club Speedway — Busch had the dominant car but a pit road speeding penalty on Lap 123 dropped him to 18th and created some question of it he could get back into the lead. He took the lead for good on Lap 175.

	Series	Track	Driver	Date
1	Xfinity	Richmond	Kyle Busch	5/14/2004
2	Xfinity	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	5/29/2004
3	Xfinity	Kentucky	Kyle Busch	6/19/2004
4	Xfinity	LOR	Kyle Busch	8/7/2004
5	Xfinity	Michigan	Kyle Busch	8/21/2004
6	Truck	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	5/20/2005
7	Xfinity	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	5/28/2005
8	Truck	Dover	Kyle Busch	6/4/2005
9	Cup	Auto Club	Kyle Busch	9/4/2005
10	Truck	Atlanta	Kyle Busch	10/29/2005
11	Cup	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	11/13/2005
12	Xfinity	Bristol	Kyle Busch	3/25/2006
13	Truck	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	5/19/2006
14	Cup	Loudon	Kyle Busch	7/16/2006
15	Cup	Bristol	Kyle Busch	3/25/2007
16	Xfinity	Daytona	Kyle Busch	7/7/2007
17	Xfinity	Richmond	Kyle Busch	9/7/2007
18	Xfinity	Kansas	Kyle Busch	9/29/2007
19	Truck	Atlanta	Kyle Busch	10/27/2007
20	Truck	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	11/9/2007
21	Xfinity	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	11/10/2007
22	Truck	Auto Club	Kyle Busch	2/23/2008
23	Truck	Atlanta	Kyle Busch	3/7/2008
24	Cup	Atlanta	Kyle Busch	3/9/2008
25	Xfinity	Texas	Kyle Busch	4/5/2008
26	Xfinity	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	4/11/2008
27	Xfinity	Mexico City	Kyle Busch	4/20/2008
28	Cup	Talladega	Kyle Busch	4/27/2008
29	Cup	Darlington	Kyle Busch	5/10/2008
30	Xfinity	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	5/24/2008
31	Cup	Dover	Kyle Busch	6/1/2008
32	Cup	Sonoma	Kyle Busch	6/22/2008
33	Cup	Daytona	Kyle Busch	7/5/2008
34	Xfinity	Chicago	Kyle Busch	7/11/2008
35	Cup	Chicago	Kyle Busch	7/12/2008
36	Xfinity	LOR	Kyle Busch	7/26/2008
37	Cup	Watkins Glen	Kyle Busch	8/10/2008
38	Truck	Bristol	Kyle Busch	8/20/2008
39	Xfinity	Auto Club	Kyle Busch	8/30/2008
40	Xfinity	Dover	Kyle Busch	9/20/2008
41	Xfinity	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	10/10/2008
42	Xfinity	Texas	Kyle Busch	11/1/2008
43	Truck	Auto Club	Kyle Busch	2/21/2009
44	Xfinity	Auto Club	Kyle Busch	2/21/2009
45	Cup	Las Vegas	Kyle Busch	3/1/2009
46	Truck	Atlanta	Kyle Busch	3/7/2009
47	Cup	Bristol	Kyle Busch	3/22/2009
48	Xfinity	Texas	Kyle Busch	4/4/2009
49	Xfinity	Richmond	Kyle Busch	5/1/2009
50	Cup	Richmond	Kyle Busch	5/2/2009
51	Xfinity	Nashville	Kyle Busch	6/6/2009
52	Xfinity	Loudon	Kyle Busch	6/27/2009
53	Xfinity	Gateway	Kyle Busch	7/18/2009
54	Truck	Bristol	Kyle Busch	8/19/2009
55	Cup	Bristol	Kyle Busch	8/22/2009
56	Truck	Chicago	Kyle Busch	8/28/2009
57	Truck	Loudon	Kyle Busch	9/19/2009
58	Xfinity	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	10/16/2009
59	Truck	Talladega	Kyle Busch	10/31/2009
60	Truck	Texas	Kyle Busch	11/6/2009
61	Xfinity	Texas	Kyle Busch	11/7/2009
62	Xfinity	Homestead	Kyle Busch	11/21/2009
63	Xfinity	Auto Club	Kyle Busch	2/20/2010
64	Truck	Nashville	Kyle Busch	4/2/2010
65	Xfinity	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	4/9/2010
66	Xfinity	Texas	Kyle Busch	4/19/2010
67	Cup	Richmond	Kyle Busch	5/1/2010
68	Xfinity	Dover	Kyle Busch	5/15/2010
69	Cup	Dover	Kyle Busch	5/16/2010
70	Truck	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	5/21/2010
71	Xfinity	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	5/29/2010
72	Xfinity	Loudon	Kyle Busch	6/26/2010
73	Xfinity	Chicago	Kyle Busch	7/9/2010
74	Xfinity	LOR	Kyle Busch	7/24/2010
75	Xfinity	Iowa	Kyle Busch	7/31/2010
76	Truck	Bristol	Kyle Busch	8/18/2010
77	Xfinity	Bristol	Kyle Busch	8/20/2010
78	Cup	Bristol	Kyle Busch	8/21/2010
79	Truck	Chicago	Kyle Busch	8/27/2010
80	Truck	Loudon	Kyle Busch	9/18/2010
81	Xfinity	Dover	Kyle Busch	9/25/2010
82	Xfinity	Auto Club	Kyle Busch	10/9/2010
83	Truck	Talladega	Kyle Busch	10/30/2010
84	Truck	Texas	Kyle Busch	11/5/2010
85	Truck	Homestead	Kyle Busch	11/19/2010
86	Xfinity	Homestead	Kyle Busch	11/20/2010
87	Truck	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	2/25/2011
88	Xfinity	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	2/26/2011
89	Xfinity	Bristol	Kyle Busch	3/19/2011
90	Cup	Bristol	Kyle Busch	3/20/2011
91	Xfinity	Auto Club	Kyle Busch	3/26/2011
92	Xfinity	Talladega	Kyle Busch	4/16/2011
93	Truck	Nashville	Kyle Busch	4/22/2011
94	Cup	Richmond	Kyle Busch	4/30/2011
95	Xfinity	Darlington	Kyle Busch	5/6/2011
96	Truck	Dover	Kyle Busch	5/13/2011
97	Truck	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	5/20/2011
98	Truck	Kentucky	Kyle Busch	7/7/2011
99	Cup	Kentucky	Kyle Busch	7/9/2011
100	Xfinity	Loudon	Kyle Busch	7/16/2011
101	Cup	Michigan	Kyle Busch	8/21/2011
102	Xfinity	Bristol	Kyle Busch	8/26/2011
103	Xfinity	Richmond	Kyle Busch	9/9/2011
104	Truck	Loudon	Kyle Busch	9/24/2011
105	Cup	Richmond	Kyle Busch	4/28/2012
106	Xfinity	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	3/2/2013
107	Xfinity	Bristol	Kyle Busch	3/16/2013
108	Xfinity	Auto Club	Kyle Busch	3/23/2013
109	Cup	Auto Club	Kyle Busch	3/24/2013
110	Xfinity	Texas	Kyle Busch	4/12/2013
111	Cup	Texas	Kyle Busch	4/13/2013
112	Xfinity	Darlington	Kyle Busch	5/10/2013
113	Truck	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	5/17/2013
114	Xfinity	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	5/25/2013
115	Truck	Dover	Kyle Busch	5/31/2013
116	Xfinity	Loudon	Kyle Busch	7/13/2013
117	Xfinity	Indianapolis	Kyle Busch	7/27/2013
118	Cup	Watkins Glen	Kyle Busch	8/11/2013
119	Truck	Bristol	Kyle Busch	8/21/2013
120	Xfinity	Bristol	Kyle Busch	8/23/2013
121	Cup	Atlanta	Kyle Busch	9/1/2013
122	Truck	Chicago	Kyle Busch	9/13/2013
123	Xfinity	Chicago	Kyle Busch	9/14/2013
124	Xfinity	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	10/11/2013
125	Xfinity	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	11/9/2013
126	Truck	Homestead	Kyle Busch	11/15/2013
127	Truck	Daytona	Kyle Busch	2/21/2014
128	Xfinity	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	3/1/2014
129	Xfinity	Bristol	Kyle Busch	3/15/2014
130	Cup	Auto Club	Kyle Busch	3/23/2014
131	Truck	Kansas	Kyle Busch	5/9/2014
132	Truck	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	5/16/2014
133	Truck	Dover	Kyle Busch	5/30/2014
134	Xfinity	Dover	Kyle Busch	5/31/2014
135	Truck	Kentucky	Kyle Busch	6/26/2014
136	Xfinity	Richmond	Kyle Busch	9/5/2014
137	Truck	Chicago	Kyle Busch	9/13/2014
138	Xfinity	Dover	Kyle Busch	9/27/2014
139	Xfinity	Kansas	Kyle Busch	10/4/2014
140	Truck	Texas	Kyle Busch	10/31/2014
141	Xfinity	Texas	Kyle Busch	11/1/2014
142	Xfinity	Michigan	Kyle Busch	6/13/2015
143	Cup	Sonoma	Kyle Busch	6/28/2015
144	Cup	Kentucky	Kyle Busch	7/11/2015
145	Cup	Loudon	Kyle Busch	7/19/2015
146	Xfinity	Indianapolis	Kyle Busch	7/25/2015
147	Cup	Indianapolis	Kyle Busch	7/26/2015
148	Truck	Pocono	Kyle Busch	8/1/2015
149	Truck	Michigan	Kyle Busch	8/15/2015
150	Xfinity	Bristol	Kyle Busch	8/21/2015
151	Xfinity	Chicago	Kyle Busch	9/19/2015
152	Xfinity	Kansas	Kyle Busch	10/17/2015
153	Xfinity	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	11/14/2015
154	Cup	Homestead	Kyle Busch	11/22/2015
155	Xfinity	Atlanta	Kyle Busch	2/27/2016
156	Xfinity	Las Vegas	Kyle Busch	3/5/2016
157	Xfinity	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	3/12/2016
158	Truck	Martinsville	Kyle Busch	4/2/2016
159	Cup	Martinsville	Kyle Busch	4/3/2016
160	Xfinity	Texas	Kyle Busch	4/8/2016
161	Cup	Texas	Kyle Busch	4/9/2016
162	Cup	Kansas	Kyle Busch	5/7/2016
163	Xfinity	Kentucky	Kyle Busch	7/8/2016
164	Xfinity	Loudon	Kyle Busch	7/16/2016
165	Xfinity	Indianapolis	Kyle Busch	7/23/2016
166	Cup	Indianapolis	Kyle Busch	7/24/2016
167	Xfinity	Richmond	Kyle Busch	9/9/2016
168	Truck	Chicago	Kyle Busch	9/16/2016
169	Xfinity	Kansas	Kyle Busch	10/15/2016
170	Xfinity	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	11/12/2016
171	Xfinity	Atlanta	Kyle Busch	3/4/2017
172	Truck	Kansas	Kyle Busch	5/12/2017
173	Truck	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	5/19/2017
174	Xfinity	Kentucky	Kyle Busch	7/8/2017
175	Xfinity	Loudon	Kyle Busch	7/15/2017
176	Cup	Pocono	Kyle Busch	7/30/2017
177	Xfinity	Watkins Glen	Kyle Busch	8/5/2017
178	Truck	Bristol	Kyle Busch	8/16/2017
179	Xfinity	Bristol	Kyle Busch	8/18/2017
180	Cup	Bristol	Kyle Busch	8/19/2017
181	Cup	Loudon	Kyle Busch	9/24/2017
182	Cup	Dover	Kyle Busch	10/1/2017
183	Cup	Martinsville	Kyle Busch	10/29/2017
184	Truck	Las Vegas	Kyle Busch	3/2/2018
185	Cup	Texas	Kyle Busch	4/8/2018
186	Cup	Bristol	Kyle Busch	4/16/2018
187	Cup	Richmond	Kyle Busch	4/21/2018
188	Cup	Charlotte	Kyle Busch	5/27/2018
189	Xfinity	Pocono	Kyle Busch	6/2/2018
190	Cup	Chicago	Kyle Busch	7/1/2018
191	Truck	Pocono	Kyle Busch	7/28/2018
192	Cup	Pocono	Kyle Busch	7/29/2018
193	Cup	Richmond	Kyle Bush	9/22/2018
194	Cup	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	11/11/2018
195	Truck	Atlanta	Kyle Busch	2/23/2019
196	Truck	Las Vegas	Kyle Busch	3/1/2019
197	Xfinity	Las Vegas	Kyle Busch	3/2/2019
198	Xfinity	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	3/9/2019
199	Cup	Phoenix	Kyle Busch	3/10/2019
200	Cup	Auto Club	Kyle Busch	3/17/2019

Rick Hendrick hopes rough racing settles down after Chase Elliott suspension

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 7:00 PM EDT

LE MANS, France (AP) — Rick Hendrick fully supports Chase Elliott as he returns from a one-race suspension for deliberately wrecking Denny Hamlin, but the team owner believes on-track aggression has gotten out of control this season and NASCAR sent a message by parking the superstar.

“Until something was done, I think that kind of rough racing was going to continue,” Hendrick told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Elliott missed last week’s race outside St. Louis as the five-time fan-voted most popular driver served a one-race suspension for retaliating against Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The two had made contact several times, with Elliott hitting the wall before he deliberately turned left into Hamlin to wreck him.

Hamlin immediately called on NASCAR to suspend Elliott, which the sanctioning body did despite his star power and the effect his absence from races has on TV ratings. Elliott missed six races earlier this season with a broken leg suffered in a snowboarding crash and NASCAR lost roughly 500,000 viewers during his absence.

Hendrick, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with NASCAR’s special Garage 56 project, told the AP he understood the suspension. NASCAR last year suspended Bubba Wallace one race for intentionally wrecking Kyle Larson, another Hendrick driver.

“Pushing and shoving, it’s a fine line, and when someone puts you out of the race, you get roughed up, emotions take over and you react,” Hendrick said. “I think maybe guys will run each other a little bit cleaner moving forward. “We understand the suspension, and nobody really likes to have to go through that, but you just do it and move on.”

Hendrick said he believes drivers have gotten far too aggressive with the second-year Next Gen car, which has not only tightened the field but is a durable vehicle that can withstand bumping and banging. Contact that used to end a driver’s day now barely leaves a dent.

It’s led to drivers being more forceful and, in Hendrick’s opinion, too many incidents of drivers losing their cool.

“There’s rubbing. But if you just harass people by running them up into the wall, every time you get to them, you get tired of it,” Hendrick said. “And that’s what so many of them do to cause accidents, but then they don’t get in the accident themselves.

“I think everybody understands the rules. But you’ve got an awful lot of tension and when you’re out their racing like that, and you are almost to the finish, and somebody just runs over you for no reason, I think the cars are so close and it’s so hard to pass, they get frustrated.”

Elliott, with seven missed races this season, is ranked 27th in the standings heading into Sunday’s road course race in Sonoma, California. He’s been granted two waivers by NASCAR to remain eligible for the playoffs, but the 2020 champion needs to either win a race or crack the top 16 in standings to make the field.

An outstanding road course racer with seven wins across several tracks, Elliott will be motivated to get his first win of the season Sunday at Sonoma, one of the few road courses on the schedule where he’s winless.

Hendrick said when he spoke to Elliott he urged him to use caution moving forward.

“I just said ‘Hey, we’ve got to be careful with that,’” Hendrick said. “But I support him, I really do support him. You get roughed up and it ruins your day, you know, you let your emotions take over.”

Concussion-like symptoms sideline Noah Gragson

By Dustin LongJun 8, 2023, 3:46 PM EDT

Noah Gragson will not compete in Sunday’s Cup race at Sonoma Raceway because of concussion-like symptoms he experienced this week after his crash at WWT Raceway, Legacy MC announced Thursday.

Grant Enfinger will drive the No. 42 in place of Gragson.

“Noah’s health is the highest of priorities and we commend him for making the decision to sit out this weekend,” said team co-owners Maury Gallagher and Jimmie Johnson in a statement from the team. “We are appreciative that Grant was available and willing to step in since the Truck Series is off this weekend.”

The team states that Gragson was evaluated and released from the infield care center after his crash last weekend at WWT Raceway. He began to experience concussion-like symptoms mid-week and is seeking treatment.

Gragson is 32nd in the points in his rookie Cup season.

Enfinger is available with the Craftsman Truck Series off this weekend. Enfinger is coming off a victory in last weekend’s Truck race at WWT Raceway for GMS Racing, which is owned by Gallagher. That was Enfinger’s second Truck win of the season.

NASCAR implements safety changes after Talladega crash

By Dustin LongJun 8, 2023, 1:05 PM EDT

NASCAR is implementing changes to Cup cars that strengthen the right side door area and soften the frontal area after reviewing the crash between Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece at Talladega Superspeedway in April.

The changes are to be in place for the July 9 race weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Larson and Preece were uninjured in the vicious crash late in the race at Talladega. Larson’s car was turned and slid down the track to the apron before coming back up in traffic. Preece’s car slammed into the right side door area of Larson’s car.

Dr. John Patalak, NASCAR vice president of safety engineering, said the difference in velocity of the two cars at the time of impact was 59 mph.

“It’s pretty hard to find that on the racetrack normally,” Patalak told reporters Thursday during a briefing.

The severe impact moved a right side door bar on Larson’s car. NASCAR announced last month that it was allowing teams to add six right side door bar gussets to prevent the door bars from buckling in such an impact.

Thursday, NASCAR announced additional changes to the cars. The changes come after computer simulations and crash testing.

NASCAR is mandating:

Steel plate welded to the right side door bars
Front clips will be softened
Front bumper strut softening
Front ballast softening
Modified cross brace

Patalak said that NASCAR had been working on changes to the car since last year and did crash testing in January at the Transportation Research Center in East Liberty, Ohio. NASCAR did more work after that crash test.

As for the changes to the front of the car, Patalak said: “From an engineering standpoint we’re reducing the buckling strength of those individual parts and pieces. The simplified version is we are increasing the amount of crush that the front clip will be capable of. That’s all an effort to reduce the accelerations that the center section and driver will be exposed to during these frontal crashes.”

Adding the steel plate to the door bars is meant to strengthen that area to prevent any type of intrusion or buckling of the door bars in a similar type of crash.

Patalak also said that NASCAR inspected the car of Blaine Perkins that barrel rolled during the Xfinity race at Talladega in April. Patalak said that NASCAR consulted with Dr. James Raddin, Jr., who was one of the four authors of the Earnhardt investigation report in 2001 for the sanctioning body, in that incident.

Dr. Diandra: Brad Keselowski driving RFK Racing revival

By Diandra Leslie-PeleckyJun 8, 2023, 12:00 PM EDT

Brad Keselowski surprised many when he didn’t re-sign with Team Penske in 2021. Penske was his home since 2010, and the team who helped him to a Cup Series championship in 2012. But Jack Roush offered Keselowski something Roger Penske couldn’t — ownership stake in the team.

Keselowski knew an RFK Racing revival would be an challenge, but also that he was prepared for it.

“I’ve been studying my whole life for this moment, and I’m ready for the test,” Keselowski said during the announcement of the new partnership.

A historic team with historic ups and downs

Roush Racing entered Cup competition in 1988. It didn’t win that first year, but the company collected at least one checkered flag every year from 1989-2014 — except for 1996.

Roush was one of the first owners (along with Rick Hendrick) to appreciate the advantages of multi-car teams. By 2003, Roush Racing fielded five full-time teams. In 2005, all five Roush cars made the playoffs, accumulating 15 wins between them. Their dominance prompted NASCAR to limit teams to four cars. That limit remains today.

Roush sold half the team to Fenway Sports Group in 2007. The renamed Roush Fenway Racing team, however, never reached the highs of 2005 as the graph below shows.

The 2015 season was Jack Roush’s first winless season since 1996. By the time Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won two races in 2017, RFR was down to two cars. The company had four consecutive winless seasons before Keselowski came on board.

Keselowski is a perfect choice to drive the RFK revival. After all, how many other NASCAR drivers run a 3D-printing business? Or worry about having enough properly educated workers for 21st century manufacturing jobs?

“I feel like I’m buying into a stock that is about to go up,” Keselowski said.

Keselowski’s record

The new RFK Racing team started off strong at Daytona, with Keselowski and teammate Chris Buescher each winning their Duels. During that week, NASCAR confiscated wheels from both drivers’ cars. Despite concerns about the team’s modifications, NASCAR ultimately levied no penalty. But after the fifth race of the year at Atlanta, NASCAR docked Keselowski 100 points for modifying single-source parts. Keselowski needed to win to make the playoffs.

It wasn’t Keselowski, but Buescher who won the first race under the new name. Unfortunately, Buescher’s Bristol win came too late to make the playoffs.

Keselowski finished 2022 ranked 24th, the worst finish since his first full-time season in 2010 when he finished 25th.

In the table below, I compare Keselowski’s finishes for his last two years at Team Penske to his finishes with RFK Racing in 2022 and the first 15 races of 2023.

Keselowski’s lack of wins since switching teams is the most obvious difference; however, the falloff in top-five and top-10 finishes is even more significant. Keselowski was not only not winning races, he often wasn’t even in contention. In 2020, Keselowski finished 91.7% of all races on the lead lap. In his first year with RFK, that metric dropped to 61.1%.

On the positive side, his numbers this year look far better than his 2022 statistics. Keselowski finishes on the lead lap 86.7% of the time and already has as many top-10 finishes in 15 races as he had in all 36 races last year.

Keselowski’s top-five finish rate improved from 2.8% in 2022 to 20.0% this year. That’s still off his 2021 top-five-finish rate of 36.1%, but it’s a step forward.

I summarize the last four years of some of Keselowski’s loop data metrics in the table below.

In 2022, Keselowski was down between six to seven-and-a-half points in starting, finishing and average running positions relative to 2021. This year, he’s improved so that the difference is only in the 2.6 to 3.6-position range.

Two keys for continued improvement

Ford is playing catch-up this year, having won only two of 15 points-paying races. Ryan Blaney, who won one of those two races, has the highest average finishing position (11.3) among drivers with at least eight starts. Keselowski is 14th overall with a 15.7 average finishing position, and fourth best among Ford drivers. Buescher is finishing an average of 1.2 positions better than his teammate.

Kevin Harvick is the top-ranked Ford driver in average running position, coming in sixth overall. Keselowski is 13th overall in average running position and the fourth-best among the Ford drivers.

Average green-flag speed rank is the average of a driver’s rank in green-flag speed over all the races for which he was ranked. Harvick is the fastest Ford as measured by this metric, ranking eighth among all drivers who have completed at least eight races. Keselowski is the fifth-fastest Ford, but the 20th-ranked driver in average green-flag speed rank.

The other issue, however, is particular to Keselowski: He is involved in a lot of accidents. That’s not new with Keselowski’s move to RFK Racing. Since 2016, Keselowski has been involved in at least eight caution-causing incidents every year.

What may be new is that he has a harder time recovering from non-race-ending incidents now than he did at Penske.

In 2021, Keselowski was involved in 12 caution-causing accidents. Last year, it was 10 (nine accidents and a spin). He’s already been involved in 12 incidents this year, the most of any full-time driver.

Keselowski isn’t too concerned about accidents. He views them as a consequence of pushing a car to its limits. His competitors, however, have called him out for for his aggressive driving style.

Neither accidents nor Keselowski’s attitude toward them changed with his transition from Team Penske to RFK Racing.

Except now he’s the one paying for those wrecked cars.

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