MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Brad Keselowski has been granted permission to pursue other NASCAR opportunities for the 2027 season and will sell his 20% equity stake in Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.
Keselowski announced a month ago that he was leaving the Cup Series team he joined as a driver, competition executive and part-owner five years ago, but he had been restricted from exploring rides with other teams despite his driving contract expiring after the 2026 season. He said the team granted him a verbal release Saturday, an hour before his news conference at Martinsville Speedway, and he is allowed to drive for any team or manufacturer in NASCAR next season.
“I’m ready to be elite for the next opportunity, whether driver, owner or manager,” said Keselowski, who read from a prepared statement before taking questions. “There are a number of opportunities in front of me in the Cup series for 2027 and beyond. I’ve had a number of outreaches. I’m not going to get into the details of what those are at this time, but I’m eager and willing to execute one of them and to be a part of the 2027 season as a manager and a driver.
“Now that I’ve been granted the release, I can meaningfully engage in the opportunities that exist. I was more or less taking phone calls and unable to do much with them.”
Keselowski wants to remain in the Cup Series but said he also would be open to racing full time in the Craftsman Truck Series, which would give him a shot at becoming the first champion in NASCAR’s top three national series.
He has some longtime ties with Dodge, which reentered the truck series with its Ram brand this season and is mulling a move into the Cup Series next year. Keselowski won the 2012 Cup championship with Dodge in the manufacturer’s most recent season at NASCAR’s premier level. His late father, Bob, also had a Dodge-affiliated truck team.
Keselowski has driven the past 14 seasons for Ford with Team Penske, and RFK and said he would consider driving for any manufacturer next season.
“I have not had a meaningful discussion with Dodge or Ram,” he said. “I’m certainly very open-minded to it. I haven’t given up on continuing a relationship with Ford, along with Chevrolet and Toyota. Everything’s on the table right now.”
Keselowski said he was confident of continuing a NASCAR national series career that began in 2004.
“But there’s a level of uncertainty for sure,” he said. “Nothing comes easy in this sport. We’re going to have to grind really hard to get a deal done for next year.”
Keselowski has 36 Cup victories, most recently at Darlington Raceway in May 2024. He has only six top-10 finishes in 34 starts this season but believes he can still be a winner in NASCAR as a driver, manager and team owner.
“To not be able to race would be devastating to me,” he said. “This is my life and career. I’m not ready to be done.”
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FILE - Driver Brad Keselowski gives a thumbs up at the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Pocono Raceway, Sunday, June 14, 2026, in Long Pond, Pa. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton, File)
As police investigated the battery case involving Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs following a May altercation with his then-girlfriend, multiple other women contacted them to detail their own allegations against him.
Those accounts were included in evidence regarding Jacobs’ battery case that the Hobart/Lawrence Police Department released Friday night in response to a public records request. Green Bay TV station NBC 26 first reported the records' release.
Jacobs pleaded no contest on Sept. 10 to misdemeanor counts of battery and criminal damage to property. He was arrested May 26, three days after an incident in which a woman said he threw her to the ground.
It's unclear how the latest allegations will play into the NFL's investigation into Jacobs. The league placed him on the commissioner’s exempt list in August after charges were filed against him, and that caused Jacobs to miss the Packers’ first six games of the season.
The NFL is still investigating Jacobs over the incident that led to his May arrest, so the league could hand out more discipline to the running back.
Jacobs' lawyers — David Z. Chesnoff, Richard A. Schonfeld and Clarence F. Duchac III — issued a statement Saturday on their client's behalf:
“The Brown County District Attorney’s office had these uncorroborated, old, and previously unreported allegations for months. They conducted their own exhaustive investigation, along with the police department, and the D.A. determined that only two misdemeanor charges were warranted. They then entered into a plea agreement with Josh Jacobs. Josh has repeatedly expressed his remorse and is honoring the terms of the agreement.”
The Packers had no immediate comment.
According to the records released Friday, one woman contacted police after Jacobs’ arrest to say she had experienced a similar incident with him around 2023. She later would say the incident actually occurred on Jan. 5, 2022.
The woman said she had communicated with Jacobs for about six months before spending around 11 hours at his home. The woman said that after she told Jacobs she hadn’t come there for sex, he became angry, slapped her across the face and told her not to disrespect him.
She said he took her phone and threw it into a swimming pool when she attempted to leave, and that he grabbed her by the hair, threw her onto a bed, pinned her down, threw her to the floor and said, “I should kill you right now.” She said Jacobs also spit on her.
The woman said she hadn’t previously reported the incident to law enforcement because she remained friends with Jacobs afterward and was concerned her allegations wouldn’t be believed. The woman said she contacted police this time because she believed it showed a pattern of behavior similar to the allegations in the May case.
Another woman told police she had sex with Jacobs in April 2021. The woman said his condom broke, so she told Jacobs to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases because they both had been involved with other people.
The woman said Jacobs later removed her from the residence, grabbed her by the arms and bicep area, pushed her against a wall and threw her belongings out. She told police that she sustained bruises to her arms and swelling in her rib area.
Hobart/Lawrence police said they obtained records from that incident indicating that officers observed “no visible signs of injury, bruising or damage consistent with a physical altercation.”
Another woman said she met Jacobs through social media and that he flew her to a residence in May 2022. She described an altercation in which Jacobs grabbed her by the hair, placed his hands on her head and neck, dragged her, scratched her chest and took her phone after it fell to the floor.
The woman said she got bruises on her arm and scratches to her chest and neck. She said she didn’t report the incident to police because she wasn’t a U.S. citizen at the time and Jacobs told her she could be deported.
Jacobs is a three-time Pro Bowl selection who led the NFL in rushing in 2022 for the Las Vegas Raiders, where he played when the three previous incidents were alleged to have occurred. He joined the Packers in 2024.
He returned two weeks ago and scored twice in the team’s Thursday night win over the Carolina Panthers, celebrating one of the touchdowns by briefly placing his hands behind his back. The move drew immediate backlash from viewers in light of his offseason arrest, but Jacobs said he was modeling his celebration after a gospel song called “Break Every Chain.”
The records released Friday also offered more details of the May 23 incident that led to Jacobs’ arrest. According to the criminal complaint released in August, the woman told them that Jacobs grabbed her and threw her to the ground as she was trying to exit a garage door, causing her to hit her head. Police said Jacobs also took her phone from her while she was on the ground.
The records released Friday noted the woman said that while they were still in the home, Jacobs lunged at her, pinned her on the bed with his body weight on her chest and put his hand on her mouth and nose, so that she felt she couldn’t breathe.
She also indicated that she believed she lost consciousness for a brief time when the confrontation moved to the garage.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
FILE - Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs works out during NFL football practice, June 9, 2026, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf, File)
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs rushes for a touchdown during the first half of an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) breaks a tackle by Detroit Lions cornerback Keith Abney II (6) during a touchdown reception in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
