"If you’re lucky and you’re damn good, you win" - Brad Keselowski 'proud as hell' after Chris Buescher's win at NASCAR Bristol race

The conclusion of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race last weekend meant not only the winner for RFK Racing, Chris Buescher, was elated, but team co-owner Brad Keselowski also had reason to celebrate. The 500-lap-long race at Bristol Motor Speedway saw Buescher dominate a race that was dictated by track position after leading more than 100 laps.

Buescher drove his #17 Fastenal Ford Mustang into Victory Lane and was seen being congratulated by his boss after crossing the finish line, with the duo celebrating with burnout together. The event was plagued with reliability issues for many drivers, with tire degradation being a key factor in who made it to the top spot last Sunday.

In an interview at Victory Lane with the owner-operator, Keselowski spoke on how difficult it is to win the highest echelon in stock car racing as a team owner, let alone a driver, and said:

“There are forty-some of the best cars that nobody is gonna give you anything. You scratch and claw for every little bit every day and every hour and, if you’re lucky and you don’t wreck, you don’t blow up, you don’t have a problem and you finish 10th to 15th, and if you’re lucky and you’re damn good, you win. If you’re damn good and you’re not lucky, you still finish 20th or worse, so we had two cars that were really good today and one that was unlucky and one that executed and everything came the right way for them.”

Brad Keselowski finished in a respectable P13 himself and looked forward to more victories for the team. He said:

“Oh yeah, I’m proud as hell. Everybody has some level of ego and I’m not gonna say I don’t have any ego, but it’s easy to get over ego when you see that.”

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Brad Keselowski speaks on how winning celebrations feel different as a driver and an owner

Having gone through the emotions of winning the ultimate prize in NASCAR, 2012 Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski admitted winning as an owner felt different. The 38-year-old elaborated on how running a team is a much more difficult task to master as compared to just driving, and said:

“It’s a lot different, but it’s good. This team really earned this. We really needed this for Fastenal. They’ve been a long-term partner for us and half the battle here is just keeping sponsors. There’s a lot to keeping the race team going and, sure, trying to find that speed or the next pit crew member or whatever the heck it is, but trying to keep the sponsors is the only way we can do those things and you can’t keep sponsors if you don’t win.”

Watch Brad Keselowski and RFK Racing try and tame the Texas Motor Speedway next weekend at the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500.