NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski recently shed light on his performance in the Yellawood 500, where he secured a top-five finish. Keselowski had initially qualified for the playoffs but could not advance to the Round of 12.
Former Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski drives the #6 Ford for RFK Racing, competing full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series. The 40-year-old has achieved 76 wins across all NASCAR divisions, including 36 in the Cup Series and 39 in the Xfinity Series. Moreover, the #6 driver also clinched the Xfinity Series title in a dominant show of performance in 2010.
Brad Keselowski had started the Yellawood 500 in P13 and made his way up to the front of the pack. With five laps to go, the #6 driver was running in P3 on the inside line between playoff drivers Austin Cindric and Joey Logano. As Keselowski battled for the front row, he made contact with Austin Cindric, spinning him off and causing one of the biggest wrecks of the season.
Following the end of the race, the former champion spoke with Fox Sports' Bob Pockrass, expressing his views on the wreck and the race overall (via X, formerly Twitter).
"I just didn't have enough blue ovals left unfortunately. You know the wreck down the back stretch really dampened out of all those things so, just wanted to get a good push from the five. I did, wasn't quite enough." Keselowski said
On being asked about the wreck in the final stages of the race, RFK's #6 driver responded:
"Something happened to the #38 car where we were lapping him, I don't know what and he stayed on the bottom lane and blocked it. When he blocked the bottom lane with all the Fords in it, it caused us all to react. And we stretched it and it's rubber band, so we stretched rubber band and it snapped back down the back stretch."
"You know I caught the #2(Cindric) car, checked up a little bit. The #22(Logano) came hit me, then all three of us kind of ran into each other[...]I don't really think Austin or Joey did anything wrong. I don't know what I could do any different, just kind of how it goes." he added.
Brad Keselowski secured a podium finish after crossing the finish line in P2, behind the #47 of JTG Daughtry Racing's Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who played spoiler in the playoff race at Talladega by securing his first victory in the 2024 season.
"It's not Brad's fault": Joey Logano is extremely clear about Brad Keselowski's involvement in the huge wreck at Talladega
Team Penske's Joey Logano backed Brad Keselowski, clearly stating that he doesn't think the wreck in the final stages of the Yellawood 500 was Keselowski's fault.
While Logano was caught in the multi-car wreck that was caused by an imbalanced Austin Cindric, the #22 driver does not think that Keselowski had any other option at that moment. Speaking to Matt Weaver, Logano said:
"It's not Brad's fault; it's not anybody's fault; it's just the product that the braces got. And it was getting more and more aggressive as the laps wind down. And happens a lot,"
As things currently stand, Joey Logano is 13 points behind the Round of 8 cut-off line, while Austin Cindric is 29 points below. This puts both drivers at risk of advancing to the next round of the playoffs. The final race of the Round of 12 will be held at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 13.