Analysis

NASCAR Cup

Why Keselowski's move to Roush Fenway is just the beginning

Brad Keselowski’s move next season at Roush Fenway Racing was made official on Tuesday but he’s likely the first of many.

Jim Utter

Edited: Jul 21, 2021, 4:21 PM

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Roush Fenway Racing announcement

Keselowski went out of his way to compare his new driver/owner role at Roush beginning in 2022 to Tony Stewart’s move into a similar position at Haas CNC Racing in 2009.

As Keselowski noted, Stewart was the same age – 37 years old – and had the same amount of career wins in the NASCAR Cup Series – 35 – when Stewart-Haas Racing was formed.

But when Stewart joined forces with Gene Haas, the biggest gain wasn’t just in adding Stewart the accomplished driver. It was also all the exceptional and talented people who came to work at the organization because Stewart had now made it his new NASCAR home.

Keselowski, as well as the executives at Roush Fenway, are hoping the same scenario plays out in their case.

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Keselowski confirmed as new driver/co-owner at Roush Fenway

“First off, hat’s off to Tony. What he did over there was amazing and I don’t know if he’s ever gotten the credit that he rightfully deserves,” Keselowski said. “He took that company that had never won a race and, again, in 2½-to-3 years’ time won a championship with it. That was so impressive.”

Roush Fenway, of course, has a much longer history and far more success in NASCAR than Haas did at the time of Stewart’s addition.

Those factors, as well as the change to the Next Generation car in the Cup Series next season – where every team will basically be starting on a level playing field – should provide for an easier transition.

“One of the key things is Tony did an amazing job of bringing in key talent. I think we’re always looking at talent. Things will change. Teams change. Companies change over time and people go different places and things like that happen,” Keselowski said.

“I think our eyes and ears are open as talent becomes available at all times, and I’m hopeful that we’ll continue to have an influx of talent with this announcement. It’s one of the key reasons why we’re here today is to show the world that here’s what we’re doing and to make sure that we’re attracting the best talent as it comes up.”

Team co-owner Jack Roush echoed Keselowski’s thoughts.

“One of the challenges that we had was getting this press conference moved up as far back in the summer as we could so that we’d have the opportunity to talk with people who might be considering a change that would be attracted to us and we would be attractive to them,” Roush said. “So, we definitely have our shingle out.

“We’re in the business to stay and we’re looking to reset and to move forward with the most aggressive attack at the rules changes and the hardware changes that the Next Gen car has and to

reevaluate the skill sets and look at making improvements and ambitions to our organization out of people that are at a point in their career where they’re ready for a change as Brad was.”

New management

Keselowski’s additional focus on the competition side of the new organization will put him in a key role to decide who is added and who is kept at Roush.

The experience he has in his career from having owned his own Truck Series program as well as driving for successful organizations such as JR Motorsports and Team Penske should benefit him well.

“I think it’s a critical role for me and it’s a critical role for me in joining the team, no doubt. I think it really comes down to the style of management that you have. I’m a big believer in servant leadership,” Keselowski said.

“A lot of my intention is, yes, to hold people accountable as any leader does, but more so to serve the team in helping them get what they need to be the best they can be, and that means being an active listener as much as setting direction, but helping them achieve their goals and helping them tell us what to do.

“There’s the old Steve Jobs saying, ‘We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do, not so I can tell them what to do.’ And I’m a big believer in that, so there’s certainly some work to be done in that area.”

Even with Roush in a better position than Haas was when Stewart joined that organization, Keselowski is under no illusions of an easy path ahead.

Work to be done

However, he plans to hold everyone to the same standard as himself in working for success.

“This is a big challenge, but it’s a big dream of mine to be an owner and a partner at the NASCAR level with the right ownership group, and I think this is it. But it’s scary,” he said. “I have a great team right now. I’m not going to say anything differently, and I’ve been very privileged to drive for Team Penske and to have the success we’ve had.

“It’s tough to leave that, and I don’t want to deny that in any shape or form, but this is a big dream of mine that was worth leaving it for. It’s not an easy transition. I know the work is going to be hard and that is scary.

“It’s scary to leave something where you know you can be successful to go to a new opportunity, but I believe in this opportunity, but we have to go do the work. Nobody is going to give anything to us. We have to go work for it.”

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