NASCAR's Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch at turning points as 2021 season wraps
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch will take the next steps in their careers once the 2021 NASCAR season ends.
They don’t necessarily have one foot out the door already, but the news conferences are complete as they enter the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs as lame ducks with their current teams.
Busch is in an extraordinary situation in that Chip Ganassi Racing is being bought at the end of the season by Trackhouse Racing. His crew members don’t know whether Trackhouse will retain them, and Busch announced last week that he will join 23XI Racing for 2022.
The 43-year-old Busch makes the move looking at the final years of his Cup driving career and joins a team that started just this year, co-owned by driver Denny Hamlin and NBA great Michael Jordan. Busch's role is to help the team transition to NASCAR’s new Next Gen car and diagnose any issues with the team’s equipment from the driver seat — in addition to giving the team a perennial playoff contender.
News broke in April that Keselowski would leave Team Penske for Roush Fenway Racing, and he was officially announced as a co-owner and 2022 driver for Roush Fenway in July.
Both drivers hope for one final great moment with their current teams. But they face an uphill battle. Keselowski said it would be naïve to say that his pending departure from one of the top teams in the sport is not a distraction.
"It’s hard to say it does anything positive for you, that’s for sure," Keselowski said. "The actual team guys seem really good. … I can’t really speak for the rest of the company.
"Clearly, it’s a big elephant in any room we’re in. There’s no doubt about that. But you try not to stare at the elephant, I guess, and try to focus on the opportunity in front of us with the next 10 weeks."
The announcement of Trackhouse's purchase of Ganassi came in late June — to the surprise of many. Busch, a free agent, already was looking at options at the time, but the announcement threw the whole organization into a period of uncertainty.
"You can’t make too much of it, but at the same time, this is one of those special moments in life where a team was sold out from underneath us," Busch said. "All the guys were kind of surprised by it.
"We’re together. We’re in this. And we’re a playoff-bound team that is capable of winning races and making a deep run at the championship. There’s no better time than now."
The drivers are often in an awkward position, as they know their futures, but in many instances, the crew members are awaiting word of whether they will remain. Team Penske has yet to announce a crew chief and crew for Keselowski's replacement Austin Cindric. Trackhouse, which will field two cars next year, has not determined how it will merge its current one-car crew with Ganassi’s two crews.
"We’re all professionals," Busch said. "We’re all adults. … We all have to help everybody pull deep."
Busch said the message to his crew was that they are in this playoff position because they have talent.
"They’re a playoff team, and their résumé has race wins on it," Busch said of his crew. "Whatever position they’re in, if they want to stay or upgrade with another team, they’re winners, and they deserve a good chance at wherever they go."
Busch and Keselowski are in some ways going in different directions on the track. Busch rallied late in the regular season, winning at Atlanta in July to secure a spot in the playoffs.
Keselowski won at Talladega in April to secure his playoff spot. But he has finished 24th or worse in three of the past four races.
"The last month has not been anywhere near the standards I would like to have," Keselowski said. "But some of that was in our control. Some of it was not.
"And a lot of it is, in my eyes, irrelevant to what’s required in the next two months ahead. I’m trying to stay focused forward."
After challenging for the championship last year but being unable to overcome a poor pit stop to capture the title, Keselowski’s playoff prognosis this season is not as sunny.
"I’m concerned across the whole board," Keselowski said. "It’s not going to be easy to get out of the first round. It’s going to be very hard to get out of the second round."
Both drivers will have to wait until after the season ends to get any test in the Next Gen car. Their first chances to work with their new teams will likely come in November at a test in Charlotte.
For Keselowski, his move might be a little more emotional. He has spent the past 12 seasons with Team Penske. Busch has spent the past three at Ganassi.
"It hits you in different ways, no doubt," Keselowski said. "Walking out of the building last week before we went to full COVID protocols was a little bit sentimental.
"I walked out of there thinking that’s probably the last time I would be in the building. That was a little sentimental. But it is what it is."
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What to watch for
Martin Truex Jr. has dominated the past two Darlington races, leading a combined 444 laps and winning one of them.
The one he won in May probably means more because the aero package last year was the 550 horsepower package. This year, Darlington was designated a 750-horsepower package (with reduced downforce). As a result, the focus should be on the May race.
Truex dominated. Kyle Larson rallied from a speeding penalty to finish second. Then it was Kyle Busch, William Byron and Hamlin. It would be absolutely no surprise to see the winner come from those five drivers.
Darlington has repaved a stretch 600 feet long, 32 feet wide in the upper grove of Turn 2 to repair damage and bumps caused by weepers. Expect drivers to make a ton of speed in that area, which they will like, but it could make engine builders nervous over the 500-mile event in the summer heat.
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Thinking out loud
With no qualifying except for the finale, NASCAR will have the playoff drivers start at the front of the field each week in order of the lineup formula.
Although it would be great to have qualifying, with no qualifying, this is a good move.
Stage points are so pivotal, and with no qualifying, this is the most even way to make sure that every driver has a somewhat fair chance to score stage points. A wreck in a race the weekend earlier does enough damage to a driver’s ability to score points in that event, and it shouldn’t have such an impact on the next event that a driver has no shot to score significant points in the first stage without a huge rally.
Is it totally fair? Nothing, when there is no qualifying, is completely fair. But starting all the drivers up front is better than any alternative when trying to keep a level playing field for each event.
Next Up: Next Gen
Eight drivers will head to Daytona for a tire test Tuesday and Wednesday, and NASCAR officials hope to get a feel for how the Next Gen cars draft.
This will be the first test with multiple teams having assembled cars. The drivers: Ross Chastain (Ganassi/Trackhouse), Joey Logano (Penske), Austin Dillon (Childress), Cole Custer (Stewart-Haas), Byron (Hendrick), Chris Buescher (Roush Fenway), Hamlin (Joe Gibbs) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (JTG Daugherty).
"How do we get the draft on the race track to where we can push each other, not push each other, what’s our goals, and try to achieve that with this new car when it comes to the big pack draft?" Logano said.
Drivers expect the cars to handle differently.
"It’s understanding how the air moves around those cars before the Daytona 500. You want to be the first winner with the Next Gen car," Hamlin said.
"I would like to get a feel for the heat. From what I’ve heard, those cars are extremely hot on the inside."
Social spotlight
They said it
"I had a good buddy tell me about 10 years ago, ‘If you have one bad race team, why have two?’" – Brad Daugherty on JTG Daugherty Racing planning to scale back from two teams to one
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass. Looking for more NASCAR content? Sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass!
Chip Ganassi Racing Team Trackhouse 23XI Racing Team Penske Roush Fenway Racing
