From the moment the green flag waved at Pocono, Brad Keselowski was on a mission. Starting 14th, he picked up cars one by one, slicing through the field until he found himself in a position that hadn’t come easily this season. Leading! The No. 6 Ford looked poised, dialed in, and ready to capitalize, but a split-second decision that turned out to be wrong ruined everything for the veteran driver. He was leading the way on Lap 56 when he made an error and entered the pit road. The problem here? It was closed, which meant the driver willingly gave up his track position!

PRN was first to take note of this blunder, as they took to X: “Brad Keselowski comes down a closed pit road for service from the race lead. Brad was told that pit road was open.” Then, reporter Jeff Gluck tweeted, “Brad Keselowski comes down a closed road from the LEAD! Hocevar almost follows.” So the driver was forced to make up for the costly error during the rest of the race. It was a bizarre mistake for a veteran like Keselowski, but it did not happen in isolation. Not at all… Carson Hocevar had something to do with it. The No. 77 engineered a dirty plot to sabotage Keselowski, who walked right into it.

Running third at the time, Hocevar pretended to enter the pit lane, only to back off at the last second. On the No. 77 radio, his crew exclaimed, “It’s closed. The red light is off. Stay out, stay out, stay out!” to which Hocevar replied, “Yeah, I know. I wanted to bait him. I didn’t want him to have him realize the mistake.”

Even Denny Hamlin, the Stage 1 winner, was part of the mind games, with his radio catching him saying, “Yeah, I know. I just didn’t want to tip him off.” His spotter added, “Copy. You made my heart drop.” But in the RFK camp, confusion reigned. Crew chief Jeremy Bullins admitted, “Not sure what happened there. There were a lot of people talking about coming.” However, Keselowski kept calm on the radio, replying, “10-4. Heads down. Runner ratio. There is a good chance this might come right back to us.”

Despite the blunder, the #6 team rebounded like Brad Keselowski mentioned as he raced his way up front inside the top 5 positions by the end of stage 2 and eventually finished at No. 9.

While the Spotlight at Pocono fixated on a costly pit road mishap, another storyline quietly continued to gain traction: Brad Keselowski’s growing role as mentor to Ryan Preece. As the NASCAR Cup Series season barrels toward the playoffs, Preece has emerged as an unlikely but determined candidate, leaning heavily on Keselowski’s guidance in hopes of turning it into a performance.

How Keselowski’s mentorship is powering Ryan Preece’s playoff push

A seasoned veteran and team co-owner at RFK racing, the No. 6 Driver has begun transitioning into a leadership figure, investing in drivers like Ryan Preece who show potential despite limited accolades. Though Preece hasn’t yet cracked Victory Lane in 2025, flashes of grit, like his third-place finish in Las Vegas and a solid 15th in Mexico City, have kept him on the radar. And with Keselowski in his corner, the ceiling seems to rise just a little higher.

Currently 14th in the standings with 383 points, Preece remains on the playoff bubble, but he embraces the long odds. “What I truly enjoy is being looked at as a true underdog. They didn’t expect me to run well this year; they didn’t expect me to even be in the chase conversation or even be in the conversation to try and make the playoffs, so I like it. I like being the guy that usually upsets people.”

That chip-on-the-shoulder attitude has become a defining trait in a season where every point matters. Had it not been for the DQ at Talladega, when he finished runner-up, Preece would’ve been in a good spot with points. While Buescher and Keselowski are the senior drivers, Preece has been the one who’s shown race-winning speeds. And that is indeed a huge turnover from his time at Stewart-Haas Racing. What do you think?