It was just three weeks ago that there were legitimate questions about whether Brad Keselowski, recovering from breaking his leg during a family trip in mid-December, would be able to finish the entire NASCAR Cup Series event at Circuit of The Americas (COTA).
Now, the Rochester Hills, Michigan-native has come to one of the most challenging racetracks on the circuit, Darlington Raceway, and not just finished the race, but legitimately competed for the victory.
After dominating the middle portion of the event, Keselowski finished in the runner-up position in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 after he was passed by eventual race-winner Tyler Reddick with just under 30 laps remaining.
The 142 laps pacing the field for the No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang Dark Horse on Sunday is the second-most laps led for Keselowski during his tenure as driver and co-owner of RFK Racing, second to only the 2024 Fall event at Martinsville, where Keselowski led 170 laps, but finished ninth.
While Keselowski was in contention for the victory, the NASCAR Cup Series veteran acknowledged that they were still significantly behind the No. 45 Xfinity Mobile Toyota Camry XSE when push came to shove, but overall, they still had a great day.
“Tyler [Reddick] was really, really fast,” Keselowski said. “Those problems earlier in the race that he got kind of buried, and he was just methodical. He did a great job. He took the fastest car and ran an amazing race. When he was by me, he was way faster. We had to fall into racing the track, and even at the end, I think he was managing it pretty hard, so, all in all, it’s a great day for us. We won two stages, led a lot of laps, scored a bunch of points, so a lot to be proud of.”
For RFK Racing as a whole, Darlington was a much-needed boost, as the NASCAR Cup Series starts to get into the bulky part of its season. At one point on Sunday, Keselowski, Chris Buescher, and Ryan Preece were sitting 1-2-3 in the event. Buescher himself stayed in contention for the win but lost a major chunk of time when a late pit stop decision resulted in contact from Reddick, nearly spinning the No. 17 out.
“We didn’t have the best car today, not compared to Tyler. Tyler drove a hell of a race, and he’s driving a rocket, and he’s making it count, right now,” Keselowski told FOX Sports. “I think we got the most out of the day we were going to get, honest, but we scored a lot of stage points, second place, first place loser, but that’s okay. We’re doing the things we need to do and making the most of the days we have.”
This weekend wasn’t just about a NASCAR Cup Series event at Darlington, though.
As part of what has traditionally been “Throwback Weekend” for NASCAR’s National Series, but is now labeled as “Alumni Weekend”, all three of RFK Racing’s entries honored the late Greg Biffle, one of the team’s former drivers, who passed away in a tragic plane crash in December.
“It was really cool to have the Greg Biffle cars run up front,” Keselowski added. “I put a nice right-side stripe on the car; I think that would make Greg proud. If you know Greg, you’ll understand that one.”
Leaving Darlington, the sixth race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, Keselowski is sitting ninth-place in point standings and has a 43-point advantage on the cutline for “The Chase” (with teammates Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece sitting seventh and 12th in standings, respectively).
