Friday 5: Michigan football team’s national title inspires NASCAR Cup driver
A life-long University of Michigan football fan, Brad Keselowski admits that witnessing the Wolverines claim the national championship earlier this month in Houston gave him “mixed emotions.”
“Just trying to enjoy the moment and just be there as a fan,” Keselowski told NBC Sports of the experience at NRG Stadium on Jan. 8, “but it’s also a good reminder of like, ‘Hey, I want to be the star, too. I want to win races. I want to be cheered for. I want to be the champion.’
“Sometimes you need to see somebody else kind of live the dream a little bit.”
Keselowski, who has helped revive RFK Racing since becoming an owner/driver before the 2022 season, is focused on winning a second Cup title and his first Daytona 500.
“That’s all I think about,” he said.
He seeks to shed his membership among the group of stellar drivers who failed to win a Daytona 500. Keselowski has come agonizingly close to winning the sport’s biggest race in recent years only to see his bid end in flames or against the wall.
Martin Truex Jr. (winless in 19 Daytona 500 starts) and Kyle Busch (winless in 18 Daytona 500 starts) have longer droughts than Keselowski but one could argue few have had it harder lately than Keselowski.
He has been eliminated by a crash in five of the last seven Daytona 500s.
He’s made it to the white flag lap in each of the last three Daytona 500s only to make it back to the checkered flag once.
He has led 109 of the 413 laps run in the last two Daytona 500s — nearly three times as many laps as any other competitor in those races — and still not won.
“You can’t say (you want to) win the Daytona 500,” Keselowski said. “It doesn’t just manifest itself. You’ve got to do the work.
