Brad Keselowski scores needed moral victory with NASCAR All Star pole

Brad Keselowski really needed this kind of moral victory.

The driver owner of the RFK Racing No. 6 will start from the pole in the All-Star Race on Sunday night at North Wilkesboro Speedway and this is the only highlight so far for a career worst season that has him 32nd in the championship standings.

To expand on that, the 2012 Cup Series champion has yet to record a top 10 or a top 5 and has an average finish of 27.2. And while the performance hasn’t been there this year, there is a degree of bad luck caked into this because some of his best runs have resulted in crashes – five DNFs in 12 races.

And bad results in the current Cup Series format tend to compound in that qualifying order is set by a metric that factors the previous week’s result and championship position -- meaning that Keselowski is frequently amongst the first to take time when the track is slowest.

Just last week, Keselowski was challenging for the lead late in the race when he suffered a flat tire that sent him into the wall and out of the race.

So even though the All-Star Race doesn’t count for points, the fact that Keselowski is starting from the pole is a real momentum builder for a driver that needed something to break his way.

 “I’m not going to say it’s been easy for me to weather the storm the last few months, but part of the juice is going through the struggles because it makes you appreciate the good times,” Keselowski said. “Yeah, we’ve had some struggles, but there’s a lot to be optimistic about. I knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park when we started this year with all the changes that we had.

“I didn’t expect it to be as big of a struggle as it has been, but that said, I see a lot of pieces that are coming together and this obviously demonstrates that. But even beyond today I feel a lot of pieces that are coming together and bode well for us in being able to make a really strong run here from here on out for the 2025 season. I’m not losing my cool. I’m putting ourselves in position and our team is putting ourselves in position to grow and hopefully go out and win races. We’re going to have a shot to win this race come Sunday.”

He should feel that confident.

Last year, Joey Logano led all but one lap from the pole at a track where clean air is notoriously advantageous.

“This race really lends itself to track position for a number of reasons,” Keselowski said. “Particularly because the field size is so small and the way the race runs out the leader generally does not catch the back of the field, so that puts a premium on being the leader that doesn’t necessarily ever have a chance to wash back out, so starting on the pole here, among many other races, but here specifically is a significant advantage.”

Again, this has been a tough season on Keselowski, even beyond his No. 6 program. Teammates Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher have enjoyed race contending speed this year but have also been hit with penalties that offset some of that performance in the standings.

RFK is reeling a bit and starting from the pole is absolutely something Keselowski and his team will celebrate.

“I feel like we’ve had other bright spots,” Keselowski said. “This one is one that’s tangible. It’s visible outside of our own team circle, but they build up. They build momentum. They build positivity inside the group that manifests itself in a higher level of teamwork and craftsmanship just naturally. I think the team is a pretty resilient group, but I don’t care who you are as a team we all need some positive reinforcement and encouragement and there’s nothing negative about today.”

Keselowski will technically lead the field from green in a Saturday heat race, which will then set the field for the main event on Sunday.