Dale Earnhardt Jr. Equates Brad Keselowski’s RFK Racing Decision to Kyle Busch’s JGR Exit

Brad Keselowski and RFK Racing have confirmed their decision to go separate ways after the end of the 2026 season, with both parties having different goals for the future. The decision was a shock for many in the garage, including for Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., who sees this as similar to Kyle Busch’s move from JGR to RCR after 2022.

While Busch moved from the team that earned him two champions after just one year in their Next-Gen machinery owing to ownership issues, Keselowski’s moves mostly had to do with his racing goals conflicting with the teams’ aspirations. But still the weight of the veteran that is keeping their team at the top in one way or another moving away is huge.

Well, we listened to Chip Bowers, the RFK racing president. He said the main reason centers around Keselowski wanting to continue racing for another five years. RFK preferred his transition to focus more on the competition side…And this reminds me a lot of kind of Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on his podcast.

On the Dale Jr. Download podcast, two times second division champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. explained that RFK Racing let the 42-year-old driver go because they didn’t want to give Brad Keselowski the five-year racing deal he was asking for. They are rational in making that call, considering no-cup team would give their veteran superstar in his 40s a half a decade deal.

It kind of feels similar where Brad, I feel like Brad could have conceded a bit too, ‘Alright, man, you want me to just run one year and get out. I’ll run the one year.’ Cause I don’t know that he has another cup ride to go climb into of this caliber or better. If the chance to stick around at RFK, maybe you don’t get the five years you want. Hell, dude, what is he? 42? I mean, I wouldn’t sign a guy that’s 42 to a five-year deal. I’m not going to do it.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. added via Dale Jr. Download.

According to Junior the 2012 champion should have negotiated a deal that would see his role as the driver decrees and the role as the competition director increase with in a span of the five years he wants, if that was an option available on the table. It would’ve made both business and racing sense considering, there is no better Cup seat available for him in the garage.

So why not say, ‘Hey man, let’s sit down and figure out what your plan is. You want to run one, or I’m going to run you two years max, Brad.  So, do you want to run two years and retire? Do you want to run two years and go try to do something else? That’s all I’m going to do. I think he should; if that was on the table, he should have absorbed that because I don’t think he has any options. I don’t think there’s a Cup option out there.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. asserted.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants Brad Keselowski to take the lower division route

Later in the same conversation, Junior also talked about what he thinks the champion driver should do in the future. He wants Keselowski to move to the lower divisions, with Truck Series move with GM being the best option. The veteran had successfully run his own Truck team in the past and that gives him an advantage.

If I was him, I’d go find something that was a little less stressful. And he can go GM truck, O’Reilly teams. He can go drive for those teams and turn himself into that business mind and GM and earn some equity and build the culture he wants and have a ton of fun at that level. And he’s done it before. He did that successfully at his own, with his own truck team.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

The comments from the JR Motorsports’ co-owner are on point and shows the tough road that is ahead of the Ford veteran once his RFK days ends. Maybe Keselowski can join hands with Junior as a business partner, to get the Earnhardt name back to the Cup. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the star driver in the coming days.

Also Read: Carson Hocevar Gives Brutally Honest Take on Brad Keselowski’s RFK Racing exit