Ford Club Serbia

CONCORD, N.C. – Roush Fenway Racing will be known as Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, the team announced Tuesday, the first evidence of Brad Keselowski‘s impact on the team after joining as driver/owner.

The team will go by RFK Racing.

“We’re excited to get racing and prove our worth on the racetrack,” Keselowski said.

Keselowski officially began work with the team on Nov. 9, two days after his final Cup race with Team Penske.

“Stay tuned, there’s still life in the beast,” car owner Jack Roush said in the closing of his opening remarks.

Roush Fenway Racing last won a Cup race in July 2017. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. scored that victory, his second of the season. Both Roush drivers this season, Ryan Newman and Chris Buescher, failed to make the playoffs. Keselowski takes over the No. 6 car that Newman drove.

Roush Racing debuted in 1988, started by Jack Roush. The 79-year-old NASCAR Hall of Famer sold half the organization in 2007 to Fenway Sports Group, which operates the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC, and is owned by John Henry. The Cup team has been known as Roush Fenway Racing since the deal was completed.

Keselowski owned a Truck Series team from 2008-17, serving as the starting point in the NASCAR ladder for young drivers in the Ford chain. Among those who drove for Keselowski were Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Hemric, Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric.

He owns Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing, a state-of-the-art 3D printing company. The company is housed in the 70,000-square foot building that once was home to Keselowski’s Truck team. That company helped provide the foundation for Keselowski to leave Team Penske after this season for this opportunity.

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Hoce li mu auto uvek biti zeleni?

Ovo je samo test auto za testiranje izmedju sezona. Sponzori ce posle biti objavljeni i na osnovu toga ce biti odluceno koje boje ce koristiti.

Doduse Keselowski je i ove sezone na nekim trkama vozio zeleni auto kada je Money Lion bio sponzor. Taj sponzor su delili Keselowski, Blaney i Cindric.

BRAD KESELOWSKI IS READY TO MAKE RFK RACING A WINNER

Brad Keselowski now has his name on a NASCAR Cup Series team.

What’s in a name? It is a long one: Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

The shorter version: RFK Racing.

Roush Fenway Racing changed the name, as Keselowski has bought a minority stake in the organization, which is co-owned by Jack Roush and the Fenway Sports Group. Over time, Keselowski’s investment will increase, and 79-year-old Roush’s involvement likely will decrease over the coming years.

Keselowski owned a team that competed in the truck series before he shuttered it a few years ago, and Brad Keselowski Racing helped produce several drivers — Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric and Ross Chastain among them — who now compete at the Cup level.

But this will be different, beyond competing at the sport’s highest level. His name isn’t the sole one on the building.

So why even have it in the name of the team? Several organizations have minority owners who aren’t necessarily in the team name.

"Not for ego reasons," said Keselowski, the new driver of the famed No. 6 car that has been a staple in the Roush stable.

"Having my name on the car and in the brand shows that I’m here — I’m not just an owner in the corner but an active owner, and this is a serious commitment to overhauling the company and finding the next level that we have inside ourselves," he said Tuesday at the unveiling of the team name and logo just a little more than a week into his new role.

The overhaul is certainly needed. The organization has gone winless five of the past six years, with the only victories coming in 2017 at Talladega and Daytona with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the 136th and 137th victories for an organization Roush started in 1988.

Those years of struggle could have dissuaded someone such as Keselowski from investing in the organization. He could have followed the path of driver Denny Hamlin, who convinced NBA great Michael Jordan to start a team almost from scratch. They hired some personnel from Leavine Family Racing and obviously have a strong alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing, and their driver, Bubba Wallace, finished higher in the standings this year than Roush Fenway veteran Ryan Newman.

As such, Keselowski might've been better off finding a partner and starting a new team, rather than trying to turn around Roush Fenway. But he said that what people can’t see at Roush Fenway is the strength of the organization.

"I see a lot of opportunity here that maybe some other people don’t see: established charters, legacy with Ford and the fans that is a strong brand," Keselowski said.

"The Fenway relationship — a heck of an anchor to have as a partner. There are a lot of strengths here that I’m not sure people understand."

But what people have seen is driver struggle. Chris Buescher, considered a talent as a former Xfinity Series champion, finished 19th in the standings in 2021. He will have crew chief Scott Graves, who was paired with Newman last year, in 2022. Graves and Buescher won an Xfinity title together at Roush in 2015.

"Everything, quite frankly, but the competition side is very strong," Keselowski said. "So I feel like I can bring the things to improve the competition side.

"It would have been a lot harder for me to improve the other facets of the company. I view [this organization] as a strength and not a weakness."

Keselowski also doesn’t seem to have a lot of patience as far as his goals.

"A good season in 2022 is probably winning a lot of races — at least between the two cars, three or more — and I’d say, of course, being in the playoffs," he said. "That’s pretty much a no-brainer."

That seems quite lofty, but Keselowski thinks he has added about 20 new people to the organization who can make a difference. Much of his crew worked with Kurt Busch last season and made the playoffs in the final year of Chip Ganassi Racing.

With the new Next Gen car in 2022, Keselowski believes they will start at a more even playing field because the car is new for all teams.

"I see a lot of things happening behind the scenes," he said. "We brought in a lot of talent. There is more talent inside the company than even I knew. There is a lot of processes we’ve been able to implement with the management system.

"Awesome new tools from Ford combined with the Next Gen car. All of these things combined, I have a high reason for optimism."

Also seeing a high reason for optimism? Another big name in the team name.

"We look favorably going forward with what we can do, and certainly the enthusiasm that I’ve felt when we were a young race team, I feel again and look forward to helping the people that have not won their championships and not won their races and not won Daytona," Roush said.

"I look forward to celebrating those with the rest of the team that has yet to build their legacy as we go forward."

Nadam se da je ovo pocetak necega lepog, ali iskreno nisam preterano mnogo optimistican.

Kao sto sam i najavljivao Jackov udeo ce se vremenom smanjivati a Bradov povecavati, i kad Jack ode na onaj svet verovatno ce se zvati samo FK racing

Ja nisam ni rekao da Bradov udeo u timu nece biti veci; rekao sam da ako Brad bude zeleo dodatni deo tima za to ce morati platiti, nece mu ga Jack pokloniti.

Ne znam zasto si optimista. Brad je vec bankrotirao jedan tim i to u Truck seriji gde su troskovi takmicenja daleko manji.

Brad treba da gleda samo takmicarsku stranu timu, ali da finansije prepusti nekome drugom.

Vise mi se svidja zeleni

Stock

Na koliko ce trka Castrol biti sponzor?

Prosle godine su bili 4 trke za Newmana i jos 4 trke za Bueschera. Ne znam da li se nesto izmenilo za 2022. sezonu.

Bilo bi kul kad bi ovako izgledao, ali sumnjam, ovo je sa iRacinga.

Pa objavili su vec kako ce izgledati

Poprilicno sam siguran da nijedan auto sa testiranja nije imao konacan dizajn osim Fastenal.

Ovo je jedini dizajn koji je odobren, to znam na osnovu diecast modela jer pocinju da primaju uplate kad tim potvrdi neki dizajn, a ovo je jedini Keselowskog koji je trenutno dostupan za uplatu.

Potvrdjen i ovaj.

Cilj: Pobedjivati u trkama i osvojiti titulu

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Mislim da bi Bradu bila satisfakcija i da pobedi sva 3 vozaca Penskea.

Ne znam sto bi mu to bilo neko posebno zadovoljstvo, ipak je otisao u prijateljskim uslovima i Penske mu je omogucio sve u karijeri.

Nisam nesto optimista da ce 2022. sezona biti nesto posebno dobra za njega, 3 meseca je previse kratak period da neko preokrene tim. Mozda tamo 2023. ili 2024., ali ga ne vidim bas da ce pobedjivati ove sezone. Doduse mislim da ce se plasirati u playoff na poene.

Na restrictor plate stazama moze pobediti.

To ne govori mnogo jer tu svako moze pobediti. Prosle godine dve najvece trke u sezoni su pobedili Michael McDowell i Bubba Wallace hehe.