“It’s easy to lose sight of that”: Brad Keselowski reveals the key to winning a NASCAR Cup championship

Brad Keselowski feels that winning the NASCAR Cup Series championship does not happen at Phoenix in November. According to the RFK Racing owner, clinching the ultimate title in the Series season is a body of work and an arduous year-long journey.

The entire season is a battle of points and positions where winning is the need of the hour. Winning a regular season race automatically locks a driver into the playoffs. Therefore, the races during the summer months play an undeniable role in determining how the 10-race postseason will fare for each driver.

Reflecting on the same, the 2012 Cup Series champion said (via SiriusXM NASCAR):

"I gave this speech to our team the other day and to our entire company that the championship is won right now. It's won by the work and the effort that's done during the summer months to prepare the best cars and best teams possible. It's easy to lose sight of that."

"We all think that the races and championships are won on the last lap but for the majority of it you put yourself in position over the summer months by making really good decisions on what to value in the race cars and in the team," he added.

Brad Keselowski snapped a 110-race winless streak this year by winning at Darlington Raceway. The #6 speedster is 10th on the Cup Series standings with 507 points currently. His next race is at Nashville Speedway on June 30, Sunday.

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Brad Keselowski shed light on how he fell out with his ex-boss Roger Penske

Brad Keselowski left Team Penske and bought an ownership stake in RFK Racing in 2022. Currently in his third season as an owner, Keselowski appeared on Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour Podcast reminiscing how he got to the point of bidding goodbye to Penske, his home for over ten years.

Brad Keselowski felt the need for Team Penske to make certain changes to be successful in the future. However, according to him, Roger Penske did not want to run his team as per the advice. The driver recalled (via On3):

"I kind of fell into that same place with Mr. Penkse where it was like, ‘Hey you're 30-something years old, I’m 87 years old. I know what I’m doing. This is the way it’s going to be. I don’t really want you to tell me what to do.'"

As a driver, Brad Keselowski believed that his career would come to an end someday. However, that would not be the case if he were to become a team owner.

"I wanted to be able to steward a team, and ownership’s part of that, but it’s not all of it. I just didn’t feel like I had that opportunity or would ever have that opportunity knowing that at some point your career was going to end," he further explained.

Brad Keselowski's team fields two cars in the NASCAR Cup Series, one of which he drives himself, while the other is driven by Chris Buescher.