The return of the NASCAR Cup Series to the race track will take place in exactly two months, when the season-opening Clash exhibition marks the unofficial kickoff of the 2025 campaign. For Brad Keselowski, co-owner of the he RFK Racing team, this interim period will not go unnoticed, not in what he describes as a “very busy offseason”.
The dawn of the new season will mark the next phase of Keselowski’s vision for the Jack Roush-founded organization, which will expand from two Cup Series teams to three with the addition of driver Ryan Preece and a family of sponsors with Kroger. The 34-year-old joins a team of drivers that includes Keselowski and Chris Buescher, who both won Cup events last season – the organization’s third under the RFK banner.
RELATED: RFK Racing expands | Power Rankings: 2025 Overview
Keselowski, 40, noted how the team picked up pace after a first-year stumble with the Next Gen car, putting both of his teams in the 16-driver playoff field in 2023. Last year, Keselowski ended 110-race drought with his win at Darlington Raceway to mark his first victory as a driver-owner, but all while having a vision of what the evolution of RFK should look like. This, he said, meant expansion.
“From there, it was kind of like we knew this was the next step,” Keselowski said Nov. 22, hours before the annual NASCAR Awards ceremony. “If you look at the way NASCAR is organized right now, you have to have three teams. I think that’s why you see the Trackhouses and the 23XI and all these guys pushing to form three teams, even Front Row. So there’s strength in numbers, in how the sport is organized and how you can sort of amortize the overhead and capture the most data. So it’s important for us to not only be financially viable, but also competitively viable, to have three teams and to maximize the opportunities on any given weekend. So this is a natural next step for us to get us to where we can improve our performance.
Enter Preece, who has roots as a Connecticut Modified ace and spent the last two seasons with Stewart-Haas Racing on the Cup Series side. He will take over the No. 60 Ford, starting a new chapter with a car number that Keselowski says holds a special place in the Roush team’s legacy.
Preece has two wins in the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series, but has been a bit of a journeyman during his five seasons in the Cup Series. Keselowski said he began discussions with Preece in the spring and saw a lot of potential in his next phase.
“Talented, underrated, hard-working — you know, everything you could dream of in a coachable player,” Keselowski said. “I think the ball is in our court to give him the right opportunities and the right equipment, and surround him with the right people to be successful next year.”
Keselowski said he is working diligently to recruit the No. 60 team’s crew chief for next season, but one piece of the personnel puzzle is already in place. RFK announced on November 21 that Jeremy Bullins would replace Matt McCall atop the pit box for the No. 6 Ford, marking a relaunch of their driver-crew chief duo. The two worked together on Team Penske from 2020-21, reaching Championship 4 in their first campaign, and Keselowski said there was a “common interest” in reconnecting.
“Yes, years have passed, but there is still a friendship that never goes away,” Keselowski said of his renewed partnership with Bullins. “I am confident that we will be able to learn from our years apart and apply the lessons bilaterally.”
Until last May at Darlington, Keselowski’s most recent Cup Series victory had been a Bullins-led effort. His resurgent race towards victory on one of NASCAR’s most demanding tracks, there was a special one, celebrated with his wife and daughters, who helped push the car from Victory Lane after the confetti flew.
REWIND CLASSICS: Darlington 2024 Goodyear 400
The triumph was Keselowski’s first in more than three years and the No. 6 car’s first in nearly 13 seasons, but feelings ran high among those close to him who shared the joy.
“When I won Darlington with my family there, I mean, it was just… it still gives me chills to think about it,” Keselowski said. “Once you become a father, one of the things that no one can really tell you – or at least they didn’t tell me or I wasn’t listening – is the impact of your success and being able to see it through your own children’s eyes and knowing that commands a certain level of respect and validation from them for years to come and hopefully throughout their lives As a father, you want your children to think that. you’re a badass, and seeing that happen is pretty cool.
RFK Racing has scored six Cup Series victories in the past three seasons since its relaunch. Pressed to achieve measurable goals in the organization’s next phase, Keselowski says, “We want to be able to do that in one season.” That would be a good mark for us. Placing each of the team’s cars in the Cup Series Playoff field is another aspiration, fueled by the goal of being in contention on a weekly basis.
Strengthening RFK’s strength by increasing its manpower and resources is Keselowski’s goal.
“If you don’t grow, you die in this sport, and we grow,” Keselowski said. “We are recruiting people, adding teams, making key investments. It’s an exciting time for me. You know, 23 and 24 are very similar, but I want to say that 25 should be a step forward for us.
