Brad Keselowski, a lifelong supporter of the University of Michigan football team, acknowledges that he experienced “mixed emotions” when he saw the Wolverines win the national title earlier this month in Houston.
Keselowski described his experience at NRG Stadium on January 8 to NBC Sports, saying, “Just trying to enjoy the moment and just be there as a fan, but it’s also a good reminder of like, ‘Hey, I want to be the star, too.'” My goal is to triumph in races. I want applause directed at me. Being the winner is what I want.
“There are moments when you just have to watch someone else kind of live the dream.”
With his goal of taking home a second Cup title and his first Daytona 500, Keselowski, who became an owner/driver of RFK Racing prior to the 2022 season, is determined to make a lasting impression.
He declared, “That’s all I think about.”
He wants to be excluded from the elite group of drivers who have never won a Daytona 500. In previous years, Keselowski has gone agonisingly close to winning the biggest race in sports, only to have his bid fall up short or go against the wall.
Few have had it tougher recently than Keselowski, but Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch have longer droughts than Keselowski (who has lost all 19 of his Daytona 500 starts).
In the past seven Daytona 500s, he has lost five of them due to crashes.
In the last three Daytona 500s, he has reached the white flag lap only once and returned to the chequered flag.
In the last two Daytona 500s, he has led 109 of the 413 laps completed, over three times as much than any other racer, and he has yet to win.
Keselowski remarked, “You can’t say (you want to) win the Daytona 500.” It does not simply show up. You must put in the effort.
Keselowski put in a lot of effort both in creating his team and for that race. RFK Racing had not won a race in the preceding four years before Keselowski took over.
Chris Buescher, a teammate, achieved a career-high three victories in 2022 and once in 2021. Keselowski is still trying to win his first game with the team.
Despite his 35 career Cup titles, he is not new to the struggles. According to Keselowski, his first two years at RFK Racing are similar to his first two seasons from 2010–11 at Team Penske.
It took Team Penske four years to win more than two races in a season until Keselowski started competing for the team full-time.
Although Team Penske has taken home three of the last six Cup victories, including the previous two, it wasn’t until Keselowski won the 2012 series that the team won its first series victory.
Keselowski failed to win a Cup with Team Penske in 2010. In his first season at RFK Racing (2022), he finished in the top six more times than he did in his first full-time Cup season at Team Penske. In his second season at Team Penske, he had three race victories but only 14 top 10 finishes, compared to 16 in his second season at RFK Racing.
“It required three seasons for me to transform Penske into a team that I believed could compete for a championship,” Keselowski remarked. No light switches are present. Hundreds of people are present. Not by flipping a switch will 100 people pull the rope in the same direction all at once. Some people stick with you and some don’t, and it takes time. A portion of it is voluntary, while some is not. However, this leg of the voyage.
“My 2011 Penske season felt a lot like last year.” I want this year to be a lot like my championship-winning season in 2012. I believe we will have excellent cars, a chance to win four or five races, and, in the end, a chance to compete in the final four and win the championship.
Keselowski describes RFK Racing’s growth as “strong offseason,” and he is excited about it. He said that the team’s engineering and aero groups had improved.
He remarked, “We probably brought in a dozen good people.” “They’ve made some amazing improvements to our automobiles. The pit crew is in a great position. The position of engineers is favourable. Thus, we possess a great deal
Various sources can provide motivation. For Denny Hamlin, it involves tidying his home during the off-season.
“Hopefully, at the end of it all, I have a bunch of trophies in my entryway at my house every year,” Hamlin said to NBC Sports.
“I clear everything out on January 1st to make room for nothing. Nothing exists until I achieve anything that year that I can then showcase. I always motivate myself to achieve new goals by clearing aside my previous successes.
According to Hamlin, he began employing this motivational strategy a few years ago.
The 43-year-old stated, “I love the task of trying to fill the trophy case after I clean it out every year.”
