“Majority of the Owners Don’t Want it!” Brad Keselowski Demands Extended Practice Session in Cup Series

NASCAR reduced the practice session to just 25 minutes during the pandemic era, in an effort to reduce the cost-of racing to teams. The 90 minutes practice run at Dover ahead of this Sunday’s All-Star race was the longest session of the Next-Gen era, and one driver that enjoyed the opportunity more than anyone was Brad Keselowski.

The RFK Racing owner driver believes having more time to practice is key to the health of the sport and the future stars of the sport is missing out big time. He understands that the majority of the owners, unlike him, only wants the reduced session owing to the cost concerns and he has made peace with it.

As a driver and an owner, it’s critical to the health of the sport. Not having it is a big miss for guiding the stars of the future. It’s a big miss for how teams’ budget…I have made my peace and said my peace in different settings and a majority of the owners do not want practice.

Brad Keselowski said at Dover.

The 2012 Cup champion Brad Keselowski pointed out that one day the sanctioning body will realize they made a mistake by reducing the practice session and will force the team owners to figure out budget challenges to get the sessions back. It’s really important to have these sessions, in order to give young drivers an opportunity to prove themselves.

So I feel like, at some point, NASCAR is just going to have to strong arm owners and say ‘we are practicing and y’all need to figure out how to pay for it’ because that is what is best for the sport and for the fans…It’s what is best for the drivers that are coming up and for team owners who are trying to compete at a high level that aren’t where they want to be.

Brad Keselowksi added, as reported by motorsport.com.

Chase Elliott and Ty Gibbs don’t agree with Brad Keselowski

Even some of the young drivers doesn’t seem to agree with the veteran. After the session, Chase Elliott, who made his debut when the series still had extended practice sessions, pointed out that these sessions are not worth it as it won’t change the results.

To have more than one set of tires was kind of weird. I hadn’t had that in awhile but I don’t think it will change anything. We’ve been through this for years, and it gives us something to talk about, but it’s not going to change the results.

Chase Elliott said.

Talking about the same point, Joe Gibbs Racing youngster Ty Gibbs shared his thoughts on the need to extend the session. He believes the sim-sessions and the work the crew does behind the scenes is enough to offset the loss team suffer due to the reduce practice.

I don’t think so. I’m good with 25 minutes, honestly. I really am. I think it shows how hard everyone works back at the shop. With our sim program, we unload really close, and I think what we have now really rewards that.

Ty Gibbs asserted.

The comments from the drivers shows the majority in the sport is settled with the new schedule and doesn’t want it go back to original version. It would be interesting to see how the discussion around the practice session is going to playout in the coming days.

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