Brad Keselowski takes ‘natural next step’ with RFK Racing expansion for 2025

The NASCAR Cup Series’ return to the race track sits exactly two months away, when the season-opening Clash exhibition marks the unofficial kickoff of the 2025 campaign. For RFK Racing team co-owner Brad Keselowski, that in-between time won’t go idly by, not in what he’s characterized as a “really busy offseason.”

The dawn of the new season will mark the next phase in Keselowski’s vision for the Jack Roush-founded organization, which will grow from two Cup Series teams to three with the addition of driver Ryan Preece and a family of sponsors with Kroger. The 34-year-old joins a driver roster that includes Keselowski and Chris Buescher, both of whom won Cup events last season — the organization’s third under the RFK banner.

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Keselowski, 40, noted how the team caught stride after a first-year stumble with the Next Gen car, putting both of its teams into the 16-driver playoff field in 2023. Last year, Keselowski snapped a 110-race drought with his victory at Darlington Raceway to mark his first win as a driver-owner, but all while having visions of what RFK’s evolution should resemble. That, he said, meant expansion.

“From there, it was kind of like we recognized that’s the next step,” Keselowski said Nov. 22, in the hours before the annual NASCAR Awards. “If you look at the way NASCAR’s set up right now, you need to have three teams. I think that’s why you see the Trackhouses and the 23XIs and all those guys are pushing to be three teams, even Front Row. So there’s strength in numbers with just the way the sport’s laid out, and how you can kind of amortize the overhead and capture the most data. So it’s important for us to be not just financially viable, but competitively viable to have three teams and maximize the opportunities on any given weekend. So, it’s a natural next step for us to get us to where we can ramp up our performance.”

Enter Preece, who has roots as a Connecticut Modified ace and spent the last two seasons with Stewart-Haas Racing on the Cup Series side. He’ll take over the No. 60 Ford, starting a new chapter with a car number that Keselowski says holds a special place in the Roush team’s heritage.

Preece has two victories in each the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series but has been a bit of a journeyman in his five-plus Cup Series seasons. Keselowski said he’d started discussions with Preece back in the spring and sees plenty of potential in his next phase.

“Talent, underrated, hard-working — you know, everything you could dream of, of a coachable player,” Keselowski said. “I think the ball is in our court to give him the right opportunity and equipment, and surround him with the right people to succeed next year.”

Keselowski said he was working diligently to firm up the No. 60 team’s crew chief for next season, but one personnel puzzle piece is already set. RFK announced Nov. 21 that Jeremy Bullins will replace Matt McCall atop the No. 6 Ford’s pit box, marking a rekindling of their driver-crew chief pairing. The two worked together at Team Penske from 2020-21, reaching the Championship 4 in their first campaign, and Keselowski said there was “joint interest” in reconnecting.

“Yeah, years have passed, but there’s still a friendship that never goes,” Keselowski said of his renewed partnership with Bullins. “I’m confident we’ll be able to learn from the years we had apart and apply lessons bilaterally.”

Until this past May at Darlington, Keselowski’s most recent Cup Series win had been a Bullins-led effort. His resurgent run to victory at one of NASCAR’s most demanding tracks was a special one, celebrated with his wife and daughters, who helped push the car from Victory Lane after the confetti had flown.

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The triumph was Keselowski’s first in more than three years and the first for car No. 6 in nearly 13 seasons, but the sentiments ran high with his loved ones close by to share in the joy.

“When I won Darlington with my family there, I mean, that was just … it still gives me chills thinking about it,” Keselowski said. “Once you become a father, one of the things that nobody can really tell you — or at least they didn’t tell me or I wasn’t listening — is the impact of your success and being able to see it through the eyes of your own children and to know that it commands some level of respect and validation from them for years to come and hopefully through their whole entire life. As a father, you want your kids to think you’re a badass, and to see that actually happen is pretty cool.”

RFK Racing has tallied six Cup Series victories over the last three seasons since its re-launch. Pressed for measurable goals in the organization’s next stage, Keselowski says “we want to be able to do that in one season. That’d be a good mark for us.” Placing each of the team’s cars in the Cup Series Playoffs field is another aspiration, one fueled by the aim of being contenders on a weekly basis.

Building RFK’s strength through increased numbers and resources is Keselowski’s goal.

“If you’re not growing, you’re dying in this sport, and we’re growing,” Keselowski said. “We’re adding people, adding teams, making key investments. It’s an exciting time for me. You know, ’23 versus ’24 looks really similar, but I’m keen to say that ’25 should be a step up for us.”