When Josh Berry managed to revive his NASCAR Cup Series career with an unexpected hot streak to conclude the 2026 regular season, it was one of the bigger surprises of silly season.
Berry's replacement at Wood Brothers Racing behind the wheel of the No. 21 Ford for 2027 was announced back in June, when the team confirmed that O'Reilly Auto Parts Series champion Jesse Love would be taking his place.
Rarely can a driver in Berry's position actually earn himself a new Cup ride based on late-season performance (especially one who doesn't come with excess funding), but that's exactly what he did. Legacy Motor Club and John Hunter Nemechek surprisingly agreed to part ways after 2026, and Berry is set to take over behind the wheel of the No. 42 Toyota.
Brad Keselowski departure leaves shock RFK opening
Beyond that, everything else appeared set. Yet one of the "maybe" bullet points has evolved into a massive silly season surprise, and that is the fact that RFK Racing co-owner Brad Keselowski is set to leave the organization as a driver, and most likely an owner, once the 2026 season concludes.
It's a shocking development, given the fact that Keselowski was seen as the heir apparent to Jack Roush, and it's even more surprising because of the fact that Keselowski has maintained, all along, that the plan is for the team to run three cars full-time next year, even though one of their charters, the one they currently use on loan from Rick Ware Racing, is set to move to Legacy Motor Club.
Very few ever expected the co-owner to be the odd man out.
Even with Keselowski out, the plan still appears to be for RFK Racing to run three cars full-time next year, although they do still want to land a true third charter eventually.
But if the Cup Series driver lineup does indeed feature 37 full-time entries next year, a mid-to-high level seat, by any metric, just opened up.
Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece both qualified for the playoffs in 2026, and while neither driver is a super-high-upside driver, the fact that both have consistently run well shows that the organization does indeed have upside as a whole. Keselowski has had speed more often than not as well, even though he didn't make the playoffs.
In 2023, Buescher even won three consecutive oval races, which goes to show what this team is capable of when they get it right and when they have even a slightly above average driver in their cars.
If they do fulfill their commitment to running three cars next year, the newcomer would effectively be landing not only the most surprising new opportunity of silly season, but one of the best for anybody in the garage.
As for Keselowski's future, he doesn't appear to be done in NASCAR just yet. But if he is to remain in the Cup Series as a full-time driver, it is going to require another unexpected driver change somewhere else over the next handful of months. And if he is to remain in the series as an owner, it's going to require an additional major surprise.
Add us as a preferred source on Google