Brad Keselowski Driver Bio

In just his third full season of Cup Series competition in 2012, Brad Keselowski claimed the championship – outgunning Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer to lead the playoffs by 39 points at year’s end.

The Team Penske driver won five times, including twice during his post-season title run: at Chicagoland Speedway and Dover International Speedway. Keselowski finished the season with 23 top 10s in 36 starts.

Keselowski’s passion for racing is in his DNA. His grandfather, John Keselowski, started the family tradition by competitively racing motorcycles and snowmobiles. Keselowski’s dad, Bob, and uncle, Ron, shared their father’s interest in racing, but found their niche in stock car racing.

In the early 1970s Ron spent five years competing in NASCAR’s Grand National ranks on a limited basis, scoring two top-five and 11 top-10 finishes. Bob, Keselowski’s dad, took over driving duties for the family’s K Automotive Motorsports team in the 1980s and raced in the ARCA Series. He won the series championship in 1989 and still ranks in the top 10 on ARCA’s all-time winner’s list with 24 trips to Victory Lane.

Growing up in Rochester Hills, Mich., Brad Keselowski and his siblings all helped out with the family team. Over the years he held various positions for the team, including serving as team engineer and scorer. Keselowski received his first shot behind the wheel in 1998. A friend gave the family a quarter midget his son had outgrown. The youngest Keselowski was a perfect fit for the small race vehicle and soon started competing in the Senior Honda 120 Quarter Midget division.

In his first season he earned six feature wins. The following year he moved up to the Senior Honda 160 Quarter Midget division where he won eight feature races and the championship.

Keselowski moved up to stock cars in 2000 and started racing in the Factory Stock division. That year he collected nine feature wins as well as rookie-of-the-year honors at both Auto City Speedway in Clio, Mich., and Dixie Motor Speedway in Birch Run, Mich.

During the next three years Keselowski balanced his budding racing career with his full-time job working for his family’s NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series operation. He moved up to the Limited Late Model and Super Late Model divisions and continued to rack up wins while competing on a limited basis. In 2001, he earned five fast qualifier positions, one feature win and five top-five finishes. In the next two seasons he collected 11 fast qualifier positions, two Super Late Model wins, two Limited Late Model wins and nine top-five finishes.

In 2004, Keselowski stepped into the NASCAR Truck Series ride operated by his family’s team for eight races. The following season he ran the full Truck Series schedule. His best finish was seventh at Daytona International Speedway.

Keselowski competed on a limited basis in both the NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series in 2006.

He started the 2007 season running for Keith Coleman Racing in the Xfinity Series until the team suspended operations in June. When Germain Racing needed a last-minute replacement for Ted Musgrave at Memphis Motorsports Park later that month they called on Keselowski. He scored the pole, led four times for a total of 62 laps and contended for the win.

Keselowski made his debut in the JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet at Chicagoland Speedway in the USG Durock300 in July 2007. In 14 starts for the team that year he scored five top 10s and eight top-15 finishes.

Keselowski ran his first full Xfinity season in 2008, finishing third in championship points. Fans voted him the series’ most popular driver after posting two wins, 11 top-five finishes and 20 top-10s in 2008. In November, he made his first two Cup-level starts, recording solid top-25 efforts for Hendrick Motorsports at Fort Worth, Texas, and Homestead, Fla.

In 2009 in the Xfinity Series, Keselowski captured four wins and two poles for the season. He was voted the series’ Most Popular Driver for the second consecutive year.

Keselowski captured his first win in the Cup series at Talladega in 2009 driving a limited schedule for James Finch.

The young driver enjoyed his first full-time Cup Series year in 2010 with Team Penske. Keselowski managed two top-10 finishes en route to a 25th-place position in the final standings.

His season in the Xfinity Series was much better than the Cup Series. Keselowski won the driver’s championship title with Team Penske on the strength of 26 top-five finishes, which set a season record in the series.

In 2011, Keselowski qualified for the post-season as a wild card and made the most of it … finishing fifth in the final standings, less than 100 points behind champion Tony Stewart.

Keselowski had three wins on three distinctly different types of tracks – the half-mile at Bristol, the 2.5-mile triangle at Pocono and on Kansas Speedway’s mile-and-a-half oval.

In addition to winning the Cup Series crown in 2012, Keselowski made 21 starts in the Xfinity Series – getting victories at Charlotte, New Hampshire and Indianapolis.

But he went from the elation of a championship to not even qualifying for the 2013 playoffs – falling 31 points short of a post-season berth.

Keselowski was the highest-placed non-playoff driver in the final standings, ending the year in 14th. He had one victory in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford, in the fall race at Charlotte.

Keselowski also won a pole at New Hampshire in July, where he finished fourth.

In 2013, Keselowski made 16 starts in the Xfinity Series and won seven races, helping Team Penske claim the owners’ championship in the No. 22 Ford. He added five Truck Series races to his schedule, with a best finish of second twice – at Chicagoland Speedway and Kentucky Speedway.

In 2014, Keselowski rebounded nicely with a series-best six wins. He was the No. 1 seed in the 16-man post-season and advanced through the first two rounds before his elimination at Phoenix. The 2012 champ finished fifth in the final standings.

Keselowski also was busy in the Xfinity and Truck Series, where he had a combined six wins in 14 starts.

Keselowski qualified for the 2015 playoffs but tailed off to a seventh-place finish in the final standings with just one win to show for his 36 starts.

He roared back with a strong 2016 season in which Keselowski earned the No. 2 seed in the playoffs behind only Kyle Busch. His four regular-season victories came at Las Vegas, Kentucky, Talladega Superspeedway and Daytona International Speedway.

But Keselowski went winless in the post-season and was eliminated from title contention in the second round following a 38th-place finish at Talladega. He finished 12th in the final standings.

Keselowski also made 15 starts in the Xfinity Series in 2016 with a best finish of second (to Kyle Larson) in the fall race at Texas Motor Speedway.

In 2017, Keselowski won three races – including a post-season victory at Talladega Superspeedway that carried him into the semifinal round of the playoffs. After entering the post-season as the No. 4 seed, Keselowski advanced to The Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway where he finished seventh in the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400.

In 2018, Keselowski won three consecutive races for the first time in his career, that included picking up the 500th win in motorsports for Roger Penske, en route to an eighth-place finish in the Monster Energy Cup Series standings.

The 2019 season saw Keselowski finish eighth again in the standings. The Team Penske driver found Victory Lane three times and ended up with 13 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes. Keselowski also won three pole positions.

After nine successful seasons with crew chief Paul Wolfe, including the 2012 championship, Keselowski will have a new crew chief in 2020. Ryan Blaney’s former crew chief Jeremy Bullins will now be paired with Keselowski.