RFK owner Brad Keselowski's calculated risk on Ryan Preece paying off as performances start to validate it

NASCAR Cup Series team owner and driver, Brad Keselowski, has explained the thinking behind bringing in Ryan Preece into the Roush Fenway Keselowski team for the 2025 season. As a driver, Kewslowski has raced against Preece in the past seasons when the latter raced for other teams, which gave the 2012 Cup Series champion a close look at his driving style, motivating him to bring him on board the team.

RFK Racing expanded operations this year, adding a third charter to their team, the #60 car, which is being piloted by Preece.

In conversation with YouTuber Eric Estepp, as an owner of RFK Racing, Brad Keselowski discussed how being on the track with Preece gave him an understanding on what kind of racer he is, and then learning more about him off-track made him feel that he could provide the right environment for success. He said [2:29 onwards]:

"I had the opportunity, obviously, to race around Ryan and you get a good idea what kind of racer he is when you're just out on the track around him. Then I saw his work ethic and appreciated his maturity and just felt like he needed the right situation to be successful."

In the past three races this season, Ryan Preece has secured a third place finish, a ninth place finish and a seventh place finish. Keselowski discussed feeling pride for the 34-year-old's performances since joining his team, while giving credit where it's due.

"It's nice to have a situation like we have with Ryan where it looks like a really good decision. I'm happy for him, I'm proud of him for his success. I don't want to take too much credit for it, you know, he's the one that's doing a lot of the work and the people around him are putting the work in. I just try to put the pieces together and make them fit so that they can capitalize," he added. [3:38 onwards]

This season, Brad Keselowski, driving his team's #6 car, scored a highest finish of 11th place which he achieved at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway event last month.

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Brad Keselowski highlights the area where the RFK Racing team can improve

Brad Keselowski (6) during practice and qualifying for the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, March 29th 2025 - Source: Imagn

Since Brad Keselowski joined Roush Fenway Racing in 2022, the team has scored six wins over the last three seasons, with a highest championship standing of 7th place, achieved by Chris Buescher in 2023. That year, Keselowski finished 8th in the standings.

Now, the team co-owner has opened up about what area the organization needs to invest in for the three cars to have more success. He said (via the aforementioned interview):

"We need to just take another step with our engineering on the cars to where we can qualify on poles and control weekends. We've had a couple poles over the last few years and I'm proud of that, but I want to see us get to a spot where we dominate a race." [5:06]

Over the last three years, RFK Racing has scored two pole positions, one by Buescher and another by Keselowski, both coming during the 2022 season.