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One statistic tells sad story of Brad Keselowski's 2025 season 
NASCAR Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

One statistic paints Brad Keselowski's 2025 season in a heartbreaking light

By Samuel Stubbs  |  Last updated Dec 4, 2025 8:34 PM ET

Brad Keselowski didn't have a great 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, but the veteran driver and 2012 champion did improve greatly from the first half of the campaign to the second. 

Keselowski rose from 32nd in the Cup Series standings after the 16th race of the season in Mexico City to 16th by the end of the season finale at Phoenix. 

But the way in which Keselowski clawed his way back to relevance was especially heartbreaking. 

Per NASCAR Insights, Keselowski was the driver passed for the race win a record-breaking seven times in 2025, a record for a driver who failed to record a win during the season. 

That includes a runner-up finish in the season finale at Phoenix that saw Keselowski lose the race to Ryan Blaney in the final corner. 

Keselowski also finished runner-up to Christopher Bell in the Bristol Night Race after a late-race restart and runner-up to Chase Elliott at EchoPark Speedway in what was arguably Keselowski's best drive of the season. 

Keselowski, who will be 42 when the 2026 season officially begins on Feb. 15, is entering his 17th full-time season of Cup Series competition and his fourth as a co-owner of RFK Racing. The future Hall of Famer has won 36 Cup Series races and certainly wouldn't mind getting off the schneid by winning his first Daytona 500 on Feb. 15. 

Samuel Stubbs
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Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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