Friday Faceoff: Who Will Drive the No. 6 in 2027?

1) After his abrupt departure from RFK Racing, what is Brad Keselowski’s next career move?

Michael Bellifemini: It would be cool to see Brad Keselowski return to the Dodge camp if it decides 2027 is the time to get back into NASCAR Cup Series racing. I could see him going to Kaulig Racing if that’s the case, as there aren’t a whole lot of open Cup seats left for next year, so I’m interested to see what Keselowski has up his sleeve.

Jon Iaccino: This late in the game for silly season, it’s really tough to say. The situation that seemingly makes the most sense is with Kaulig and (potentially) Dodge. Kaulig hasn’t officially re-signed Ty Dillon to drive the No. 10 yet for 2027, so there’s a potential opening there. Keselowski and Dodge won the championship in 2012, so what better way to welcome it back to the Cup Series than driving for that manufacturer once more?  

Christopher Hansen: To either find a competitive Cup team or potentially drop down to one of the lower series in a competitive ride. Rumors have been swirling about Dodge’s potential return to the Cup Series for 2027, and if that’s the case, Keselowski would be an ideal candidate, given his background with Dodge during the first part of his Team Penske days.

Cameron Bebeau: Wherever he goes, leadership and ownership will be an important piece of what he wants. Whether that’s in the Cup Series or a lower series, I can see Keselowski commanding a competitive seat, even if it’s just a stopgap until he figures something out further. I’ve heard rumors about RAM and Keselowski reuniting, but I we’re in for a treat regardless of what happens. Keselowski won’t just slip away quietly.

2) Who will take Keselowski’s seat in the No. 6 RFK Ford for the 2027 season?

Jeffrey Boswell: John Hunter Nemechek is a name that’s been mentioned as a Keselowski replacement. RFK would look for some new blood, and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto PartS Series driver and current points leader Sheldon Creed deserves a Cup seat. Creed has been successful in both the O’Reilly and NASCAR Craftsman Truck series, and unlike Nemechek, he hasn’t burned any bridges with former teams.

Hansen: Chris Buescher. Given his status as the longest tenured driver for RFK, why would the organization not consider elevating Buescher to the team’s flagship car? After all, Buescher has driven for the organization since 2020, and he is the winningest driver of the three full-time drivers over the past few years with five victories, while Keselowski and Ryan Preece have one win each. It would be in the best interest of RFK to pool its resources into the cars of Buescher and Preece beginning in 2027.

Bellifemini: Maybe RFK poaches one of the Front Row Motorsports drivers away like Zane Smith. It could also go to FRM’s pipeline and get Layne Riggs up to Cup. A long-shot pick could be Justin Haley, as he has past ties to RFK when he drove the No. 51 for Rick Ware Racing.

Iaccino: RFK only has two charters after this season, so I feel like it’s going to scale back from a three-car team to two cars once more. The No. 6 has always been synonymous with Roush, so I’ll say it will shut the No. 60 down and have Preece run the No. 6 for 2027 and beyond.

3) Should crew members get involved in driver vs. driver conflicts on pit road postrace? What consequences should there be for crew members throwing hands at drivers?

Hansen: Yes, to a certain extent. In the most recent instance involving Corey Heim, crew members should’ve only been there to protect the drivers, NOT to get in the middle of the fray and throw punches. Looking back at the Carson Hocevar/Ryan Blaney fight at Bristol Motor Speedway where crew members did their best to restrain both drivers, that should be the role of crew members in terms of physical altercations.

Iaccino: Absolutely not. Crew members should not have any physical confrontations with drivers. The drivers need to handle on-track issues by themselves. I get that it’s a team sport, but drivers should be protected more than quarterbacks in the NFL. Nobody is paying or watching the product to see crew members having beef with drivers. We want to see the drivers handle their issues out between them and them alone. What we saw at Martinsville Speedway was an absolute embarrassment. Those crew members who tried to bait Heim into a fight should lose their hard cards for that entire ordeal.

Bebeau: I mean, it depends. Seeing what happened with Heim at Martinsville was absolutely uncalled for, and I am of the belief that the crew member who swung on him should face a lifetime ban from that facility (not the series overall). Seeing what Hocevar’s pit crew did to Blaney at Bristol, it deserves a suspension at least. Drivers are NOT the same size as pit crew members, and it is an unfair fight. It’s like how your mother tells you to not be too rough with your younger sibling. For a normal fight (with no cheap shots), you let the drivers duke it out, and if you have to do anything, you pull your driver away, you don’t strike the other driver.

Boswell: Their involvement should be limited to making sure driver vs. driver conflicts remain one-on-one affairs. If crew members want to throw hands, throw them in the direction of rival crew members, not drivers. Crew members are often former athletes who regularly strength train; drivers are not. Crew members who punch drivers should be fined, suspended, ridiculed as cowards and, where applicable, have their hot-dog-stand privileges revoked.

4) The top seed in each of the three NASCAR Chases has faltered from the top spot. Should NASCAR give the No. 1 seed a larger advantage than 25 points entering The Chase going forward? 

Bellifemini: I wouldn’t considering changing the 25-point advantage, at least for now. All three No. 1 seeds are absolutely still in contention as of now; points can swing in a hurry if the top seeds get hot at the right time.

Bebeau: Is the leader faltering a bad thing? It encourages you to stay on your A-game. It delivers a clutch factor more organically than elimination-style playoffs did. The No. 1 seed doesn’t need a bigger advantage, but if this becomes a recurring issue three or five years down the line, I could see a change needing to be made.

Boswell: Not at all. The current format is totally fair. There is a common link between the drivers who started the playoffs in first place in the points (Denny Hamlin in Cup, Justin Allgaier in O’Reilly and Layne Riggs in Trucks): none have won a playoff race. It makes sense that all of them are no longer first in the standings. The win-and-you’re-in aspect of the previous playoff formats were scrapped because winning was rewarded too much. We can’t now say that not winning is punished too much. It’s not. All three are second in the points, and very much in the hunt for the respective championships. So their advantages pre-playoffs meant something.