NASCAR: 3 veteran drivers who could be in trouble

NASCAR veterans at risk: No. 3 – Brad Keselowski

The third and most obvious driver on this list is Brad Keselowski, who is in his first season at RFK Racing as not only a driver but a co-owner of the team along with Jack Roush and Fenway Sports Group.

Things got off to a hot start for Keselowski and the team at Daytona International Speedway. He won the first of the two Bluegreen Vacations Duels, and teammate Chris Buescher won the second. Then in the Daytona 500, Keselowski led the most laps en route to a ninth place finish.

But the season has quickly turned into a disaster for the driver and co-owner of the #6 Ford. He has not finished higher than 12th place in the five races since the Daytona 500, and after the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his car was taken to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina.

Following teardown inspection, Keselowski was issued a 100-point penalty for violations discovered during it.

Even without the penalty, Keselowski would sit in 17th place in the point standings, five points below the playoff cut line. Instead, he sits in 34th, 105 points below it.

So even with 20 races remaining in the regular season, he is effectively in a must-win situation. Even if he does win, he still needs to climb back into the top 30 in points in order for that win to make him eligible for the playoffs.

The 2012 champion sits 35 points outside the top 30, so this climb isn’t too hard to envision, especially since, through just six races, he has technically scored 65 points more than the 30th place driver, Wood Brothers Racing’s Harrison Burton.

But what if he has his first winless regular season since 2013? He is bound to miss the playoffs for the first time since then, and he could very well experience his first complete winless season since 2010.