Brad Keselowski to Leave RFK Racing After 2026, Ending One of NASCAR’s Most Ambitious Partnerships

Brad Keselowski joined Roush Fenway Racing in 2022 with plans to do more than drive the No. 6. Five seasons later, the former Cup champion is preparing to leave the organization he helped rebuild, while his future behind the wheel remains wide open.

Brad Keselowski and RFK Racing will go their separate ways at the conclusion of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, ending a partnership that fundamentally changed both the direction of Keselowski’s career and the identity of one of NASCAR’s oldest organizations. RFK Racing announced Tuesday that Keselowski will leave the No. 6 Ford after the season finale, while the team and Keselowski will also work through what comes next regarding his ownership stake in the organization. Keselowski has made it clear that he intends to continue competing, but no future team or driving plans have been announced.

The news carries more weight than a traditional Silly Season driver change because Keselowski was never simply another driver on the RFK roster. When he left Team Penske following the 2021 season, Keselowski joined what was then Roush Fenway Racing as both the driver of the flagship No. 6 Ford and a co-owner of the organization. His arrival also brought a new name — Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing — and effectively made the 2012 Cup Series champion one of the central figures responsible for trying to return the former powerhouse to championship contention.

The results behind the wheel never completely matched the expectations surrounding that move. Through 174 Cup starts with RFK, Keselowski has earned 25 top-five finishes and 55 top 10s, but only one points-paying victory. That win came in the 2024 Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway and ended a lengthy personal winless streak. His strongest complete season with the organization came in 2023, when Keselowski recorded 16 top 10s, posted a 14.5 average finish and ended the year eighth in the championship standings.

Judging the Keselowski era only by the No. 6 car, however, misses a large part of what he was brought to RFK to accomplish. The organization Keselowski joined in 2022 was trying to regain relevance after years spent well outside NASCAR’s group of weekly championship contenders. By 2026, RFK had expanded to three cars and placed both Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece into The Chase, with Preece earning his first points-paying Cup victory at Daytona in the regular-season finale. Keselowski himself missed the postseason, but he was standing in Victory Lane celebrating with Preece when the No. 60 delivered one of the biggest moments in the organization’s recent history.

That makes Tuesday’s announcement especially surprising because Keselowski was still publicly talking about RFK’s long-term development only a few months ago. In July, he discussed the need for stronger collaboration throughout Ford’s NASCAR program and argued that RFK had established itself as an organization capable of taking another competitive step if given the right opportunities. Then at Darlington earlier this month, Keselowski described RFK as being near the top of what he considered NASCAR’s second tier of organizations while openly stating that the goal remained reaching the same level as Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske.

There have also been significant changes around the No. 6 team in the weeks leading up to Keselowski’s announcement. Crew chief Jeremy Bullins abruptly left RFK following Bristol to pursue another opportunity and has since joined Legacy Motor Club for 2027. Mike Skarbowski took over the No. 6 beginning at Kansas, where Keselowski finished 12th and described the race as a strong start to the new pairing. Neither Keselowski nor RFK has publicly connected Bullins’ departure to Tuesday’s announcement, so treating the two moves as part of the same decision would be speculation. Still, the timing makes this one of the most dramatic organizational shakeups RFK has experienced since Keselowski originally arrived.

The ownership side may be even more important than who drives the No. 6 next season. RFK said it will work collaboratively with Keselowski to determine the appropriate next steps regarding his stake in the organization. The team has also begun searching for a new head of competition, another role Keselowski’s influence helped shape during his time there. RFK president Chip Bowers credited Keselowski with investing himself in the future of the company and helping the organization rethink what RFK Racing could become.

That makes this more than Brad Keselowski leaving a race car. RFK now has to determine how much of the structure built during the Keselowski era remains after Keselowski himself is no longer part of the day-to-day competition operation. Buescher and Preece have both become legitimate postseason drivers, RFK has grown into a three-car Cup organization, and the team has shown flashes of being capable of competing with NASCAR’s biggest organizations. The question for RFK is whether that upward trajectory continues without one of the people most closely associated with rebuilding it.

For Keselowski, the immediate question is even simpler: where does he race next? At 42 years old, the 2012 Cup champion has given no indication that he wants to stop. RFK’s own announcement specifically noted his desire to continue competing for years to come and said the organization supports him exploring opportunities elsewhere. Keselowski has 36 career Cup victories and has started every points-paying Cup race since November 2009, a streak that reached 610 consecutive starts following Kansas.

Until Keselowski announces his next move, connecting him to any specific organization would be little more than Silly Season speculation. What is confirmed is significant enough on its own. A driver who left one of NASCAR’s most successful teams because he wanted the opportunity to help build something himself is now leaving the organization that literally put his name on the building.

The Brad Keselowski chapter of RFK Racing will end after five seasons.

Whether the next chapter puts Keselowski in another Cup car, another ownership role, or something nobody sees coming may now become one of NASCAR’s biggest stories heading into 2027.