Brad Keselowski could make NASCAR Cup Series history if he leads enough laps this Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
LINCOLN, Ala. — Brad Keselowski could make NASCAR Cup Series history if he leads enough laps this Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
If Keselowski can lead at least 56 laps at Talladega, he'll become the 23rd driver all-time and the 20th in the modern era of the NASCAR Cup Series to lead at least 10,000 laps in their career.
Keselowski may have to wait, however. The most laps a driver has led in a single Talladega Next Gen Cup race, dating back to 2022, was 48 by Joey Logano in fall of 2023. In fact, the last time a driver led at least 56 laps in a Talladega Cup race was June of 2020 when Ryan Blaney led 63 laps and won.
Keselowski has led at least 56 laps at Talladega just once. In fall of 2016, he led 90 laps before blowing an engine on lap 145 of 188.
If Keselowski can somehow lead at least 56 laps at Talladega, he will become the fourth active driver to reach 10,000 laps led in Cup.
The last driver to eclipse 10,000 laps led in Cup was Kyle Larson. Larson eclipsed 10,000 laps led when he led lap 163 of last year's spring Kansas race.
Among all active drivers, Larson ranks behind only Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. Busch has led 19,486 laps, Hamlin has led 16,894 laps and Larson has led 10,861 laps.
Busch hit 10,000 laps led on lap 38 of the June 2014 Dover race. Hamlin hit the mark on lap 30 of the October 2019 Martinsville race.
Busch, Hamlin, Larson and Keselowski rank ninth, 11th, 20th and 23rd, respectively, all-time for laps led. In the modern era, they rank sixth, 10th, 17th and 20th, respectively.
The all-time laps leader is Richard Petty, with 51,514 laps led. The modern era leader is Cale Yarborough, with 27,243 laps led.
The modern era began in 1972 when NASCAR standardized the schedule and race lengths into what we see now.
The most amount of laps Keselowski has led this season was 142 laps at Darlington in March. He won the first two stages but came up short of his first win since Darlington in May of 2024 after Tyler Reddick charged through the field and passed him with 28 laps to go.
Keselowski sits ninth in the points standings with two top-five finishes and four top-10s in nine races so far after beginning this season on the mend from a broken leg. Most recently, he finished sixth at Kansas Speedway:
