Keselowski proud of Buescher, RFK amid his own drought; Hamlin "all good" with Larson tap

Something has changed at RFK Racing over the past couple of seasons and it’s more than just an extra letter in the company name.

That "K," representing Keselowski, was added prior to last season as Brad Keselowski took a driver-owner role after leaving Team Penske. As Chris Buescher rolled to a second victory in as many seasons on Sunday, locking himself into the postseason in doing so, it was hard not to reflect on how far the organization has come in a relatively short amount of time.

“It’s a big step forward,” Keselowski admitted. “I don’t know if I have an answer for what it means other than we get to stay in business, which is always good, right?

“I think we've come a good ways. I'm not looking up today, everyone as strong as today was, and saying that we got everything we want and need to win every week. We're progressing and we're putting ourselves in position.”

Keselowski seems safe in the playoff picture too, 133 points above Michael McDowell in 16^th. It would take three new winners in the final four races of the regular season or a colossal collapse from Keselowski to keep him out. That after Buescher and Keselowski finished 21^st and 24^th respectively last year.

Those performances were more indicative of Roush-Fenway Racing for most of the last decade plus. Buescher’s two wins are as many as the company otherwise had combined since 2014 with both coming from Ricky Stenhouse at restrictor-plate tracks in 2017.

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But that didn’t deter Keselowski from leaving one of the premier rides in NASCAR to invest in a team that had fallen on hard times. And the results are no surprise to his contemporaries.

“You know in a matter of time Brad is going to figure it out, he’s a real smart guy — he’s outside the box but he’s a real smart guy,” former teammate Joey Logano said. “It’s not an easy turnaround from what they’ve had going on in the past.

"We’ve all kind of seen the issues Roush had over the last eight years and it’s hard to turn that momentum around to go the other way. They definitely brought some stout race cars today.”

More often than not, RFK has brought stout race cars throughout the 2023 season.

And while Keselowski’s involvement has surely been a boost that’s led to the improved performance, he explained it’s much bigger than that.

“Really, my job is to be a facilitator,” Keselowski said. “It’s to try to make sure the resources are there in combination with the right people to be successful."

“In that light, I don’t feel like I really do that much work, to be honest. I just try to listen to the people that do the work, make sure they’re getting what they need in a servant leadership style.

“There’s a team of people. I’m happy for them.”

Let’s go through the gears.

First gear: Chris Buescher wins, RFK Racing improves, Keselowski still in a drought

And yet, as good as Sunday was from an organizational standpoint, it still stung a bit for Keselowski.

His personal winless streak is now at 84, and at RFK he’s won two more races as a car owner than as a driver. That includes Buescher’s win at Bristol last fall, a race where Keselowski led 109 laps before blowing a tire.

And there have been other close calls, notably yet another at this year’s Daytona 500 in which he led a race-high 42 laps before falling victim to a late crash. It was a result so bitter, the normally talkative Keselowski left Daytona without issuing a comment.

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So, while Sunday brought with it a smile for Keselowski, somewhere buried beneath is a grimace that he’ll take with him to his home track in Michigan next week.

“I mean, obviously I want to win the race as a driver,” Keselowski said. “That's super important to me. Bristol honestly stung a lot more than this did because it was out of our control where we blew a tire. Here I think there were some things in my control, our control as a team. I wasn't flawless today.”

Second gear: Kyle Larson makes good on promise to race Denny Hamlin differently

A couple of laps down but on fresh rubber, Kyle Larson barreled to the back bumper of Denny Hamlin, who was racing for position.

He didn't lift.

A week after pledging to race Hamlin differently, Larson made good on that promise, bumping the 11 car out of the way. And that was fine with Hamlin.

“He was having a tough day and we were racing up front for a win,” Hamlin said. “It’s all good on my end, for sure.”

The dust-up and resulting remarks between the two friends was the major talking point in NASCAR all of last week. After finishing second to Buescher on Sunday, Hamlin was asked about it again and he continued to stand his ground.

“At the point where I went to the outside of (Buescher) in Turn 3, he moved up the track, that’s racing,” Hamlin said. “Guys, we’ve got to understand that this … I know we want to linger on it, but this has been happening for a long, long time. Nothing new.”

Third gear: Martin Truex Jr. takes a different path to the top 10

A seventh-place finish with 18 laps led was anything but uneventful for Martin Truex Jr.

After falling from 10^th to the mid-20s immediately, it took some creativity and strategy from crew chief James Small to get Truex back into the game. That included staying out longer on fuel runs and hanging on for several laps while getting the doors blown off by competitors on new tires.

It also included a few heated exchanges over the radio.

“He doesn’t have the information we have and can't see what lap times the other guys have ran at that point in their runs,” Small said of Truex. “It’s hard when people are obviously going past you and you’re the leader. But if I were him, I’d be out there hot, pissed off and frustrated as well. I’m just happy he stuck with it.”

Fourth gear: Kevin Harvick and his best shot at a victory

If ever there was a time for Kevin Harvick to win in his final season, it would seem to be this week.

Harvick has won four of the last five races at Michigan and five of the last seven while a Ford has gone to Victory Lane in eight straight events.

Chase Elliott (8.0) has the best career average finish at the 2-mile, D-shaped oval.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Chris Buescher wins, Brad Keselowski happy with RFK Racing progress