Featured Latest News NASCAR NASCAR Cup Series

Brad Keselowski Earns RFK Racing’s First Darlington Win Since 2006

by Hunter Thomas May 12, 2024 1 comment

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Brad Keselowski cruised to victory in the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway after Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick collided while battling for the lead in the closing laps.

Keselowski, driver of the RFK Racing No. 6 Castrol Ford started on the front row alongside Reddick to begin the Mother’s Day race. In stage 1, Keselowski finished third, but in Stage 2, he piloted his Ford to the front and won Stage 2.

On the final restart with 33 laps to go, Keselowski and Reddick brought the field down to the green flag, but Buescher surpassed both drivers. In the closing laps, Reddick attempted to pass Buescher for the race lead, but he overshot and slid up into him. The two drivers suffered flat tires from the contact and were forced to pit road.

“I mean, it wasn’t good, but I knew that I’d have another shot at it,” Keselowski said about losing control of the race. “My car was really good on the long runs. When Tyler got underneath Chris, I knew I had another shot at it when they made contact. I couldn’t get by, and I’m like, ugh. Then they must have got a flat tire, I don’t know what happened, and we caught a break. We’ve caught enough bad breaks over the last year or two, it’s nice to catch a good one.”

Keselowski inherited the lead and cruised to Victory Lane, earning the team’s first Darlington win since 2006, when Greg Biffle won. Keselowski hadn’t won a NASCAR Cup Series race since April 2021, when he was competing for Team Penske, but on Sunday at Darlington Raceway, he visited Victory Lane for the first time as a team owner.

“What a heck of a day,” Keselowski said. “It’s Darlington, so whether it’s your first win, your last win, this is a really special track. The history of NASCAR, it’s as tough as it gets, and that battle at the end with my teammate, Tyler Reddick, we just laid it all out on the line, it was freaking awesome. I thought it couldn’t get much better than Kansas. It did today. That was awesome. I’m so glad you guys got to see that. That was incredible. Thanks for being here.”

Following the conclusion of the race, Buescher confronted Reddick on pit road and shoved him. Buescher vented his frustration as Reddick apologized. The two had words, but the interaction didn’t come to blows.

“I completely understand where he is coming from,” 32^nd-place finisher Reddick said. “He was running the top, running his own race, running his own line to keep me at bay. I made a really aggressive move and was hoping I was going to clear him, when I realized, I wasn’t going to, I tried to check up to not slide up into him, but yeah, I wish I wouldn’t have done that. I completely understand why he is that mad.”

Buescher entered the weekend coming off the losing end to the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history. He was looking at piecing together two consecutive competitive weekends when the chaos happened up front.

Photo Credit: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com