Brad Keselowski has the potential to be one of the hottest free agents on the market for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. Where will he end up competing next year? Here are five possible landing spots.
Entering the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, 2018 champion Joey Logano was the only one of Team Penske’s three drivers who had a contract lined up to compete past the end of the 2020 season, and his deal runs through the 2023 season.
But just three races into the 36-race season, 2012 champion Brad Keselowski found himself as the only Team Penske driver without a contract lined up to compete in 2021 and beyond.
Ryan Blaney, who signed with the team on a multi-year deal ahead of the 2018 season, signed a multi-year contract extension that is believed to run through at least 2023.
Keselowski stated that he and Roger Penske’s organization, the team for which he has driven throughout his entire career as a full-time Cup Series driver, have not yet begun the negotiating process, and he also had a few other interesting things to say when pressed about the matter.
He delivered a swift below to a rumor that he may retire after the 2020 season, but he did not rule out leaving the driving duties of the #2 Ford to another driver.
He stated that he would not be pursuing other options on his own by “dialing out”, but that he would certainly listen if another team were to dial in.
So where will Brad Keselowski end up competing in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season? Will he stick around for what would be his 11th season as a full-time driver at Team Penske, or will he leave for another team?
Here are five possible landing spots.
Team Penske
The most obvious option for Brad Keselowski would be signing another contract with Team Penske. Despite early season rumors that he was not satisfied with his current situation, he is still driving for a competitive team and has a car capable of winning pretty much anywhere.
Keselowski has spent his entire career as a full-time Cup Series driver, which began back in 2010, driving for Team Penske, and he has racked up 29 of his 30 career wins for the team, as well as the 2012 championship.
Additionally, he appears to be more than ready to stay with the team behind the wheel of the #2 Ford, given the fact that he has stated that he will not be the one pursuing other options by “dialing out”.
While teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney already have contracts lined up for the 2021 season and beyond, Keselowski, the oldest driver of the team by over six years, stated that he and the team simply haven’t begun to discuss the matter.
Can you blame them? The 2020 season only just started. His last contract extension was signed in July of 2017, well into the season.
But should somebody “dial in” and lure him away from Roger Penske’s organization, where might he end up in 2021?
Hendrick Motorsports
Aside of Team Penske, Hendrick Motorsports is the most interesting and logical option for Brad Keselowski for the 2021 season. After the 2019 season, seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson announced that he will be retiring from full-time competition following the 2020 season, and that leaves the #48 Chevrolet without a driver.
The team have maintained that their focus is on the 2020 season and not selected the successor to the NASCAR legend. Could it be because they already have Keselowski picked out?
Team owner Rick Hendrick wanted Keselowski to be a part of his Cup Series team back before he signed with Team Penske ahead of the 2010 season, but he simply didn’t have room at his four-car organization.
At the time, Keselowski was competing full-time for the Hendrick Motorsports-affiliated JR Motorsports Xfinity Series team.
While Hendrick has had chances to sign the 2012 champion in the past, none of them have been quite like this one. Plus, Ally Financial already signed as the full-time primary sponsor of the #48 team through the 2023 season, so Hendrick is pretty much in a position where he can select whoever he wants.
But if he doesn’t re-sign with Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports go with somebody else, where else might Keselowski end up?
Stewart-Haas Racing
Should Brad Keselowski leave Team Penske, Hendrick Motorsports is the clear number one destination for him. But in discussing the fact that he would be willing to listen to teams if they “dial in” although he would not be “dialing out”, he added that there are “a lot of really good rides out there”.
Two of them are at Stewart-Haas Racing, and considering the fact that they have not maintained the same driver lineup from one year to the next since between the 2015 and 2016 seasons, this could set up a very interesting scenario.
Keselowski already drives a Ford, and this is the only logical team change that would entail him going to another top-tier team but would not require him to move to either Chevrolet or Toyota.
Kevin Harvick is already signed through the 2023 season and rookie Cole Custer is seen as a long-term option, but the contracts of Clint Bowyer and Aric Almirola both expire after the 2020 season.
Both drivers signed one-year deals late last season to continue driving the #14 Ford and #10 Ford, respectively, in 2020, but neither driver has won a race since the 2018 season.
Stewart-Haas Racing already have several other options, such as promoting Xfinity Series driver Chase Briscoe, hiring Corey LaJoie, who drives for the Stewart-Haas Racing-affiliated Go Fas Racing team, or even bringing in Kyle Larson from Chip Ganassi Racing.
Team co-owner Tony Stewart wanted to hire Larson as his replacement ahead of the 2017 season, but the specifics of his deal with Chip Ganassi Racing would not allow that since Stewart ended up confirming Bowyer as his replacement in September of 2015, more than one year beforehand.
But Keselowski can’t be ignored, either.
Chip Ganassi Racing
As mentioned on the previous slide, Kyle Larson is seen as a potential replacement candidate for Clint Bowyer or Aric Almirola at Stewart-Haas Racing given Tony Stewart’s interest in him.
Larson has also been one of the many rumored replacement candidates of Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports, and if social media had its way, he would already have his Ally Financial #48 firesuit sitting in his closet for next year.
Should Larson end up leaving Chip Ganassi Racing, whether he ends up with the Rick Hendrick-owned team or the Stewart and Gene Haas-owned team, that would free up the seat of the #42 Chevrolet, and that could open up a seat for Brad Keselowski.
Team Penske have options to replace Keselowski in Xfinity Series driver Austin Cindric and in Matt DiBenedetto, who drives for the Team Penske-affiliated Wood Brothers Racing. Hendrick Motorsports can literally pick anybody for the #48 Chevrolet.
Additionally, as discussed on the previous slide, Stewart-Haas Racing don’t have any shortage of options, either, and they will likely only replace one driver if they replace anybody. While their driver lineup has changed after each of the last four seasons, they have never replaced more than one driver per season during this span.
Going from Team Penske to Chip Ganassi Racing may be a cardinal sin in IndyCar, but Keselowski joining Chip Ganassi’s Cup Series team isn’t that far-fetched of an idea.
At least, not compared to the fifth and least likely team discussed in this article…
Joe Gibbs Racing
Given the Team Penske vs. Joe Gibbs Racing rivalry and the rivalries that have gone on specifically between Brad Keselowski and some of the drivers who compete for Joe Gibbs’s team, this move almost seems impossible.
But there’s still that 0.001%.
Three of Joe Gibbs Racing’s four drivers are already under contract for the 2021 season and beyond, but the one that isn’t entered the 2020 season on the hot seat. That one driver is Erik Jones.
Jones has not had the best start to the 2020 season, this coming only a few months after he was the team’s only driver who failed to qualify for the 2019 Championship 4.
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He has not advanced past the round of 16 of the playoffs in his two seasons with the team, and since taking over the driving duties of the #20 Toyota ahead of the 2018 season, he has won two races.
As for a teammate comparison, Kyle Busch has won 13 races, Martin Truex Jr. has won 11 races and Denny Hamlin has won seven races.
Christopher Bell has long been seen as the biggest threat to Jones’s future with Joe Gibbs Racing. But Bell hasn’t exactly blown the doors off the Cup Series in his first few races like everybody wanted to believe after coming off of two seasons for the ages in the Xfinity Series.
Would Gibbs really promote Bell from Joe Gibbs Racing-affiliated Leavine Family Racing team instead of retaining Jones if neither driver can perform at a high level throughout the rest of the 2020 season?
If neither driver can perform at a high level throughout the rest of the 2020 season, the most likely option is Jones getting another year with the team.
But if this doesn’t happen, perhaps a “0” will be added to Keselowski’s #2 next year. He is an established driver and a proven veteran, and as we’ve already seen this year, teammate feuds don’t seem to faze Joe Gibbs Racing to any notable extent.
Where will Brad Keselowski end up in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season? Considering retirement is out of the question and he would be highly unlikely to take a ride with a lower caliber team should he leave Team Penske, he likely won’t end up anywhere outside of these five teams.