Brad Keselowski just opened up about joining RFK Racing after being with Team Penske for over a decade. On Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, Harvick asked Keselowski about the process of joining RFK at the start of the 2022 season.
Keselowski first talked about how he joined Team Penske and turned the initial offer down because he didn’t think it was a good deal. Team owner Roger Penske met with Keselowski in the summer of 2009 and wanted him to drive the No. 12 Cup car for Team Penske (called Penske Championship Racing at the time). Keselowski wasn’t interested, but would sign the deal if he could do it “my way.” Keselowski said Penske declined his demands only to accept them two months later.
But why did Keselowski leave Penske after the 2021 season? “I wanted to keep going,” he told Harvick. “I got to that same spot with Mr. Penske where I’m like, ‘Hey, here are the things we need to do for this to be a team that can be successful for the next one-two decades. Beyond even when I’m driving, we need to make these changes.’ I kind of fell into that same place with Mr. Penkse where it was like, ‘Hey your 30-something years old, I’m 87 years old. I know what I’m doing. This is the way it’s going to be. I don’t really want you to tell me what to do.’
Brad Keselowski wanted to be a team owner
“It didn’t sit right. I really wanted a chance at team ownership, which wasn’t as big of a part as staying at Penske, but it was a big part to me. I wanted to be able to steward a team, and ownership’s part of that, but it’s not all of it. I just didn’t feel like I had that opportunity or would ever have that opportunity knowing that at some point your career was going to end. I couldn’t see myself in the shows as some of these guys that kind of show up to the race track and like, ‘Yeah, I used to compete here.’ And that’s it, and not have any meaningful role in the industry.”
Keselowski went on to say that the opportunity came up with RFK after searching for other opportunities, and he’s a co-owner with Jack Roush and John W. Henry. During his time at RFK, the 40-year-old finished eighth in the Cup Series standings last year, and he won his first Cup Series race with the team this year at Darlington.
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