As the NASCAR Cup Series moves to Tennessee for Sunday night’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, former series champion Brad Keselowski still was thinking about the just-completed visit to Charlotte.
After battling late into last Sunday night in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the RFK Racing driver said he could have used more laps to score his first win of 2025.
In Keselowski’s estimation, 100 more miles would have helped to improve on a fifth-place finish that gave him his first top-10 result of 2025.
“We got mixed up in some of the different stuff in the midpoint of the race and just clawed our way out,” said Keselowski, who led five laps. “I feel like if we could have got to the lead, we could have won the race.
“I wish it was a 700-mile race.”
The night got better for Keselowski as the race went longer, which is pretty much how the season has played out for the Rochester Hills, Mich., native.
The first third of the season is far from what was expected from the No. 6 Ford.
After the dust had settled in Kansas on May 11 and Kyle Larson had pulled into a tie with Christopher Bell for the series lead with three wins, Keselowski found himself in a wretched locale in the standings — 33rd out of 36 drivers.
He is currently in 32nd, just ahead of Shane van Gisbergen, Riley Herbst and Cole Custer. The trio slotting in front of Keselowski are Ty Dillon, Daniel Suarez and Justin Haley. It is far from the glory days for Keselowski, who won five races during his 2012 title year and six two years later.
Since his four-victory showing during the shortened 2020 COVID season, he has won just twice in 157 races: Talladega in 2021, Darlington last May.
In four career starts at Nashville, Keselowski has posted a best finish of 11th two seasons ago and was 25th last year, although he has won in support races.
RFK Racing received good news this week when a portion of the penalty on the No. 17 Ford driven by Chris Buescher was rescinded.
While crew chief Scott Graves has already served the two-race suspension for the front bumper cover infraction discovered at Kansas, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel reduced Buescher’s 60-point penalty in half Wednesday, allowing the Texas driver to advance from 23rd to 16th in the standings.
Toyota driver Chase Briscoe continued his hot qualifying by claiming the Busch Light Pole on Saturday, touring the 1.33-mile concrete oval with a track-record lap of 164.395 mph.
That time was good enough by 0.049 seconds to beat Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, whose wife is expecting a baby boy on Sunday.
It was Briscoe’s second consecutive time qualifying in the No. 1 spot and third this season.
William Byron, Tyler Reddick and last week’s winner Ross Chastain rounded out the top five qualifiers.
Last Sunday, Chastain ran down Byron over the final 37 laps to capture the longest race of the season and become the ninth different winner in the past nine races at Charlotte.
After fending off a battle with Hamlin, Byron withstood a charge from Chastain until six laps remained. Chastain picked up his first win of the season by a mere 0.673 seconds and did it in a backup car while starting 40th and last in the field.
While Chastain led just eight laps in Charlotte, Joey Logano led just nine laps while winning at Nashville last year in a fifth overtime. Logano held off Zane Smith and Reddick while running the last 110 laps on a single tank of fuel.
Byron leads the current points standings with one win and six top-5 finishes, while Larson trails by 29 points after three wins and eight top 5s. Larson leads in playoff points with 23.
–Field Level Media
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