NASCAR champion facing 'tough decisions' after missing out on playoffs

Brad Keselowski is facing tough decisions after a disappointing year which saw the NASCAR great finish a lowly 22nd in the Cup Series standings.

Now 13 years out from claiming his only championship back in 2012, Keselowski was not a major factor in the race for playoff places via points, which was his only chance of getting in after going all season without a victory.

The RFK Racing star had a disastrous start to the campaign, failing to even crack the top 10 until Charlotte in late May. Eventually things would improve down the stretch, but not nearly enough.

As the dust settles and 16 rivals prepare for postseason combat in Darlington this weekend, Keselowski will be on the outside looking in. And that is not good enough according to another Cup Series great - 2014 champion Kevin Harvick.

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Harvick on Keselowski struggles

Speaking on his ‘Happy Hour’ podcast, Harvick claimed: “Brad is, in my eyes, is supposed to be the star of the team, right? That’s the team, that’s supposed to be the leader.

“Now, over the last six weeks, they’ve definitely run better, climbed up the points standings, but haven’t won. You know, [there] always seems to be something that happens throughout the day that keeps them from being in a position to win.”

Harvick believes Keselowski now faces tough conversations, and decisions, as he starts to look ahead to 2026.

“I think it’s a tough conversation. I think it’s that time of the year where you’re going to have to start deciding, are you going to make changes on your team to be able to put yourself in a position to win.

“Can they maintain what they’ve done the last six weeks for the end of the year to get themselves back to victory lane to know that they’re okay, or do they need to go hunt for engineers, crew chief, whatever they think that is. This is the time of year that you have to do that.”

Preece factor says it all

Keselowski’s teammate, Ryan Preece, finished four places ahead of him in the regular-season standings, and Harvick believes this just emphasizes the need for tough conversation about the No. 6 car.

“Ryan Preece did a great job this year. I don't think anybody expected the improvement that they saw, but they’re real contenders and going to be better next year, having a year under their belt, determined, hungry.

“But when you look at that [No.] 6 car, it’s supposed to be the anchor on the performance side, and they have not been, and I think that you gotta have somebody be the anchor of the team to carry it along, and it just hasn’t been that way for the [No.] 6.”

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