Brad Keselowski, the driver of the #2 Autotrader Ford, talks to the media during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 18, 2017, in Bristol, Tennessee. Photo – Jerry Markland/Getty Images
Brad Keselowski is a thinker and a planner.
With an eye toward a future as a potential Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series owner, Keselowski announced this week that he will cease operating Brad Keselowski Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at the end of the season.
On Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Keselowski met with reporters behind his No. 2 Team Penske Ford transporter and elaborated on his decision, which may involve transforming his shop space into an ongoing business that ultimately could support a Cup ownership.
“We’re not ready to announce anything, but I know where I want to go and we’re in the middle of putting all that together,” Keselowski said. “Until it’s together, I don’t want to get too far down the road with it, but I know that I’m committed to the facility and the community to have an operational and functioning business in that area and plan to do just that.
“Hopefully, that opens a spot to retain a good number of our people.”
With that approach, Keselowski is taking a page from such team owners as Roger Penske, Rick Hendrick, and Jack Roush, who operate business concerns outside of NASCAR racing and use business-to-business opportunities to enhance their appeal to potential sponsors.
“If you look at all the business owners at this level – and really all three of these levels – they have a sustainable, profitable business outside of motorsports, and that’s going to remain the key for any owner to have success, because the reality is I can only be a race car driver for so long.
“When that time comes up, my business would have had to shut down because I don’t have a profit center, and having that profit center is what helps you get through the ebbs and flows that every race team has, so I need to have one of those profit centers.
“That doesn’t mean that I’ll be a Cup owner one day, but that means when the time is right, if we achieve the goals that I have, I’ll have the opportunity to make that decision myself and not have it made for me.”
In the meantime, Keselowski believes the Truck Series will do just fine without him.
“The Truck Series has been around a long time,” Keselowski said. “It’s going to be around a lot longer than me, so I’m not so self-centered to think that series is based solely on my team and participation. It’ll be around. It’ll be all right.”