Opportunity lost as Brad Keselowski misses out on another NASCAR win

"Just the way the yellows fell” said the veteran driver now in a must-win situation despite his strongest run of the season

Brad Keselowski had the car to win, putting in an incredible performance Sunday at Iowa Speedway, but it still wasn't enough to reach Victory Lane. He won both Stage 1 and 2, and led 68 laps in the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford.

However, when a flurry of cautions plagued the race right around the opening of the final fuel window, it became a guessing game for those up front on when to make the final stop.

Keselowski did his best to time it well and made a valiant charge back up through the field, but the sheer amount of cautions helped Chase Briscoe and William Byron to stretch the run far longer than they would have under green.

Keselowski ended the race third in one of his best runs of the 2025 season, but he remains far away from a playoff berth.

"Just the way the yellows fell," said Keselowski after the race. "We had so many yellows there in Stage 3 that it got the 24 and the 19 to where they could make it on fuel pitting way outside the window, and we just couldn't get back by them.

"Got back by a lot of guys, restarted (26th) there after we pitted, and got all the way up to third, but that was as far as I could get."

Watch: 'The way the yellows fell' held Keselowski back from Iowa win

Sunday's run also follows a fourth-place finish in the Brickyard 400, but this upward trajectory will be too little, too late if Keselowski doesn't find a way to win one of the next three races before the playoffs begin.

And even if there were more laps, Keselowski doesn't think it would have changed much. While he was running down Briscoe, Ryan Blaney was rapidly approaching both drivers in the battle for second.

"Blaney was really fast there at the end," noted Keselowski. "He had a little bit newer tires, and he was running us down. I feel like I was going to get the 19 [Briscoe], but Blaney was going to pass me. It was a solid day, just needed a few more things to go our way."