DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Brad Keselowski is aware that there’s one major prize missing from his NASCAR Cup Series trophy case.
He won the Cup Series championship in 2012 and he’s a past winner of three of NASCAR’s four traditional major events — the GEICO 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2009), the Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (2018) and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (2020).
Keselowski even has a Brickyard 400 victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2018 for good measure, though that event will move off the 2.5-mile IMS oval and onto the track’s infield road course this year.
However, a victory in the Daytona 500 — the traditional NASCAR Cup Series season opener and the sport’s biggest event — has continued to elude the 36-year-old native of Rochester Hills, Mich.
Keselowski told SPEED SPORT during his Daytona 500 media availability Monday that the iconic Harley J. Earl Trophy is “the last missing piece” on his racing résumé and he’s hoping to rectify that statistic during the 63rd edition of The Great American Race on Feb. 14.
“It’s definitely the one big box I don’t have checked. I’ve got the championship. I’ve won every other major but Daytona,” Keselowski said. “The only person that can claim that actively right now is Kevin Harvick and I want to join that club. It’s a big club to be in — to have all the majors and to have a championship. I know I’m right there and I want to make it happen and feel like I’ve done a lot of the right things to make it happen.
“I haven’t been perfect, but it’s certainly somewhat of a frustration to me, for sure.”
That frustration comes, in large part, due to Keselowski’s superspeedway prowess at the Cup Series level being overshadowed by crashes and bad luck at Daytona — particularly when it comes to the Daytona 500.
In three of his last four tries in The Great American Race, Keselowski has been swept up in accidents that led to DNFs. He also crashed out of the Daytona 500 in 2011 and ’12, and lost an engine in 2015.
Six of Keselowski’s 11 Daytona 500 starts have ended in heartbreak. He’s tired of the narrative.
“My frustration level is pretty extreme, to be quite honest with you,” said Keselowski of his current relationship with the Daytona season opener. “I feel like I’ve made some mistakes in that race, no doubt, but the last few years specifically I’ve ran really, really strong races and just didn’t have the ability to dictate my own fate. That’s what you want. You want the ability to know that when you drive a race car you’re making a difference and that it matters and that hasn’t played out the last few years.
“It’s frustrating, but I know eventually it will (play out in our favor) and when that moment happens, we need to capitalize.”
Unlike most other professional sports, NASCAR opens its season with its most prestigious event. Keselowski was candid in his description of how the emotions of arriving at Daytona for the first time each year are unique and, in his mind, extremely special.
“It’s kind of like having your final exam on the first day of school. It’s a big moment for our sport,” noted Keselowski. “It’s very much inverse to most other sports, where the biggest game is at the end of the year rather than at the start of the year, but I think it’s one of the things that makes our sport unique is that we have our biggest race at the start of the year (as) the first race of the season. It feels like the first day of school. Everybody’s got all their best uniforms on. You dress your best the first day of school. Everything is new — pit boxes, cars and it just has that crisp feel to it.
“It’s a very unique race weekend as compared to any other weekend and, obviously, very special with respect to the fact that any success you have at Daytona is something you can carry with you forever.”
Keselowski knows that momentum from a strong run in the Daytona 500 could easily propel him forward as he pursues a second NASCAR Cup Series title.
At least currently, however, his eyes are focused solely on next Sunday and his 12th Daytona 500 start.
“If you put up a great race at Daytona it can make or break your year, and we certainly know that,” Keselowski said. “Right now, we’re just looking at next week and we’ll see how it all shakes out.”
Practice for the 63rd Daytona 500 begins on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at noon ET.