“I just have a lot of empathy for NASCAR”: Brad Keselowski shares thoughts on unfair pull of fights vs. sporting product

Brad Keselowski feels that the trend of today's mainstream media is more about covering viral moments, especially centering around a fight, than the actual sporting product of NASCAR. He explained that the on-track squabbles are “what the people wanna see".

The fight between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch at this year's All-Star Race garnered a lot of attention from the fandom. The same thing happened with the repercussions of the incident; i.e., Stenhouse Jr. getting fined and his crew members getting suspended.

Reflecting on the current situation of the sport's ecosystem, Brad Keselowski said in a recent interview,

"Some of the moments that I think we would like to break through as a sport to, and no offense to you guys, non-traditional media...(that) grows our sport. Doesn't seem to do that, but then somebody throws a punch and all of a sudden we're on all kinds of non-traditional media."

"I just have a lot of empathy for NASCAR. If I was in their shoes, I don't know how I'd handle it any different," he added.

Nevertheless, Brad Keselowski also explained that these moments are what make the sport so enticing for the fans to watch. Being an entertainment business, NASCAR has to cater to what the people want to see.

"That's what the people wanna see...It seems that way," said the RFK Racing owner about the seemingly unfair pull-off fights. "Doesn't mean it's always right. In fact, often they wanna see it because it's not right. But we are still an entertainment-based business."

Currently, Brad Keselowski stands 9th in the NASCAR Cup Series Driver's Standings with 437 points to his name. He now eyes his second win of the season at Sonoma Raceway on June 9. Keselowski's last win came earlier less than a month back in the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.

Brad Keselowski lets slip RFK Racing's renewed charter ambitions

Towards the middle of the last season, Brad Keselowski expressed his interest in expanding his team by adding a third charter. However, he also mentioned that it would likely not happen in 2024.

"It's easier said than done," Keselowski explained in an interview from last year with Bob Pockrass, a renowned journalist with FOX Sports.

However, recently, Front Row Motorsports has agreed to pay $25 million for a Stewart-Haas Racing charter. Needless to say, the price is significantly lower than last year's record-setting purchase of the $40 million Live Fast Motorsports charter.

The fall in charter prices has given rise to the speculation that RFK Racing could potentially obtain a third charter. Reflecting on the same, the 2012 Cup Series champion said (1:26),

"I'm not sure I know what to believe there, but we're still interested and being a three-car Cup team, we're not going to do it just to do it. If we do it, we're going to do it right."

"That means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but to us, it means having the right assets to be able to compete at a high level and doing it in a way that is fiscally responsible for the company," Brad Keselowski added.

Therefore, whether RFK Racing buys a charter this year, especially with the increased supply of the same, remains unanswered for now.