Kevin Harvick broaches ‘tough conversation’ surrounding Brad Keselowski, RFK after missing playoffs

Brad Keselowski and the entire RFK Racing team missed the playoffs this season in the NASCAR Cup Series. That has Kevin Harvick taking a long, hard look at the veteran wheelman and his operation.

While Keselowski and his drivers, Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece, contended for wins in 2025, they weren’t able to reach Victory Lane and narrowly missed out on the Top 16. On the latest episode of his podcast, Harvick dropped some truth serum on Keselowski and where the veteran goes from here.

“Brad, in my eyes, is supposed to be the star of the team, right? That’s the group that’s supposed to lead,” Harvick explained. “Over the last six weeks, they’ve definitely run better, climbed the points standings, but they still haven’t won. It always seems like something happens during the day that keeps them from being in position to win. So, it’s a tough conversation.

“We’re at that time of year where you have to decide: are you going to make changes within the team to put yourself in a position to win? Have they improved enough? Can they sustain what they’ve done the last six weeks and finally get back to Victory Lane? Or do they need to go out and bring in an engineer, a crew chief, or whatever piece they feel is missing? This is the time of year to do that.

“A lot of the good people have contracts that come up around September. That’s the time of the year that you have to start making changes.”

Even though RFK Racing’s performance left something to be desired in 2025, Harvick believes there’s hope for the future. However, in his view, the Next Gen car may be too much for Keselowski to fully adjust to.

“I’ll say, Ryan Preece did a great job this year. I don’t think anybody expected the improvement that we saw,” Harvick added. “But he’s made them real contenders, and they’ll only be stronger next year with that experience, hungry and determined.

“But when you look at that No. 6 car, it’s supposed to be the anchor on the performance side—and it hasn’t been. You need someone to be that anchor and carry the team forward, and it just hasn’t worked out that way for the No. 6.

“… You look at the Next Gen car—it’s different than what it used to be several years ago. The question is, can Brad adjust to that style? Can he get back to being the consistent winner he was at Penske, while also balancing the responsibilities of being a team owner and everything outside the car? That’s the challenge.”

It remains to be seen what the future holds for Brad Keselowski and RFK Racing. Even though all three of their cars missed the playoffs, there were promising signs throughout the season. The question now is whether they can capture a checkered flag over the final ten races of the year to build momentum heading into 2026.