{"id":147850,"date":"2025-09-16T10:23:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T10:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/147850\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T10:23:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T10:23:13","slug":"brad-keselowski-on-why-he-thinks-nascars-playoffs-need-to-go-away-12-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/147850\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Keselowski on why he thinks NASCAR\u2019s playoffs need \u2018to go away\u2019: 12 Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1. What was one of the first autographs you got as a kid, and what do you remember about that moment?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t remember ever getting an autograph. I\u2019m honestly not an autograph person. I don\u2019t know if I have a single autograph. I have some stuff that my dad signed that fans have given me, but I don\u2019t have any autographs.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s radio show with (Alabama radio broadcaster) Eli Gold.<\/p>\n

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 \u2026 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, \u201cCoach Saban, will you sign this football for Brad?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, it wasn\u2019t for me \u2014 just for the record. He didn\u2019t want to say it was for him; he was using me to get the autograph. So Coach Saban wrote, \u201cGreat to see you race, Brad. Thanks for coming on my show,\u201d and signed it.<\/p>\n

David was then like, \u201cNow what do I do with this damn football?\u201d So he gave it to me. That is the only autograph I have \u2014 and I only kept it for the story. Don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

2. What is the most miserable you\u2019ve ever been inside of a race car?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

That says a lot for a guy who smashed his ankle so badly it grew to the size of a watermelon.<\/p>\n

The thing about an injury like that is it happens and it\u2019s over. This was agonizing \u2014 like being in a hot tub that\u2019s too hot for an hour and a half. Like, \u201cThis really hurts, this really sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Outside of racing, what is your most recent memory of getting way too competitive about something?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the video online of me playing basketball at a Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets) event. \u2026 I get there and I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m supposed to be doing. I\u2019m wearing a dress shirt and no athletic gear. I don\u2019t play basketball. Then they told me I had to do two free throws, two layups, and dribble down the court. I\u2019m like, \u201cWhatever.\u201d So I just do it and didn\u2019t think anything of it and didn\u2019t care if it was bad \u2014 and I did not do well. (The un-athletic display has haunted Keselowski for years<\/a>.) Afterward, I got ripped hard (online).<\/p>\n

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.\u2019s engine tuner actually broke his arm playing basketball, and I was like, \u201cI need to stop right now, because I don\u2019t know how I would explain this.\u201d We got so competitive, we were hurting people pretty much every night.<\/p>\n

4. What do people get wrong about you?<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one thing that bothers me, I get a lot of backhanded compliments. I\u2019ll be in a meeting or talking to somebody, and they\u2019ll be like, \u201cWow, you\u2019re pretty smart for a NASCAR driver.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026 If there\u2019s one consistent thing people get wrong about (NASCAR), it\u2019s that it does require intelligence to drive a race car. That\u2019s across the board. It doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t do dumb things, but it does require some intelligence to do what we do.<\/p>\n

\"Brad<\/p>\n

\u201cI just (did) it and didn\u2019t think anything of it and didn\u2019t care if it was bad \u2014 and I did not do well,\u201d Brad Keselowski says of his infamous try at basketball. (Sean Gardner \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

5. What kind of Uber passenger are you, and how much do you care about your Uber rating?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what my Uber rating is, but I\u2019m a good tipper \u2014 I think that helps your rating. Most of the time, I put my AirPods in and I almost do a phone call.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m really picky about the temperature. Most Ubers are way too cold, particularly in the summer. I immediately turn it up. If there\u2019s comments from Uber drivers about me, it would be: \u201cLikes it too warm, way too quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

6. I\u2019ve been doing these 12 Questions interviews for 16 years, so I\u2019m going back to a previous interview and re-asking a question. In 2010, I asked: If you were in charge of NASCAR, what\u2019s the first thing you\u2019d change? You said, \u201cWithout hesitation, I\u2019d get rid of the testing ban. It\u2019s ridiculous. It has a stranglehold on the sport, and it\u2019s slowly getting tighter and tighter, like a python.\u201d 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?<\/p>\n

Chance of changing is small, but possible. It\u2019s just economics. Everyone is trying to save money and cut corners anywhere they can, and it\u2019s one of the easier corners to cut.<\/p>\n

But you\u2019re an owner, and if you guys think there should be more testing \u2014 and fans want more track time in general \u2014 what\u2019s the holdup? What\u2019s preventing it?<\/p>\n

Most of the team owners are very split on the topic. I\u2019m not the only vote. I\u2019m probably in the minority. The rest of them look at it as more of a line item. It\u2019s just different thoughts, I guess.<\/p>\n

7. Also in 2010 I asked you: Who\u2019s the most talented driver in NASCAR? You said Kurt Busch. He\u2019s retired now, so who is the most talented driver in NASCAR today?<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 who can maximize pit road, who can nail restarts, who can do the procedural stuff, not the just \u201cgo haul a\u2014 around this racetrack.\u201d So the talent that\u2019s rewarded is different than it was then.<\/p>\n

If I was using the same metrics of 2010 for today, I would say Kyle Larson \u2014 he has the most raw speed of anyone in the garage. If I was thinking of it more in this procedural-based mentality, I\u2019d probably point more at Joey Logano. He probably doesn\u2019t have the go-fast that Kyle Larson has, but he\u2019s very well-rounded in all the aspects of the game \u2014 restarts, pit road, passing, defense. He\u2019s the most rounded guy in the field.<\/p>\n

8. Other than one of your teammates, name a driver you\u2019d be one of the first people to congratulate in victory lane if they won a race.<\/p>\n

Anyone from when I had (Brad Keselowski Racing), if I had to pick somebody that\u2019s not a teammate.<\/p>\n

But now those drivers \u2014 including Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Ross Chastain \u2014 are more than a quarter of the playoff field.<\/p>\n

Yeah, touch\u00e9. Now they\u2019ve all won so much, they don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

9. How much do you use AI technology, whether for your job or daily life? Are you into ChatGPT?<\/p>\n

No, not ChatGPT. I\u2019m a Grok guy. I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

10. What is a time in your life that you felt was really challenging, but you\u2019re proud of the way you responded to it?<\/p>\n

Professionally, the 2012 season was the high-water mark for me \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t eat or breathe very well, and we had to go through all that. That was super challenging.<\/p>\n

11. What needs to happen in NASCAR to take the sport to the next level of popularity?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s 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\u2019s like three people that work there. There\u2019s nobody around. \u2026<\/p>\n

The tracks aren\u2019t able to raise enough capital to invest in the fan experience, or they\u2019re 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\u2019t rival other sports or draining cash flow that potentially could be coming to the teams and enabling things like testing. \u2026<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s not working for the sport. Those two would be 1A and 1B.<\/p>\n

Third, I\u2019d look at new OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) as very important \u2014 a high tide that raises all ships. They\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n

12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next interview. The last one was with Bubba Wallace<\/a>. He asks: What motivates you now? You have a championship, a beautiful family, you\u2019re a team owner \u2014 why do you still want to keep racing? Is it just the love of competition?<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s something I dream about that inspires me, it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

My kids are just now getting old enough to watch the races and kind of understand what\u2019s happening, which can be fun when you have a good day \u2014 not so fun when you have a bad day. But I want my kids growing up to see me as a winner. That\u2019s super motivating to me.<\/p>\n

The next interview is with Layne Riggs. Do you have a question I can ask him?<\/p>\n

I remember his dad (Scott Riggs) racing. I\u2019d love to hear a childhood Layne story of what it was like watching his dad race. I bet he\u2019s got a good one.<\/p>\n

(Top photo of Brad Keselowski: Jared C. Tilton \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Brad…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,12716,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-147850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-motorsports","11":"tag-nascar","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}