"It's very important that we find a way": Brad Keselowski emphasizes on NASCAR steering OEMs towards the greater good

Brad Keselowski recently shared his thoughts on what he wants the NASCAR OEMs to do for their own and the greater good. The sport currently has three Original Equipment Manufacturers, Ford, Chevrolet, and Toyota.

As per Keselowski, who was a guest on the recent episode of the Dale Jr. Download hosted by Kelley Earnhardt, the OEMs need to shift their focus more to one aspect of their spending. He said:

"I would like to see the OEMs be less technical in the sport in the nature of their support and significantgly more marketing and branding involved. I miss the days of turning on the race and seeing a Chevy and a Ford commercial. You just don't see'em. And having a racecar driver in that commercial. What I would tell you is OEMs are spending more now on NASCAR than they ever have, it's not even close.

"But it's not increasingly more and more to the technical side. I think for NASCAR it's very important that we find a way to move the OEM spend out of the technical realm into the marketing realm of our sport and do that even."

Brad Keselowski argued that the best opportunity for NASCAR is to convince the three OEMs to spend more on marketing instead of the technical side. As per the RFK Racing driver and co-owner, it would be better for the fans, the sustainability of the sport and teams.

Brad Keselowski deems the current OEM landscape as one of two big threats to NASCAR

At one point in their conversation, Kelley Earnhardt asked Brad Keselowski about what he sees as threats for NASCAR in the next few years. The #6 driver was quick to point out not one but two threats.

The first threat Keselowski named was the ongoing legal dispute between 23XI Racing-Front Row Motorsports and NASCAR over charter conflict. For the former Penske driver, the lawsuit is 'a significant threat' to all of NASCAR.

Apart from that, Keselowski mentioned the other threat, the OEM landscape. He explained:

"NASCAR’s been operating with three OEMs now for probably a decade, decade and a half now, I would say. It’s a bit of a precarious position to be in. I feel like the sport needs about four maybe five OEMs to be kind of its max, healthy position. And three is like, if one walks away there’s a set of dominoes that fall. And I look at the OEM landscape and the car guys, the next decade is going to be tough for them. They’re going to have some really difficult decisions to make."

Keselowski said that the regulations are continuously pushing EVs, and with companies like Tesla taking the market share, the OEMs are under 'massive pressure.' He argued that eventually, the pressure would find its way into NASCAR.

To Brad Keselowski, outside of the legal dispute, that was 'the biggest threat' to NASCAR considering it's not under their control.