Brickyard 400 Media Availability (Brad Keselowski)

Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Brickyard 400 Media Availability | Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Friday, July 19, 2024

Brad Keselowski, dvier of the No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, met with media members at Indianapolis Motor Speedway ahead of the first Cup Series practice session on the track Friday afternoon.

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse

YOU’RE ONE OF TWO GUYS RACING SUNDAY WHO REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO WIN HERE ON THE OVAL. SO MAYBE THE BIG PICTURE PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT IT MEANS FOR NASCAR TO BE BACK ON THE OVAL WITH THE CUP SERIES, AND THEN FOR YOU, WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE? WHAT’S IT LIKE TO WIN AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY ON THE OVAL?
“It’s a return of a crown jewel race, which is great. I don’t think anyone really considered the road course a crown jewel race, so it kind of returns back to that status. I think that’s huge for our sport and it means a lot to me as a driver and I’m assuming it does for the other drivers as well. So, a welcome return. It’s not going to be an easy race. I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of drama on pit road and with respect to how the cars will draft and how they’ll run nose to tail around the track and all those pieces, and we’re still going to go back to some of those headaches, but I think we kind of learned that that’s not necessarily a bad thing. That’s part of what made Indy, Indy, right? And so it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out with tires and all those things along the line, but I think it’s very meaningful to me to see it back on the, I guess you call this oval a quad-oval — is it a quad-oval? I don’t know what it’s called. Rectangle? Rectangle. So it’s good to see it back. For me, winning this race and having your name on that crown jewel list, it’s a really special feeling. It’s kind of a dream come true. It really sank in the best, I think, two years ago when we took the picture with all the drivers that have won here and you just think about how there’s no slouches on that list, right? It’s a lot of champions and the track just has a history for that of the people that win here with very few exceptions are our champions and it feels good to be on that list.”

THIS IS THE 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST ELIMINATION ROUNDS PLAYOFFS FOR NASCAR N 2014. YOU WERE A HUGE PART, EVEN THOUGH YOU DIDN’T MAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND, YOU WERE A HUGE PART OF THE STORYLINES THROUGHOUT THOSE PLAYOFFS. LOOKING BACK ON THAT, WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER NOW ABOUT WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO GO THROUGH 2014 PLAYOFFS AND WHAT HAS IT MEANT FOR NASCAR?
“I think the playoffs were an interesting change to our sport. There are people that like them and there are people that don’t like them. There’s parts I like personally and parts I don’t like personally and the first year was really kind of that 2014 season was everybody kind of getting to understand the system in real time. You read about it and you read the rules and all that, but you didn’t really fully understand how it would change the behaviors until you actually saw it. I think there were definitely some behavioral changes in the garage and in the sport that are due to the playoffs. We all needed a rep through it to see what that would be. It changed our sport. There’s no way of saying it didn’t. But the real effect of the playoffs to me was the next two or three seasons when people started to get comfortable with it. And then you started to see the playoffs actually have an effect on the rest of the season that wasn’t the playoffs, right? Because people had a better understanding for what that meant. So it’s definitely been a change for our sport.”

WITH THE TWO-WEEK BREAK COMING UP HERE, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO MANAGE THAT AT RFK? DO YOU STILL HAVE PEOPLE COMING IN THE SHOP OR ARE YOU GOING TO SEND EVERYBODY HOME?
“Our strategy so far, has been to tell people, please go home, please take a vacation, but not force it. We kind of learned the hard way that forcing people to take vacations is sometimes not always good for them. Sometimes they get more mad at you than if you just told them we have to work. So everybody will kind of figure out their own thing with kind of a heavy nod of, please go take some time off and come back well rested. We’re very fortunate at RFK that this time we have both cars in the playoffs, one locked in and one not locked in but in the playoffs. We need to make the best run we can make through that stretch. It’s very much a people sport and we need those people to be energized and focused when that time comes and this is their best chance to catch their breath.”

WHO’S GOING TO RULE ON SUNDAY, A CREW CHIEF OR THE DRIVER ABOUT CHANGES BECAUSE YOU’RE OBVIOUSLY GOING TO BE MAKING A LOT OF CHANGES IN THE RACE.
“With the NextGen car, I think first time for us on the track with it here, 50 minutes is not a lot. It’s interesting, you know, my time in the sport, it used to be if we changed a tire or if we changed a wicker, we had an extra four hours of practice and a test day or whatever it might be. Now it’s like, well, let’s just change the whole car and, yeah, we’ll give you 50 minutes.So it’s interesting how that’s changed over the years, the mentality has changed. Now it’s more about the engineers than it is about me. They’ll run all the simulations and they’ll come up with one little doodad that they’ll change by a couple thousandths of an inch and it will make all the difference in the world and I’ll just shake my head like I understand what they mean. That’s kind of what it is. You have to trust those guys at this level because what they have access to is far superior than what I have access to. It used to be I had access to the track time. That was my access. But they have access because we don’t have track time. They have access to really powerful simulation and digital tools as a whole that at some point you just kind of have to nod to as a driver and say, I’m not worthy, and let them kind of have their moment.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT, AFTER MISSING THE PLAYOFFS LAST YEAR, BEING BACK IN?
“Well, you know, 2022 was not a lot of fun. 2023 we absolutely made the most of it. Being back in 24, it just kind of feels like a redemption ride to be a part of turning around the organization and to some degree my own career. When I did the deal at RFK, you hated to resign to losing a year or two of your career, but the reality is that you knew that was what it was going to be. Now we’re in the third season. We’re having a slightly better year than we had last year in 2023 with having a win, where last year we didn’t have a win. I feel like we’re more competitive in some ways. More importantly, I feel like we’re a lot more prepared for the playoffs than we were last year. And I think we’ll have a better playoff run than we did last year. I can’t remember, we finished seventh and eighth in the points with our two cars last year. I think we realistically have a shot at getting both cars in that round of eight and one of the cars in the championship round. And from there, who knows what’s going to happen? So I’m excited about that progress. And I’m just eager to see it through.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS TO YOUR SUCCESS IN THE PLAYOFFS TO HAVE BOTH CARS IN THE FINAL TEN RACES?
“Well it certainly helps. Having both cars in the playoffs is a really big deal for us on a number of levels. Whether it’s the partnership side and being able to keep that side going, which is obviously really important for us to be able to pay the bills. The recruiting side, you know, we’re always, it’s always going to be turnover in our sport. We don’t, we don’t like it, but it’s a reality. People come and they go and, you know, you want to, anytime somebody leaves, you want to be able to replace them with someone that’s, you know, of equal or greater talent. And when you’re a car that’s got a pedigree of playoffs, whether it be consecutive playoff runs or just even success in the playoffs, that’s so huge for us with recruiting talent. I look at it probably even more impactful for us is at the OEM level. At the OEM level, generally, the next season’s testing schedule is based off of your performance in the season prior. And the more success you have, the higher impact, higher quality kind of test you get. So it can really kind of parlay to that degree. I think understanding that and maximizing that is really important to us.”

WHEN YOU SEE WHAT KYLE BUSCH IS GOING THROUGH AND WHAT YOU’VE EXPERIENCED IN YOUR CAREER, WHAT DO YOU SEE AND CAN YOU RELATE IN ANY WAY AND WHAT IS IT LIKE TO GO THROUGH SOMETHING LIKE THAT WHERE A LOT OF IT IS PROBABLY OUT OF YOUR CONTROL?
“Yeah it’s obviously not a fun thing to experience yourself, so you do look out and recognize that it’s probably not a lot of fun for him, too. The series and sports in general are always full of ebbs and flows. For the most part of his career, Kyle has done a fantastic job, at least in the Cup series, of avoiding those down years. The law of averages eventually hits you to some degree and he’s going through that now. I was actually surprised last year with how well they ran. I thought their year last year would look more like this year and their year last year would be like this year. It wouldc be this year where they won multiple races. So I don’t know, I don’t have my finger on the pulse of what’s going on with his team or with that organization, but I know that’s not a fun experience. It’s a true test of character of how you come through that.”