The first caution at Bristol came early, and Brad Keselowski's team knew exactly who to blame. On just lap 61, a bump from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. sent the No. 6 Ford spinning. The incident was something Keselowski's spotter predicted moments before it happened.

The RFK Racing #6 driver was driving in 22nd after dropping down from his starting slot of 21st. On Lap 61, Keselowski, who was in the outer line, felt a nudge to his left rear only to see it was Ricky Stenhouse Jr., whose #47 Chevrolet for Hyak Motorsport nudged his car.

While the caution saw multiple drivers pit, Keselowski, who finished 2nd in Bristol last September, immediately dropped down to 28th. While the 0.533-mile oval managed to see 61 laps without any caution, Keselowski's spin caused a caution for 8 laps before racing resumed.

Keselowski’s team had in fact predicted that Stenhouse Jr would wreck the RFK #6. Keselowski’s spotter, TJ Majors, called it on the radio, “Bumper, bumper, bumper, bumper, he’s just gonna wreck you here.” Moments after the spin, Majors said: “Yeah, he’s just wrecked you.”

By the end of the first stage, however, Brad Keselowski managed to return to 22nd, where he got spun out. While there seems to be no damage, it will take a miracle for Keselowski to get into the podium spots.

Keselowski's Previous stats at Bristol

A win from 22nd place would be difficult but not impossible for Keselowski, who has a strong track record at Bristol. At the time of writing, when the caution cleared on lap 11 of 125 in stage 2, Keselowski jumped to 14.

The RFK Racing team co-owner has three wins at Bristol, back-to-back in 2011 and 2012, where he started from 10th and 17th, respectively, and another win in 2020 when he held on to his first-place start on the grid.

Beyond his three wins, Keselowski has another six top-ten finishes in a total of 34 starts in Bristol. Do you think Brad Keselowski will be able to end his 2026 winless streak as of now?

Read more at RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi