Brad Keselowski was leading the Bristol Night Race when the final caution flag flew -- an incident he was at the epicenter of as Cole Custer merged onto the track directly in front of him, leading to an incident that left Bubba Wallace wrecked.
However, the caution wasn't a bad thing for Keselowski, who pitted for fresh tires and chose the outside for the restart. That turned out to be a mistake at Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar slid up in front of him, clearing the way for Christopher Bell to take the lead.
"I'm just pissed," said Keselowski in a post-race media scrum. "We did all the right moves, and just kind of got screwed on the last restart."
However, Keselowski's shot at the win didn't end with the restart setback. He actually ran Bell down, and was perfectly positioned for a classic bump-and-run, but the hit was too centered and only propelled Bell forward instead of pushing him up and out of the way.
"Still were going to be fine (after the caution), and then on the restart, the 77 [Hocevar] spun his tires and the 38 [Smith] cleaned him out. Basically, all Chris had to do was turn left. I had a shot at him down here on the last lap. I hit him, and it didn't do anything."
.@keselowski was there. 👀 pic.twitter.com/UBOXRmWsLt
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 14, 2025
RFK Racing is still winless this year, and all three cars missed the playoffs. Keselowski has suffered similar agonizing defeats this season, including the most recent Cup race at Atlanta where lost the lead on the final lap.
"Just the story of our season, just a 50/50 shot on the restart and I got the lane that couldn't launch," said Keselowski in his TV interview with USA Network. "Just frustrating. We had a great car, great strategy, put ourselves in position to, if not to win, at least have a really, really solid day, and on that last restart, (we) just rolled the dice and didn't get anything good."
Keselowski now faces a winless streak that goes beyond 50 races, with his most recent victory coming at Darlington in May of 2024.
