NASCAR came down hard on Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 racing team this week. The sport issued an L-2 level penalty against the team on Thursday. It hit Keselowski with a 100-point fine along with a 100-point fine for ownership too. Because of these hefty penalities, the odds of Keselowski making the postseason get significantly longer. The penalties stemmed from “unapproved adjustments” to Keselowski’s car in Atlanta on Sunday for the race. They did not make known what the penalties would be until after a full teardown of the car in Atlanta. After which, the strong penalties were handed down. Now, Keselowski falls dead-last in points for all the full-time drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series this season.
NASCAR Penalties for Brad Keselowski
To add context to the severity of the penalties, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller said all way back in January, “To make sure that all of those things stay above board, there’s going to have to be a culture shift from the way that the teams and NASCAR, for that matter, have done business.” He continued, “So this deterrence model has more meat in it, more meaningful penalties, but I think we all thought that it was time for this with the introduction of the new car.”
Keselowski now faces a tough challenge to get back into the playoffs.
Brad Keselowski on His Career
Keselowski has been driving for some time now. He’s 38-years-old and has thrived in this sport for a long time now. He said on The Daily Stoic Podcast, “I’ve gotten to a spot where I’m kind of able to ‘turn the fear off’ like a light switch.” He can control his fear now. He has been in this sport for many years now. Keselowski knows what’s coming. He is used to it all. The driver added, “Look, I’m in the car. I know something can happen to me. But you know what? I’m OK with that. I’m not afraid of getting hurt. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’m more afraid of just not performing.”
You only worry about what you can control. That’s where Keselowski is at this point in his career. Still, he has still found himself in some awkward situations. Like at the 2022 Daytona 500. He told NASCAR, “Whenever anybody spins out obviously it’s something over-aggressive, but in the moment it didn’t (feel that way).” He always is upfront about how he feels.
He concluded, “Just pushing and just turned sideways and just spun immediately. I don’t know what happened there. It was a shame to see it.” Now, Keselowski has a lot of ground to make up in the NASCAR Cup Series. Only time will tell if he does.
