Coming off a roller coaster campaign in 2024 where he returned to Victory Lane for the first time in three seasons but had his Playoff hopes end early, Brad Keselowski returns to business in striving for more as a co-owner/driver of Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing for the upcoming 2025 season. As Keselowski prepares to pursue another opportunity to check off a prestigious event that he lacks from his resume, the Daytona 500, he will do so with a unique milestone of his own for the event. By competing in this year’s 67th running of the Great American Race at Daytona International Speedway, the driver of the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry will make his 16th career start in the 500.
A second-generation racer from Rochester Hills, Michigan, Keselowski made his first Daytona 500 career start in 2010, where he was driving the No. 12 Dodge entry for Team Penske. His first entrance in the Great American Race occurred a year after he did not qualify for the 2009 event while driving for Phoenix Racing. Starting in 26th place, Keselowski settled in 36th place after he was involved in an accident with teammate Sam Hornish Jr. and Regan Smith on the seventh lap.
Keselowski’s next two Daytona 500 starts in 2011 and 2012 occurred with the driver piloting the No. 2 Team Penske Dodge. During both events, however, he finished 29th and 32nd, respectively, while strapped with DNFs due to being eliminated in accidents. He then rallied during his following two starts in 2013 and 2014 by leading a combined 26 laps and contending for the race victory before finishing fourth and a career-best third, respectively.
From 2015 to 2020, Keselowski led a combined 33 laps, but finished no higher than 12th in the Daytona 500, the latter result of which occurred in 2019. During the six-year span, he was strapped with four DNFs and four finishes outside the top 20 on the track. Then in 2021, which marked his final year driving for Team Penske, Keselowski was racing in second place behind teammate Joey Logano on the final lap when both made contact and wrecked exiting the backstretch. The incident sent Keselowski head-on into the outside wall before he was T-boned by Kyle Busch that sent Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford up against the catchfence amid a fiery multi-car wreck that left the car demolished and the driver livid. Instead of a potential trip to Victory Lane, Keselowski ended up in 13th place.
In 2022, Keselowski etched a new beginning to his racing career by joining forces with Roush Fenway Racing as a co-owner and driver of the No. 6 Ford entry. In the process, the organization was rebranded to RFK Racing. After winning the first Daytona Duel event and starting in third place for the 64th running of the Daytona 500, Keselowski led a race-high 67 laps and contended for the victory in the closing stages. During the final overtime shootout, however, he was pinned in a three-wide scuffle with no drafting help entering the frontstretch and fell back to ninth place before he was involved in a multi-car wreck after claiming the checkered flag. Since then, he is coming off respective Daytona 500 finishes of 22nd and 33rd, both of which he was eliminated in multi-car wrecks while contending for the victory.
Through 15 previous starts in the Daytona 500, Keselowski has recorded two top-five results, three top-10 results, 180 laps led and an average-finishing result of 23.3. A victory in 2025 would make Keselowski the 44th competitor overall to win the Great American Race as he would also deliver the 14th career 500 victory for the Ford nameplate and the first for RFK Racing since Matt Kenseth made the last accomplishment in 2012. A Daytona 500 victory would also allow Keselowski to become the first Michigan-born native to win the event and achieve a Grand Slam in NASCAR’s crown-jewel events as he previously won the Southern 500, Brickyard 400 and Coca-Cola 600 from 2018 to 2020.
This week, Keselowski, who finished in 13th place in the 2024 driver’s standings, will participate in a single-car qualifying session on Wednesday, February 12, and in one of two Duel events on Thursday, February 13, to determine his starting lineup for this year’s Daytona 500. The qualifying session on Wednesday will begin airing at 8:15 p.m. ET on FS1 while the Duels will begin airing at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.
The 2025 Daytona 500 is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, February 16, with a starting broadcast time of 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
