Keselowski disappointed to miss out on Darlington win, but 'not incredibly disappointed'

Brad Keselowski had a fast race car Sunday at Darlington Raceway, but he didn’t have the fastest one, and that’s why losing the Goodyear 400 didn’t have the same sting some other days would.

“I’m disappointed to not win, but I’m not incredibly disappointed,” Keselowski said after finishing second to Tyler Reddick. “You really get disappointed when you have the fastest car and you don’t win. Those are the days you get really disappointed.

“We didn’t quite have that today. We were close. But I thought we executed really well and made the most of what we had.”

Reddick had the best car, according to the RFK Racing driver and co-owner. The driver from 23XI Racing, who has now won four of the first NASCAR Cup Series races, was in a different category from the rest of the field.

But after starting from the pole, Reddick had to battle through multiple issues throughout the afternoon, which left him having to chase down Keselowski in the final stage. The winning pass came with 28 laps to go.

“A lot,” laughed Keselowski of what he needed to race Reddick at the end. “Tyler, he was really, really fast and he had those problems early in the race and got kind of buried, and he was just methodical. He did a great job. He took the fastest car and ran an amazing race.

“All in all, a great day for us. We won two stages, led a lot of laps, scored a bunch of points, so a lot to be proud of.”

Keselowski led a race-high 142 of 293 laps. It was the first time Keselowski had led over 100 laps in a Cup Series race since the fall of 2024 at Martinsville Speedway. And he led 222 laps in all of 2025.

The No. 6 Ford team swept the stages Sunday. Those were the first stage wins of the season for Keselowski, and the first since he swept the stages at Iowa Speedway in August.

“It was a strong day, very resilient,” Keselowski said. “We had great pace and just not enough to beat the [No.] 45.”