NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski enjoyed the trappings of a wise and self-enriching business decision when he threw out the first pitch prior to Wednesday night’s match between the Red Sox and Athletics at Fenway Park.
“Fenway has been a good partner for me for four years now, this is year four and I just don’t want to embarrass them,” said Keselowski in an exclusive interview with MassLive.com. “I just want to put a heater over the plate.”
Keselowski will get back to the business of auto racing on Sunday (2 p.m.) when he climbs inside the No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the running of the Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Keselowski will be making his 25th start of the Magic Mile, a nuanced and often treacherous low banked four corner 1.058-mile oval he has twice conquered in his career.
“New Hampshire has always been a track that has a lot of nuances to it,” said Keselowski. “You have some dynamic banking with some transitions and the pavement is kind of old and coming apart.
“So, managing the holes in the race track and the surface is really tricky. But it is a track that I have taken well to over the years and I am confident we can have a great weekend there.”
How did a dyed in the wool Detroit Tigers fan from Rochester Hills, Michigan, find his way to the mound at Fenway Park?
In Keselowski’s case, the process began in 2007 when Boston Red Sox principal owner John Henry bought a 50% stake in Roush Racing, one of his many sports franchise acquisitions in this century. Henry rebranded it Roush Fenway Racing under the umbrella of the Fenway Sports Group.
“The team ownership side has changed a lot and become favorable to justifying that level of investment,” said Keselowski. “You have to navigate that landscape very carefully so you don’t put yourself in a bad position and it is a very complex sport.”
Keselowski was the flag bearer for Team Penske and he and three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano comprised the most formidable duo on the tour.
But the accumulated miles will eventually take their toll on a driver and Keselowski began thinking about his second act in auto racing when NASCAR went dark during the COVID shutdown in March of 2020. Understanding the landscape was part of Keselowski’s motivation to think outside the race car.
“You look at the way NASCAR has evolved over the past decade particularly on the ownership model,” said Keselowski. “It used to be that owners could just show up and there was no guaranteed money and it was a very difficult environment.”
Keselowski added his name to the company masthead in 2022 when he bought an equity stake in the franchise. The brand was retitled Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing and he assumed command of the team’s No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Keselowski applies his competitive edge both on the track and in the boardroom.
“Setting the strategy for the company is one of the roles I love the most at RFK,” said Keselowski. “We have a lot of ambitious goals and things that we would like to do as you could probably imagine.
“None of them happen overnight. You would like to just snap your fingers but all of them take a lot of money with sponsorships and things of that nature are critical. We have been able to do some of those together. I think adding a third team this year was the culmination of years’ worth of work to prepare the company to do that.
“I would suspect that we will continue to grow in the years to come. I do try to keep up with the team, look at the vision and doing the things we need to keep on top of it.”
Keselowski is in the twilight racing career and will be a first ballot NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee when he hangs it up. Keselowski has made 586 starts on the senior circuit with 36 wins, 160 top-5 finishes, 272 in the top 10 and was the 2010 Cup Series champion.
NHMS is the Fenway Sports Group’s home track. Henry is always interested in how his crews perform on the Magic Mile where Keselowski took the checkered flag in 2014 and 2020.
Many NASCAR insiders consider Keselowski’s battle with three-time NHMS winner Denny Hamlin in 2020 the closest and most ferociously contested race in the history of the Magic Mile. Due to COVID restrictions that year, only 12,000 fans were on hand to witness the event live.
“There have been some great battles there over the years and that certainly was one of them,” said Keselowski. “I remember I had a lot of fun being in that position and competing for the win. Hopefully we will have the chance to do it again in 2025.”