Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona was a memorable night for RFK Racing. Chris Buescher was able to grab his third win of the season, and team co-owner Brad Keselowski placed second.
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But that wasn't the only thing hot for Keselowski on Saturday. He had to deal with an actual fire inside his race car. The fire occurred while the cars were halted on the backstretch following a big crash that forced a red flag at the end of stage two of the race.
In what has now become quite a viral moment, Keselowski had no choice but to start driving in circles to try and put the fire out.
Keselowski later shared a post showing his onboard camera and talked about how he had no choice but to start driving in circles.
The smoke was billowing fast around my feet, knew I had to do something.
The red in the ECU gets clearer with every second as the fire is going out and smoke dissipating… so I guess it’s not dumb if it works?!?! https://t.co/86q4yHpiyz
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) August 27, 2023
Uhhh brad...? pic.twitter.com/sC5obwKX1u
— pistana.bsky.social (@ryanpistana) August 27, 2023
"The smoke was billowing fast around my feet," Keselowski said. " I knew I had to do something."
For many who saw what was taking place, it was bizarre as it seemed like Keselowski had lost his mind. He later clarified that it was his only choice in the matter.
That didn't stop NASCAR from getting in with a little fun of their own, as this clearly wasn't something that is seen on a daily basis in the sport. NASCAR posted a video of several different drivers on-board cameras along with some of their commentary about what they thought was happening.
Fire!
Our view pic.twitter.com/NMoMsuIP1S— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 29, 2023
The most notable comments were from Kyle Busch, who was right behind Keselowski in the race, and he clearly knew why Keselowski was doing what he was doing.
"Uh, Brad's on fire," Busch said to his team. "His buns got too hot."
Busch's comments made his spotter laugh, and it was clearly a joke because Keselowski's sponsor is King's Hawaiian Rolls.
When later asked about the funny moment, Keselowski told reporters when the smoke started getting in the car his only concern was that it was going to be an issue that could have knocked them out of the race, so he had to do something.
"I was sitting there under red flag, it just started smoking really big out of the left front rocker panel," Keselowski said. "I knew that meant it was about to catch fire and I was going to get knocked out of the race."
Good thing he acted quickly because, who knows if he didn't, he wouldn't have been able to push his teammate Buescher to the win.
