The last time Brad Keselowski raced at Eldora Speedway, he crashed out of a Truck Series appearance and got eaten by a shark.
Context: It was July 23, 2015, and the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion had just made his semi-professional acting debut in Sharknado 3, where he was violently killed by one of the titular creatures. It was a memorable day and a half for the NASCAR industry but not so much for the driver himself.
“Gosh, honestly, I don’t remember much about the movie except filming it,” Keselowski said. “I’ve been very blessed to get the chance to do some things I’ve never dreamed of — including getting ate by a robot-slash-animatronic shark and do some things with our friends in the Hollywood NASCAR office.”
“That was a unique time in my life.”
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His dirt racing debut came that same week. Keselowski grew up racing Outlaw Late Models near his home in Michigan but remarkably never had the chance to race on a clay surface until that night.
“I went to the Truck Series race a couple of years before that, and we still owned a team back then, and I just remember how much I wanted to try it,” Keselowski said. “So, we put the effort together, and we’ve run a lot of dirt races since then, but that was the first time I raced anything on dirt.”
“It was an interesting experience. It was very humbling, but I was glad to get the experience and that I could do it.”
All told, Keselowski is racing the full Camping World SRX schedule this season because he no longer owns a Truck Series team, nor does he currently have an Xfinity Series program at RRK Racing, and this keeps him sharp.
“You know, I ran the Richmond race, not this past weekend, but the weekend before and that coincided with us running in Motor Mile,” Keselowski said. “And you know, I feel like just getting in that rhythm of running races and I’m probably more of a rhythm driver than I would like to admit, and I lose a little bit of confidence when that rhythm gets disrupted for whatever reason.”
Keselowski says he wants the seat time for the same reason as Kyle Busch or Kyle Larson, as they race all across the country across a variety of categories.
“I think there’s always something to be learned when you drive a race car, and probably more so just being active with the reps,” Keselowski said. “It means a lot to me because I want to race. I’m a race car driver. The more reps I get, the more confident I feel in the car and I think that carries over to the Cup side as well.”
At least, fingers crossed, he won’t have to deal with a Sharknado attack.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.