Brad Keselowski: From Penske Champion to RFK Racing Owner

Brad Keselowski is an American NASCAR driver and team owner who won the Sprint Cup championship and the Nationwide Series title. He spent most of his full-time Cup career at Penske Racing, then co-owned RFK Racing from 2021, and in September 2026 he said he would step away from the team at the end of the year.

Who is Brad Keselowski?

Born in Rochester Hills, Michigan, in 1984, Keselowski built his name on the Cup and Nationwide circuits. A 2012 title and a 2010 Nationwide crown sit at the top of his record, and he drove for Penske Racing before co-owning RFK Racing. He announced in 2026 that he would leave RFK at the end of the year.

He was born on 12 February 1984 into a racing family. He was the fifth and youngest child of Kay and Bob Keselowski, and his uncle Ron Keselowski also raced. His older brother Brian is also an active racing driver, and the family is of Polish descent.

As a teenager Keselowski spent much of his time at his father's race shop, where his chores included cleaning the floors and mowing the grass. He began racing stock cars himself in the Factory Stock division in 2000.

A Penske champion who later became a team owner, then the founder of a manufacturing company that kept him busy long after the track.

How did Keselowski's NASCAR career begin?

Keselowski started his NASCAR career in 2004, when he was twenty years old, racing in the Craftsman Truck Series. He ran full-time in trucks in 2005 and finished twenty-first in points, then moved up to the Busch Series full-time in 2007.

His truck debut came at Martinsville, where he started twenty-sixth and finished thirty-third. The 2007 season brought a hard moment at California Speedway, when his car hit the wall, went airborne and caught fire. That year he finished with five top-ten finishes and twenty-fifth in Busch Series points.

In 2008 he won his first Nationwide race at Nashville Superspeedway and took a second win at Bristol Motor Speedway. He also made his Cup debut that year, finishing 19th at Texas, and he finished third in the Nationwide points standings.

When did Keselowski win his first Cup race?

Keselowski won his first Sprint Cup race in the 2009 Aaron's 499 at Talladega, his fifth career start in the series. The car belonged to James Finch, whose first win as an owner it was. Carl Edwards's car sailed into the catch fence after contact with Keselowski near the finish.

Keselowski pushed Edwards forward from fifth place with two laps to go, then tried to pass him on the low side on the final lap. Edwards moved to block, the cars touched and Edwards spun. Eight fans were injured by flying debris from the wreck.

That win gave Keselowski more seat time in the Finch-owned car. Later in 2009 he also won Nationwide races at Dover, Iowa Speedway and Michigan International Speedway, which added to his Nationwide tally that season.

How did the Penske years shape his career?

Keselowski joined Penske Racing for 2010, replacing David Stremme in a Dodge in the Cup Series and running the full Nationwide schedule. He won the 2010 Nationwide title with six wins, five poles, 26 top-fives and 29 top-tens. In Cup that year he finished 25th in the standings, with one pole and no wins.

The 2010 season had its low points. At Atlanta, a contact with Carl Edwards sent his car over onto its roof, and he was shaken but physically fine. The Cup career that followed would be built around the Penske organisation's cars and crew.

For 2011 he moved into the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge. That season he won three races at Kansas, Pocono and Bristol, and he finished fifth in the points, 84 behind champion Tony Stewart. Later in the year a test at Road Atlanta went badly wrong: his brakes failed at about 190 mph (310 km/h), and he broke his left ankle. He still came back to win at Pocono less than a week later.

What did the 2012 Sprint Cup title involve?

In 2012 Keselowski won five Cup races and took the Sprint Cup championship at Homestead-Miami. He finished 15th in the final race after Jimmie Johnson's gear failure ended the title fight. Only Gordon and Earnhardt had won the title that early in their full-time careers, which put him in a short and select group.

The season opened with a win at Bristol on 18 March, his first of the year. He added a Talladega win that came with a push from Kyle Busch, then a third win at Kentucky on 30 June. That hot streak carried into the Chase, where he won the opening race at Chicagoland and kept pressure on Johnson through the autumn.

Keselowski's approach was not always popular. In a red-flag period at Phoenix he tweeted a photo from his car, and NASCAR fined him $25,000 for doing so. He still qualified third for the season finale, moved up to second after pole-sitter Joey Logano was caught in a Saturday practice wreck, and then took the title when Johnson's race ended with gear failure.

What were the key seasons of his career?

Which controversies shaped his reputation?

Keselowski's aggressive driving brought fines, probation and public feuds across his career. In 2014 NASCAR fined him $50,000 and placed him on probation after post-race contact with Matt Kenseth at Charlotte in October.

Other flashpoints came in quick succession. A 2014 brawl at Texas followed an incident with Jeff Gordon, and both drivers left with facial injuries. In 2017 his car failed a laser inspection after the Phoenix race. The penalty package was heavy: a $65,000 fine, 35 driver points taken away, and a suspension for his crew chief, Paul Wolfe, covering three races.

Team Penske appealed the 2017 penalties. The National Motorsports Appeals Panel denied the appeal, and a further hearing also went against the team, with the decision on 9 May. Wolfe remained suspended from the sport as a result.

What happened in the RFK Racing years?

In 2021 Keselowski joined Roush Fenway Racing as a minority owner and driver of the No. 6 car. The organisation was renamed RFK Racing on 16 November 2021. His first season in the car began with a ninth-place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500.

The 2022 season was difficult. Crew chief Matt McCall was suspended for four races and fined $100,000 after post-race inspection found a problem with a rear fascia repair at Atlanta, and the No. 6 team lost one-hundred driver and owner points. Keselowski missed the playoffs, finished 24th in the standings, and had his first winless points-paying season since 2010.

He returned to the playoffs in 2023 and finished eighth in the points, the first top-ten finish in the final standings for the No. 6 since 2006. In 2024 he won at Darlington, ending a 110-race winless streak. He was eliminated after the Round of 16, and he had no wins in 2025, finishing 20th in the points.

His final stretch with the team began with a leg injury from a skiing accident in December 2025. Corey LaJoie drove the car at the Cook Out Clash, and Keselowski returned at Daytona in 2026, where he drove the No. 6 to a top-five finish. On 29 September 2026 he announced he would leave RFK Racing as an owner and driver.

What is Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing?

Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing is a hybrid manufacturing company founded in early 2018 and based in Statesville, North Carolina. It focuses on additive metal manufacturing, sometimes called metal 3D printing, alongside CNC machining and engineering design. The company officially launched on 24 January 2019.

The company's model is vertically integrated, covering engineering, prototyping, post-processing and delivery for customers. The idea behind it was to celebrate American manufacturing.

His earlier business was Brad Keselowski Racing, which he formed in 2007. The team began competing in the Camping World Truck Series in 2008, fielded two full-time trucks for ten years, and closed at the end of 2017. In 2024 KAM announced a merger with the Florida-based manufacturer ADDMAN, and Keselowski became a commercial advisor on the ADDMAN board.

How did 2013 and 2014 unfold for Keselowski?

Keselowski opened 2013 with four straight top-five finishes, but the season soon turned. He was wrecked by Danica Patrick in the Coca-Cola 600 and finished 35th, and he missed the Chase by finishing sixteenth in the points. A later Charlotte win ended a 38-race winless streak and was his first win in a Ford.

The 2014 season began with a third-place finish at the Daytona 500 after he had started 33rd. His Las Vegas win secured an automatic Chase berth, a reward after the year before. He finished with six Cup wins, the most of any driver that season, including races at Kentucky and New Hampshire.

What did 2015 and 2016 bring?

In 2015 Keselowski won once, at California, where he passed Kurt Busch on the final lap. He worked as a Fox analyst for three Xfinity races that year, and he finished with nine top-five finishes and 25 top-ten finishes.

The 2016 season brought four wins, at Las Vegas, Talladega, Daytona and Kentucky. He made it through the first round of the Chase before being eliminated in the second round.

How is Keselowski remembered?

Keselowski is best known for a Cup championship in 2012, which came in his third full season, and for a Nationwide title in 2010 that showed how quickly he rose through the ranks. He is also known for racing hard, which earned him both admirers and critics across the sport.

He received the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame Excellence in Sports Award in 2013. Outside racing he has appeared on screen, including as himself in Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! alongside Joey Logano, a guest role on the sitcom Sullivan and Son, and a cameo as a security guard in Logan Lucky.

His main achievements are a Sprint Cup title, a Nationwide title and a first Cup win at Talladega. His RFK years brought fewer wins but added owner experience, and his manufacturing business extends his work well beyond the track.