Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Brad Keselowski, co-owner and driver for RFK Racing. This interview has been edited for length and clarity, but the full version is available on the 12 Questions podcast.
1. What was one of the first autographs you got as a kid, and what do you remember about that moment?
I don’t remember ever getting an autograph. I’m honestly not an autograph person. I don’t know if I have a single autograph. I have some stuff that my dad signed that fans have given me, but I don’t have any autographs.
I do have one of my favorite autograph stories, though. Around 2016 or 2017, we were doing the media tour for Talladega, which included going to watch Alabama football practice. Afterward, I was supposed to go on (Alabama head coach) Nick Saban’s radio show with (Alabama radio broadcaster) Eli Gold.
My PR guy at the time, David Hovis, decided he was going to buy a football and have it signed. So the night before, he … bought a football still in the box, and brought it to the event. When we got there, he walked up to Nick Saban and nervously said, “Coach Saban, will you sign this football for Brad?”
Now, it wasn’t for me — just for the record. He didn’t want to say it was for him; he was using me to get the autograph. So Coach Saban wrote, “Great to see you race, Brad. Thanks for coming on my show,” and signed it.
David was then like, “Now what do I do with this damn football?” So he gave it to me. That is the only autograph I have — and I only kept it for the story. Don’t get me wrong, I respect Nick Saban. But I only kept it because of that story. And I still have that football in my house today.
2. What is the most miserable you’ve ever been inside of a race car?
Probably at (Circuit of the Americas) this year. It was really, really hot. My cool shirt went out pretty early in the race, and I just burned up in the car. I was as miserable as I can remember being.
That says a lot for a guy who smashed his ankle so badly it grew to the size of a watermelon.
The thing about an injury like that is it happens and it’s over. This was agonizing — like being in a hot tub that’s too hot for an hour and a half. Like, “This really hurts, this really sucks.”
3. Outside of racing, what is your most recent memory of getting way too competitive about something?
There’s the video online of me playing basketball at a Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets) event. … I get there and I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m wearing a dress shirt and no athletic gear. I don’t play basketball. Then they told me I had to do two free throws, two layups, and dribble down the court. I’m like, “Whatever.” So I just do it and didn’t think anything of it and didn’t care if it was bad — and I did not do well. (The un-athletic display has haunted Keselowski for years.) Afterward, I got ripped hard (online).
Not long after that, Dale Jr. started a basketball league in his garage. I joined, and we got super competitive. It got way over the top. Dale Jr.’s engine tuner actually broke his arm playing basketball, and I was like, “I need to stop right now, because I don’t know how I would explain this.” We got so competitive, we were hurting people pretty much every night.
4. What do people get wrong about you?
If there’s one thing that bothers me, I get a lot of backhanded compliments. I’ll be in a meeting or talking to somebody, and they’ll be like, “Wow, you’re pretty smart for a NASCAR driver.”
… If there’s one consistent thing people get wrong about (NASCAR), it’s that it does require intelligence to drive a race car. That’s across the board. It doesn’t mean we don’t do dumb things, but it does require some intelligence to do what we do.
“I just (did) it and didn’t think anything of it and didn’t care if it was bad — and I did not do well,” Brad Keselowski says of his infamous try at basketball. (Sean Gardner / Getty Images)
5. What kind of Uber passenger are you, and how much do you care about your Uber rating?
I don’t know what my Uber rating is, but I’m a good tipper — I think that helps your rating. Most of the time, I put my AirPods in and I almost do a phone call.
I’m really picky about the temperature. Most Ubers are way too cold, particularly in the summer. I immediately turn it up. If there’s comments from Uber drivers about me, it would be: “Likes it too warm, way too quiet.”
6. I’ve been doing these 12 Questions interviews for 16 years, so I’m going back to a previous interview and re-asking a question. In 2010, I asked: If you were in charge of NASCAR, what’s the first thing you’d change? You said, “Without hesitation, I’d get rid of the testing ban. It’s ridiculous. It has a stranglehold on the sport, and it’s slowly getting tighter and tighter, like a python.” You added it would put on a better show because it allows Goodyear to develop the tires, and it hurts the ability for young talent to enter the sport. That was 15 years ago, and the track time has only gotten less. Is there any chance of this changing?
Chance of changing is small, but possible. It’s just economics. Everyone is trying to save money and cut corners anywhere they can, and it’s one of the easier corners to cut.
But you’re an owner, and if you guys think there should be more testing — and fans want more track time in general — what’s the holdup? What’s preventing it?
Most of the team owners are very split on the topic. I’m not the only vote. I’m probably in the minority. The rest of them look at it as more of a line item. It’s just different thoughts, I guess.
7. Also in 2010 I asked you: Who’s the most talented driver in NASCAR? You said Kurt Busch. He’s retired now, so who is the most talented driver in NASCAR today?
The sport has changed a lot since then. When I thought of talent in that era, I thought of someone who could just make a race car go really fast. That was more important than it is now. Now, probably more so than ever, the talent is very procedural — who can maximize pit road, who can nail restarts, who can do the procedural stuff, not the just “go haul a— around this racetrack.” So the talent that’s rewarded is different than it was then.
If I was using the same metrics of 2010 for today, I would say Kyle Larson — he has the most raw speed of anyone in the garage. If I was thinking of it more in this procedural-based mentality, I’d probably point more at Joey Logano. He probably doesn’t have the go-fast that Kyle Larson has, but he’s very well-rounded in all the aspects of the game — restarts, pit road, passing, defense. He’s the most rounded guy in the field.
8. Other than one of your teammates, name a driver you’d be one of the first people to congratulate in victory lane if they won a race.
Anyone from when I had (Brad Keselowski Racing), if I had to pick somebody that’s not a teammate.
But now those drivers — including Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Ross Chastain — are more than a quarter of the playoff field.
Yeah, touché. Now they’ve all won so much, they don’t need to see me. They all made it. I wish in some ways I was able to keep that going, but it led to other things.
9. How much do you use AI technology, whether for your job or daily life? Are you into ChatGPT?
No, not ChatGPT. I’m a Grok guy. I’ve looked around at some other stuff that I really like. I just really use Grok because of convenience. I use it maybe half a dozen times a day for a mixture of things.
10. What is a time in your life that you felt was really challenging, but you’re proud of the way you responded to it?
Professionally, the 2012 season was the high-water mark for me — winning the championship and dealing with all the pressures and complexities of trying to run the team up from scratch during that year. We had a really tough start to the year and then finished with winning the championship. That was pretty sweet for me.
Outside of the professional landscape, the one thing that stands out is when my oldest daughter, Scarlett, was really, really sick and having to kind of navigate all that. When she was first born, she had a condition with her throat, which was really difficult. She couldn’t eat or breathe very well, and we had to go through all that. That was super challenging.
11. What needs to happen in NASCAR to take the sport to the next level of popularity?
There’s a big three here. The first one is the tracks, in general, need to find more ways to generate revenue outside of NASCAR. A lot of these tracks you go to, if you come to them on a Tuesday, three weeks before or after the race, there’s like three people that work there. There’s nobody around. …
The tracks aren’t able to raise enough capital to invest in the fan experience, or they’re significantly subsidized out of the media rights (TV deal) to make their business sustainable. That creates a series of dominoes downstream, whether it be the fan experience that doesn’t rival other sports or draining cash flow that potentially could be coming to the teams and enabling things like testing. …
Second, the whole playoff thing has to go away. The nuance of having 10 races that are more important than 20-some others is very unhealthy for the sport. It’s demeaning to the other tracks and races. And unfortunately, those 10 races that are supposed to mean more are in direct competition with other sports. It muddies the water. It’s not working for the sport. Those two would be 1A and 1B.
Third, I’d look at new OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) as very important — a high tide that raises all ships. They’ll invest in the teams while concurrently investing in the tracks through advertising, along with our media rights holders. A new OEM is right there behind it.
12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next interview. The last one was with Bubba Wallace. He asks: What motivates you now? You have a championship, a beautiful family, you’re a team owner — why do you still want to keep racing? Is it just the love of competition?
If there’s something I dream about that inspires me, it’s being in victory lane with my kids. I remember being in victory lane when I was a kid with my dad and what that moment felt like, and I really want that for my kids.
My kids are just now getting old enough to watch the races and kind of understand what’s happening, which can be fun when you have a good day — not so fun when you have a bad day. But I want my kids growing up to see me as a winner. That’s super motivating to me.
The next interview is with Layne Riggs. Do you have a question I can ask him?
I remember his dad (Scott Riggs) racing. I’d love to hear a childhood Layne story of what it was like watching his dad race. I bet he’s got a good one.
(Top photo of Brad Keselowski: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)