NASCAR: Brad Keselowski out of playoff contention?
Method No. 3 – Point his way in
If Brad Keselowski and the #6 team cannot successfully appeal the penalty and cannot win a race during the regular season, they’ll have to be as close to perfect as they possibly can be. They’ll have to avoid putting themselves in situations that could lead to DNFs and they’ll have to be as aggressive as possible to collect as many stage points as they can.
Keselowski is no stranger to the strategy game, so pit road calls could be used to advance his position on-track to capture these points. Even still, it would be an uphill battle to overcome the 104-point deficit he faces to Tyler Reddick.
Five races into the season, Tyler Reddick has 126 points, good for an average of 25.2 per race. If Reddick continues to gain this average until the end of the regular season, he will end the regular season with 655 points.
Keselowski, in turn, would have to gain an average of 30.1 points each week for the rest of the regular season in order to match that total.
Drivers near the playoff bubble increasing their average points gain per race and at least one more driver from outside of the top 16 earning a win would stress the #6 team even further. But 30 points can be achieved in many ways with stage points.
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This penalty could ultimately turn out to be what keeps Keselowski out of the playoffs in his first season as an owner-driver in the NASCAR Cup Series; he hasn’t missed the playoffs since 2013. But there is also a possibility that this could be the start of an incredible comeback story that defines the season and defines RFK Racing for years to come.