Keselowski was born in Rochester Hills, Michigan, and grew up in a racing family. He is the fifth and youngest child of Kay and Bob Keselowski and the nephew of Ron Keselowski. His older brother, Brian, is also an active racing driver. The Keselowski family is of Polish descent. In 2000, Keselowski began racing stock cars in the Factory Stock division.
Keselowski began his NASCAR career in 2004 in the Craftsman Truck Series, debuting in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville. He moved to full-time Truck Series competition in 2005 before transitioning to the Busch Series in 2007, driving for Keith Coleman Racing and then JR Motorsports at the invitation of car owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.
In 2008, racing for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series, Keselowski earned his first career victory at the Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville Superspeedway, holding off Clint Bowyer. He also made his Cup debut that season with Hendrick Motorsports, finishing 19th at the Dickies 500 at Texas.
Keselowski's breakout moment came in 2009 when he won the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway for car owner James Finch — his first-ever Sprint Cup start victory, achieved on only his fifth Cup start. The race's final lap was the only lap Keselowski had led all race, and was the first occasion in NASCAR history that the very first lap a Cup driver ever led was the final lap of a race. Carl Edwards' car, struck by Ryan Newman's No. 39, went airborne into the catch fence; eight fans were injured. Keselowski continued racing in the Nationwide Series that year, tallying additional wins at Dover, Iowa Speedway, and Michigan.
Keselowski joined Team Penske in 2010, driving the No. 12 Dodge Charger in the Cup Series and the No. 22 in the Nationwide Series. His rivalry with Carl Edwards reached its apex that year when Edwards intentionally spun Keselowski at Atlanta, sending the car airborne into the front-stretch wall. NASCAR placed Edwards on probation, fined him $25,000, and docked sixty Nationwide Series points.
In 2010 Keselowski won the NASCAR Nationwide Series title with crew chief Paul Wolfe, collecting six wins, five poles, 26 top-fives, and 29 top-tens — the last figure setting a record at the time.
In 2011 Keselowski moved to Penske's flagship No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge. After breaking his left ankle in a brake-failure testing accident at Road Atlanta, he raced through the injury and won at Pocono Raceway less than a week later, qualifying for his first career Chase. He finished fifth in points, 84 points behind champion Tony Stewart.
Keselowski won five Cup races in 2012 to claim his first Cup championship. Highlights included victories at Bristol (Food City 500), Talladega Superspeedway (Aaron's 499), Kentucky Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway (GEICO 400), and Dover. He entered the finale at Homestead-Miami in second place, 20 points behind Jimmie Johnson; Johnson retired with gear failure and Keselowski clinched the title, joining Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt as the only drivers to win the Cup championship within their first three full-time seasons. During the post-race ESPN SportsCenter interview, Keselowski admitted to being "a little buzzed" after consuming his sponsor, Miller Lite; the viral interview was called the best in SportsCenter's history by interviewer Kevin Connors.
That season Keselowski was also fined $25,000 for tweeting a photo from his car during a red-flag period at Phoenix.
Keselowski missed the Chase in 2013, losing on points at Richmond despite leading 142 laps. He rebounded with six Cup wins in 2014 — the most of any driver that season — including victories at Talladega, New Hampshire, Kentucky, and Richmond. The 2014 Richmond win was Penske's 400th overall motorsports victory as an organization.
In 2018 Keselowski won back-to-back at Darlington and Indianapolis (Brickyard 400), giving Team Penske its first Brickyard 400 win. A Las Vegas victory later gave owner Roger Penske his five-hundredth overall motorsports victory.
In 2019 Keselowski won at Atlanta in the season's second race to record the first NASCAR Cup win for the new Ford Mustang GT. He added wins at Martinsville and Kansas that year.
In 2020 Keselowski won three Cup races — the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, at Bristol, and at New Hampshire — before reaching the Championship 4 at Phoenix, where he finished second in the championship to Chase Elliott. He led 192 of 400 laps to win the Richmond playoff race that year.
In his final Penske season in 2021, Keselowski won the GEICO 500 at Talladega. Austin Cindric was announced as his replacement in the No. 2 for 2022.
Keselowski joined Roush Fenway Racing as a minority team owner and driver of the No. 6, replacing Ryan Newman. The team rebranded as RFK Racing in November 2021.
His 2022 campaign was disrupted by a post-race inspection penalty at Atlanta — crew chief Matt McCall was suspended four races and fined $100,000, and the No. 6 team lost 100 driver and owner points and 10 playoff points. Keselowski went winless in points-paying races in 2022 for the first time since 2010, finishing 24th. That year Chris Buescher won at Bristol to give Keselowski his first Cup victory as a car owner.
In 2023 Keselowski made the playoffs despite not winning a race, finishing eighth in points — the first time the No. 6 had placed in the top ten since Mark Martin finished ninth in 2006. He made his 500th career start that season at Gateway.
In 2024 Keselowski won at Darlington, taking advantage of a collision between teammate Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick with ten laps remaining, to snap a personal 110-race winless streak.
Keselowski formed Brad Keselowski Racing in 2007, fielding Truck Series entries from 2008. Ryan Blaney drove the team to its first victory at Iowa Speedway on September 15, 2012. The team was closed at the end of the 2017 season.
Keselowski founded Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing (KAM) in early 2018, specializing in additive metal manufacturing and CNC machining, based in Statesville, North Carolina. In 2024 KAM announced a merger with Florida-based ADDMAN; Keselowski became a commercial advisor on ADDMAN's board of directors.
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