After a winless 2025 season, RFK Racing sets its sights on five race victories

The goals and expectations within the walls of RFK Racing are well-known and understandable. But just in case there needs to be a reminder, co-owner and driver Brad Keselowski is very open about what they are, going so far as to put them in writing and post them around the organization.

A goal for 2026 is five race wins between the three race teams of Keselowski, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher.

“We’re going to work our butts off to do it,” Ryan Preece said. “I feel like Brad, as a driver/owner, is incredibly focused and driven to make sure that happens and last year none of us having a win was kind of like throwing a little gas on a fire. I know I’m pretty focused, career-focused, on winning, and all those things.”

All three teams not only went winless, but failed to make the postseason.

Preece is the only RFK Racing driver who does not have a win on his Cup Series resume. He does, however, have an unofficial win under his belt.

The No. 60 team started the season by winning the exhibition event at Bowman Gray Stadium in early February. It was the first time Preece had been first to the checkered flag in a Cup Series race. In 227 point-paying events, Preece has finished inside the top five on seven occasions but has never claimed a trophy.

“I think last year … Chris, Brad, and I had moments where it was really close, but we didn’t get it done and didn’t have it,” Preece said. “So, all fronts, every department within the company is working incredibly hard to create more speed. We’re being more aggressive on restarts and on the racetrack. Those will produce results.”

It comes down to speed.

Keselowski praised the organization’s cars for being mechanically sound, the pit crews’ skill, and the execution of races. But there needs to be more speed and pace.

“If we can develop a little bit of pace, we can be a very dangerous team,” Keselowski said. “Our company, our organization, across all three teams.”

Keselowski has won only once since joining forces with Jack Rosuh in 2022. That victory came two years later, in 2024, in the spring Darlington Raceway event.

In its current form, Buescher has carried the banner for RFK Racing with five victories. The most recent was at Watkins Glen in the fall of 2024, when he went toe-to-toe with road course master Shane van Gisbergen and came out on top.

“It’s absolutely reasonable,” Buescher said of Keselowski’s five-win goal. “I think you look at last year and all the chances and near misses we had, if we could have capitalized on half of those that would have been about four wins. At this point, it’s wishful thinking because it’s behind us, but we were very close.

“It’s a matter of us cleaning up a little bit, getting a little bit faster at a couple of different styles of racetracks, and making sure when we have those opportunities and chances that we capitalize on them a little bit better.”

And as for being winless last season lighting a fire under everyone?

“There is an urgency because we had several years where we were able to get wins yearly, and I certainly wouldn’t say we took it for granted because you appreciate every one of them,” Buescher said. “But last year, when it did become the near misses versus the trophies and the hardware up on the shelf, it hurt some feelings, and it does ignite that underneath everybody to say, all right, we’re fast at a lot of different styles of racetracks, but we have to win, ultimately. We have to take that next step.

“The urgency to do that isn’t changed by a Chase format versus a playoff format. It’s not changed by what racetrack we’re at. It’s this weekend. The urgency is to figure out how to win this weekend.”

RFK Racing has 143 wins in the Cup Series to date. Should they add five more this season, as Keselowski hopes, it would move them ever closer to the 150 milestone.