Getty Brad Keselowski tests the Next Gen No. 6 RFK Ford Mustang.
Brad Keselowski has made some strong comments about his new crew chief. He explained why he chose Matt McCall to help lead the No. 6 RFK Racing team while dishing out major praise.
The 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion provided the insight during a media availability on Tuesday, November 16. He helped unveil the new era of Roush Fenway Racing, which began with a name change to Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing. Keselowski then explained how McCall’s playoff history will benefit him in 2022.
“Matt’s got a heck of pedigree,” Keselowski told media members on November 16, video courtesy of NASCAR. “You look at his last six seasons, [he] made the playoffs like five of the last six years. So, instant playoff competitor. Really boosts us to a level of credibility just immediately.
“He brought over a lot of the [No.] 1 team from last year — engineers, crew chiefs, car chiefs — the whole piece there. So we’re really excited about that. Makes us feel like we can get up to speed right away.”
RFK Racing Officially Announced the Addition of McCall Before the Phoenix Race
GettyMatt McCall joined RFK Racing after the championship race.
The championship-winning organization first revealed that McCall would join the No. 6 team before the trip to Phoenix for the season finale. RFK Racing issued a press release on November 2 and confirmed that the playoff-contending crew chief would try to get the No. 6 Ford Mustang back to Victory Lane.
McCall capped off a seven-year run with Chip Ganassi Racing at Phoenix on November 7. He served as the crew chief for the No. 1 Chevrolet for seven seasons and worked with both Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch. His teams reached the playoffs six out of the seven seasons and piled up a total of 98 top-10 finishes, 30 top-fives, and three wins. Busch and the No. 1 team accounted for all three wins by reaching Victory Lane at Kentucky Speedway in 2019, Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2020, and Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2021.
McCall ended his time with Busch and the No. 1 team after three consecutive seasons with a win and moved over to RFK Racing. Now he will join forces with Keselowski and try to add even more wins and playoff berths to his resume. Achieving this goal will not be a simple task, but the Next Gen cars could provide an advantage.
NASCAR Aims for More Parity With Next Gen Cars
With the move to the Next Gen cars in 2022, there are questions about whether the top teams will still dominate races. FOX Sports analyst Larry McReynolds told Heavy on October 12 that some smaller teams may be more competitive early but the heavy-hitters such as Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing will ultimately retain their spots atop the leaderboard.
John Probst, NASCAR’s senior vice president of racing innovation, met with media members after the first day of Next Gen testing and provided some different insight. He explained that the competition “is continuing to get better” from the back of the field to the front after examining the initial lap times at Charlotte Motor Speedway that featured BJ McLeod in the top 10.
“We saw a lot of the smaller teams actually up the leaderboard a good bit there,” Probst told media members on November 17, per NASCAR. “I know not everybody’s coming here to put a lap time up, but you see the teams from front to back are a lot more prepared. They’re on the track right away.
“So I feel like they’re learning very quickly, and their level of preparation has gone way up, especially now that we’re done racing. They’re completely focused on the car at this point, so I’d expect Phoenix would be the next evolution of the preparation, and the competition from front to back should be continuing to get better and better.”
There is no guarantee that the smaller teams will be more competitive, but they will have an opportunity to test this theory on February 5-6. They will head to Los Angeles for the Busch Light Clash at the LA Memorial Coliseum, the first exhibition race of 2022.