‘I feel like I control my own destiny,’ Keselowski says after being granted his release by RFK

Brad Keselowski remains confident something will develop to keep him behind the wheel next year, and is hopeful that Saturday will bring a big step toward that happening.

RFK Racing verbally released Keselowski (soon to be put in writing) one hour before he met with the media to provide further updates on his future. The release made it a far different press conference than it could have been, as Keselowski is now free to drive for any organization and manufacturer in 2027. He will also sell his 20% equity in RFK Racing.

“I am confident that something is going to work out,” Keselowski said. “I don’t know what it is right now, so there is a level of uncertainty, for sure. I know that nothing comes easy in this sport, nor should it, and we’re going to have to grind really hard to get a deal done for next year. I know that, and I’m committed to doing that.

“I don’t have a deal done right now, but there are some really good opportunities. But nothing is ever done until it’s done.”

The former Cup Series champion knows how late in the game it is to get something done. It is what makes the situation all the more uneasy, and being granted his release will allow Keselowski to now have meaningful conversations about what is next. Although he could take phone calls over the last month, Keselowski could hardly do anything with them until granted his release.

Keselowski acknowledged that when he partnered with Jack Roush and the Fenway Group in 2022, he did so with the idea that he’d be there forever. Once he finished his driving career, Keselowski would fully transition into management and ownership.

“That was really where my heart was, and it didn’t play out the way that we hoped it would, but there were a lot of good things that did happen,” Keselowski said. “I would say objectively I was able to be a part of taking this team up a level in every measurable way, and I’m proud of the people that I got to work with and that we did that together with. No matter where this goes from here, that doesn’t change.”

Keselowski echoed the version of events from RFK Racing president Chip Bowers that when the negotiations about his future with RFK Racing began 11 months ago, he wanted to keep driving and doing competition-related matters for the organization. However, RFK Racing hoped he would shift to competition matters only. It was a difference of opinion that led to the split after five years together.

“I think now is kind of, let’s call this what it is, me signaling to the industry the three action steps that I have and seeing what the industry says back to me,” Keselowski said of any deadline to get a deal done. “I don’t know 100% how the industry is going to respond. Hopefully positively, but it’s a very fluid sport, and things can change very quickly, and today’s truths are yesterday’s fiction. So that’s what always makes it so hard when we talk to a lot of media members. Somebody will ask us a question, ‘Are you going to do x?’ And you’re like, ‘No.’ But maybe a day from now a circumstance will change where x will be the truth or the best opportunity that we do, and it’s not that we’re trying to mislead you or anything of that nature, but circumstances change so rapidly.

“That said, one of the things that is really appealing to me, and I think to the market, is given the limited eligibility for next year’s Clash and All-Star Race, clearly, I’m one of the drivers that is eligible for those two events, so that’s exciting. There are some different circumstances in the Cup Series garage that some people do or don’t know about that have yet to work out, and I could see a scenario that doesn’t develop until literally February of ‘27.

“Hopefully, we’ll have answers before then, but I don’t want to make any promises I can’t live up to.”

Keselowski said there are a number of opportunities in the Cup Series next season. However, he has not had a meaningful discussion with Dodge or Ram, which would reunite him with the manufacturer that he won his Cup Series title with. He is open-minded to having such a discussion, as is he to a relationship with the other manufacturers.

And Keselowski hasn’t given up on a relationship with Ford in the future. As with about everything pertaining to what is next, Keselowski said it is all on the table.

“I feel like I control my own destiny and there’s a lot of power in that – for good or bad,” said Keselowski. “Being able to control your own destiny, you hear it in other sports – give me the ball, coach. That’s where I am at a professional level right now. I now have the ball, and if I fumble it, it’s on me, and if I score with it, it’s on me. But I have the ball.

“I think there’s a great sense of relief from that, but, to your point, there’s a pressure with that too. You’ve got to go deliver, and we have to go deliver on several fronts, and that burden is on us right now.”