Brad Keselowski comes up one spot shy of season-defining Atlanta win

Brad Keselowski put together his best performance of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season on Saturday at EchoPark Speedway, but he came up one spot short of what could have been a season-defining victory. 

Keselowski led the second-most laps (46) of any driver on Saturday evening and was in the lead at the white flag. 

Chase Elliott had something to say about that, as the 2020 champion maneuvered around Keselowski in turn 1 and drove away to score the win. 

For Keselowski, who is in desperate need of a victory in order to qualify for the Cup Series playoffs, the runner-up finish is a hollow one. 

"Good effort, led a lot of laps," Keselowski told TNT Sports. "We put ourselves in a position. Every loss hurts. I don't dwell on them. We'll go on to next week and try to win."

There is, at least, some momentum building for Keselowski and the No. 6 team with eight races remaining in the regular season. Keselowski has climbed to 27th in the points standings and has three top-10 finishes over the last five races. 

Saturday's loss likely stings more than Keselowski lets on, but it was a show of speed that he and the No. 6 team didn't have much of over the first half of the regular season.