Has bad luck or bad setup contributed to Brad Keselowski’s DNFs in 2025?

Brad Keselowski suffered yet another wreck during the 2025 AdventHealth 400 at the Kansas Speedway. As a consequence of the wreck, he suffered a DNF, which he could not have avoided since misfortune was at play.

With his latest wreck in Kansas, the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing driver has faced DNFs at three back-to-back races in the Cup Series, taking his total tally for the season to five. This is his second-highest number of DNFs in a season (in 2018, he had six DNFs).

However, what's surprising is that the #6 driver has ended up having five DNFs in just 12 races. While the RFK Racing driver may or may not have been able to do much to avoid all his recent DNFs, the Sunday wreck (May 11) was a sheer misfortune, and not a fault of his or his team.

Brad Keselowski, who was having an incredible run through the stages, suddenly suffered a tire blowup on Lap 194. The #6 driver was running in second place behind leader Kyle Larson at the time of the incident. As a result of it, he hit the fence at high speed, and was done for the day.

Getting his tire blown despite having a stellar run throughout the race is one big example of how bad luck can ruin races. If this was a set-up failure, Chris Buescher, another RFK Racing driver, could have faced a similar fate, but it was not the case.

Besides the Kansas Speedway incident, where he had no fault of his own, Keselowski suffered similar fates in Texas and Talladega. In Texas, the #6 driver was collected in a multi-car wreck. It was more of the same at Talladega, when he was involved in a Stage 1 wreck, in an almost identical fashion.

In Kansas, the RFK Racing driver started his race from 36th place after taking unapproved adjustments to his car. But he improved significantly in Stage 1 with a 14th-place finish.

In Stage 2, he further improved to sixth, only to end up blowing his car in the final stage. In a nutshell, one can say Brad Keselowski has faced some really bad luck this season.

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Brad Keselowski let his feelings known after tough Kansas race

Following the conclusion of the AdventHealth 400 at the Kansas Speedway, Brad Keselowski shared his thoughts and showed an upbeat attitude for the upcoming Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski (6) drives down pit road after wrecking during Duel 2 at Daytona International Speedway - Source: Imagn

Speaking about his race, and how it turned out, Keselowski said as per Frontstretch on X:

"We blew a tire entering turn one and just got in the fence."

Speaking on whether he got a warning before his tire blew, Brad Keselowski further added:

"Not really, no. Just one big boom... We put ourselves in position like that, you win races. This is a pretty big overhaul of the six team from where we were last year, there are some pieces that are starting to click... Yeah, go win Coke 600. That's my emotion. Bring cars with speed like this to Coke 600."

Brad Keselowski's DNFs in Kansas, Texas, Talladega, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Daytona (during Dual 2, although it is not counted) reflect on his drivers' standings statistics. Currently, the #6 driver is in 33rd place with 148 points, after 12 races.