NASCAR star Brad Keselowski was furious with one of his Cup Series rivals after a late wreck ended his chances of Daytona 500 glory.

The RFK Racing driver and co-owner has never won The Great American Race, but found himself in contention late on in Sunday's race, charging towards the front on the final lap and with great momentum.

However, the 42-year-old was denied a fairytale return after breaking his femur just eight weeks ago, with Riley Herbst having moved up the track to the outside lane and the two colliding as they both tried to pass Chase Elliott and eventual race winner Tyler Reddick.

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Brad Keselowski slams 'pretty stupid' Daytona 500 wreck

Offering his immediate reaction to the incident after the race, Keselowski did not mince his words.

"The #35 just wrecked me out of nowhere for no reason," he told media, including Bob Pockrass. "That was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen.

"He had no chance of blocking my run. I had a huge run. I don't know if I could have gotten the #45 or #47, but I would have liked to have found out because my run was coming fast, and the #35 just wrecked us, and himself. Pretty stupid."

Continuing further on the incident, the 2012 Cup champion added: "I thought, well, you know, one lane block, kind of makes sense.

"But the block from the very bottom all the way to the top and wreck yourself, and everybody else, is just stupid. Very, very stupid."

Thankfully, Keselowski confirmed that he was unharmed from the incident and was feeling good despite having been walking around with a cane this week and still recovering from his recent injury.

His disappointment wasn't just an immediate reaction, either, later taking to X and posting: "If the #35 goes low and pushes the #45, we photo finish at the line for the win of the Daytona 500. It’s probably super close.

"Who knows, maybe we still all wreck… proud of our team to be in position, Disappointed we didn’t all get to find out."

Herbst reaction

Despite Keselowski's anger, Herbst didn't feel he did much wrong and that it's just the way things are at Daytona.

"I mean, it's fraction of a second," he explained to Pockrass. "We're trying to win the Daytona 500.

"Brad's been trying to win for [17 years] so yeah, he'll tell you that it's a matter of inches and we were on the wrong side of inches."

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