Brad Keselowski successfully made it through the Daytona 500 in his return from a broken femur, but he will have a reserve driver on standby next weekend in Austin, Texas.
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The RFK Racing driver-owner will have veteran Joey Hand ready to go if he is not able to make it through the full road course race.
"He's the Ford reserve driver for all the road courses," Keselowski said about Hand. "He's won all the big races you can win across the globe. A great guy too."
Hand is a smaller driver than Keselowski, which could create questions about which seat the team will put in the No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. RFK Racing does not have its full plan in place just yet, but the team has "a lot of good options" ahead of the trip to the Southwest.
Hand is a familiar face at RFK Racing. Along with being the official reserve driver for road courses, he also competed in the 2024 Chicago Street Race. Hand led seven laps, won stage 2, and finished fourth in the No. 60 Ford Mustang.
When will Keselowski know if he can complete the full race? He doesn't yet have that answer. He will first take on 260 laps at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta) and see how his body handles another full Cup Series race.
The veteran driver will then meet with medical experts in the week leading up to Circuit of the Americas. He will see how his body responds to these tests and how he feels before making a full decision.
Keselowski's recovery from a broken femur continues to be an ongoing process. He fell and sustained the injury in mid-December, and then he underwent surgery.
The start of the NASCAR season marked a mere eight weeks from the injury, very little time in the grand scheme of things. Yet, he pushed through the pain of the Duel races and the Daytona 500 using adrenaline. He also made it through a last-lap crash without suffering any setbacks.
Circuit of the Americas will present a much greater challenge. Instead of simply hammering down and racing in a pack, he will have to constantly move his feet. He will have to brake, shift, and accelerate dozens of times while completing laps around the Texas road course. This will put more pressure on his surgically-repaired body.
"COTA will be one of the most difficult races of the year for everybody," Keselowski said. "For me, even more so with the injury that I have, but we're gonna play it day by day and get through Atlanta and make some decisions then."
