Brad Keselowski addresses Toyota's dominance and Ford's struggle

It is difficult to ignore the numbers: through the first half of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Toyota teams have secured 11 of the 18 races run so far. While the rest of the paddock scrambles to find pace, Brad Keselowski—team co-owner and driver for RFK Racing—is looking at the boardroom rather than just the track to explain why. Standing at Chicagoland Speedway, he offered a candid assessment: Toyota is simply winning with better decision-making.

For those of us watching the Fords, the frustration is palpable. Between Team Penske, RFK Racing, Front Row Motorsports, and Wood Brothers Racing, the Blue Oval has managed only one points-paying victory this season, which came by way of Ryan Blaney at Phoenix Raceway in March. While a new Mustang Dark Horse SC is slated for 2027, the current rules leave the manufacturer stuck in a developmental holding pattern until then.

Keselowski believes we are witnessing the fallout of a decade-long shift in engineering responsibilities. According to him, the sport’s regulatory evolution following the 2017 championship run by the alliance between Furniture Row Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing forced manufacturers to pick favorites, creating a rigid stalemate of organizations. While other manufacturers continue to struggle with disparate 'A' and 'B' level teams, Toyota has pushed for a unique, elite collaboration between Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing.

'They’ve done a lot of things to push elite collaboration amongst their top organizations so that they have, for reference, two 'A' organizations, rather than an 'A,' 'B' and 'C,'' Keselowski explained. He noted that while Ford has successful outfits like Team Penske—which has championships in four of the last eight seasons—the necessary level of equalized information sharing simply isn't happening. For Keselowski, the burden now lies with the manufacturers to react to the current competitive reality.