RFK Racing and Brad Keselowski Have a Very Good Reason to Be Confident Ahead of the Playoffs

The regular season of the 2023 Cup Series ended on a favorable note for RFK Racing. Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski secured the first 1-2 finish for the team. This is a remarkable success for co-owner Keselowski, who is being highly commended in NASCAR circles for his team’s turnaround. And if their performance in the regular season was any indication, RFK Racing has a lot to look forward to in the playoff championship.

Buescher enters the playoffs in the 4th position and Keselowski in the 9th. However, a metric that has been doing the rounds on social media doubles down on RFK’s upsurge—a metric based on drivers’ average finishes.

Not just wins, the Keselowski–Buescher combo has something else going for them

When Brad Keselowski moved to RFK Racing as an owner/driver in 2022, the team had not had a Cup race win since 2017. Keselowski knew he had an arduous journey ahead to mobilize the team toward an upward trajectory. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much to show for at the end of his first year with RFK Racing, other than Chris Buescher‘s lone win in the Bluegreen Vacations Duel 2 at the Daytona International Speedway. Cut to the present year and Chris Buescher is being touted as the dark horse to win this year’s championship.

Buescher started strong this year with a top 5 finish in the Daytona 500. He secured a playoff place by winning the Federated Auto Parts 400 at the Richmond Raceway and continued his winning streak in Michigan. The team finished strong with both their racers crossing the checkered back-to-back in the last race in Daytona. Buescher enters the playoffs with an impressive 2021 points in 26 races with six Top-5 and 12 Top-10 finishes. Keselowski isn’t too far behind with six Top-5 and 11 Top-10 finishes, totaling 2010 points. Looking at these numbers, it can be surmised that unlike Hendrick Motorsports, consistency has been the key for RFK Racing.

More interestingly, a Reddit post detailing the average finishes of NASCAR drivers is making the rounds. Apparently, Buescher is second only to regular season champion Martin Truex Jr when it comes to average finishes.

“What a turnaround!”: Data speaks for itself as Brad Keselowski & Co. eyes 2023 championship

The post listed the average finishes of the top 33 drivers contending in the Cup season. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran tops the list with an average finish of 11.4 while his teammate Denny Hamlin is third (12.3). Between them is RFK’s star racer with an average finish of 12.2. The fact that consistency takes you places is underscored by Kevin Harvick and Keselowski at 7th and 8th, respectively, both of whom secured their berths without having to secure a win.

As the data from steub.com was shared on social media, fans immediately filled the comment section of the post, hailing Buescher’s performance this year. One Reddit user proclaimed that Buescher’s racing is akin to his days as an Xfinity driver.

“Chris Buescher has been absolutely amazing and has looked like the driver we all saw in Xfinity when he outdueled Chase Elliott. I really think he is Ford’s best bet at the championship”

The shift in RFK Racing astounded another commenter. In fact, he was happy with Justin Haley signing Rick Ware Racing for 2024, just because of their alliance with RFK Racing: “what a turnaround RFK has done. they are honestly a very pleasant surprise. As a Haley fan I am still hopeful for that move to RWR if the alliance is as strong as he made it seem on Stacking Pennies. ������”

Keselowski’s move from Team Penske to RFK Racing has affected both the team’s accomplishments this year. A fan also noted this in the comments: “both RFK cars have better avg finish than all 3 Penske cars..”

Another commenter proclaimed Buescher has given everyone the ‘feel good story of the year’, with a fan exclaiming his desire to see him as the champion.

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“I knew Buescher was have a great season but damn. Definitely the feel good story of the year”

“How cooool would it be if Christopher won the championship ������������ i”

Let’s see if Buescher succeeds in handing over this year’s championship to RFK Racing. It would certainly add a shining feather to Keselowski’s cap.