How leg injury could affect Brad Keselowski's 2026 season

When the green flag flies for the 68th running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15, Brad Keselowski intends to be behind the wheel of the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford just 59 days after he broke his leg while getting out of a vehicle during a ski trip. 

The 41-year-old will miss the exhibition race, dubbed the Cook Out Clash, at Bowman Gray Stadium on Feb. 1 as he attempts to heal before the 2026 season officially begins at Daytona. 

"I didn't want to rush back," Keselowski told Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports when asked about the decision to miss the Clash. 

How injury could still affect Brad Keselowski

Pockrass went on to report that the typical recovery time allotted for a broken leg is eight to 12 weeks. Keselowski will be at eight weeks and three days when the Daytona 500 rolls around. 

Even if he does decide to race, Keselowski will have a backup driver in Corey LaJoie — who will fill in for the 2012 Cup Series champion at Bowman Gray — standing by if needed. 

Early in the season, Keselowski will be fresh out of a grueling recovery that he told Pockrass requires about six to eight hours of rehab on a daily basis. The transition from a difficult recovery to the grind of full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition won't be the easiest one — especially given the injury risk that Keselowski and his peers will be facing at Daytona and, to a lesser extent, Atlanta the next week as the season begins with two superspeedway races.

There is somewhat of a precedent to look at regarding drivers recovering from injuries. Perhaps the most notable one is Kyle Busch, who suffered a broken leg the day before the 2015 Daytona 500 in a NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race. 

Busch went on to miss the first 11 races of the 2015 campaign before going on a legendary run, winning five races and the Cup Series championship thanks largely to NASCAR's playoff format. Regardless, it was an impressive comeback for Busch, who went on to win another title in 2019. 

In 2023, Chase Elliott suffered a fractured tibia in a snowboarding incident that kept him out for six races. Unlike Busch, his performance dipped after the incident. 

Elliott won the 2020 championship and had made the Championship 4 in three consecutive seasons from 2020-22, but he missed the Cup Series playoffs altogether in 2023 and went winless for the first time since 2017. 

Keselowski certainly hopes that he'll emulate Busch's 2015 campaign rather than Elliott's 2023 season as he works his way back to health and to Daytona Beach in February.