Brad Keselowski questions NASCAR's motives in brutally honest verdict

Heading into 2026, NASCAR made the decision to remove two road courses from the Cup Series schedule, but that isn't enough for Brad Keselowski.

The former Cup Series champion and current team co-owner is in a unique position to comment on current affairs within the sport, both racing out on the track and making decisions behind the scenes at RFK Racing.

Putting his business hat on, Keselowski has questioned why NASCAR wants to run at so many road course races, and there are numerous reasons why he thinks it isn't a good idea.

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Brad Keselowski's verdict on NASCAR road courses

"I don’t understand why the sport wants to run so many road course races," Keselowski told the media, via SpeedFreaks.

"As a business owner, they are the hardest races to sell sponsors for. It has the lowest attendance, the lowest ratings. That doesn’t make sense to me.

"We should be going places where the sponsors wanna be there, the fans wanna be there, and TV gets the best ratings, and road courses are historically the worst in all of those categories."

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COTA TV ratings suggest Keselowski is right

While we are not privy to the negotiations between teams and sponsors, we do have access to TV ratings in the Cup Series, and Keselowski has a point.

Sunday's race in Texas drew 3.933 million viewers on FOX, the lowest total of the season so far following the Daytona 500 (7.489 million) and the race at Atlanta (4.487 million).

So, this begs the question, why are some fans opting not to tune in?

“I think a lot of fans identify NASCAR with ovals," Keselowski argued.

"They understand the concept of what we are doing on ovals and enjoy it more than they do on road courses.

"That’s my perspective of what I see. I can’t speak for every fan.”

NASCAR Cup Series road course schedule 2026

Here is the full schedule for road courses in this year's Cup Series.

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