NASCAR's Brad Keselowski Says He Thought 'Hacksaw' Might Help Pain from Broken Leg Injury

NASCAR veteran Brad Keselowski was in so much pain during his recovery from a broken leg that he felt like a soldier on the battlefield.

"What was going through my mind was like, 'Oh my God. Think about the soldiers in the Civil War,'" Keselowski said during Daytona 500 media day Wednesday, per Mark Long of the Associated Press. "They just would cut their leg off right here. And I understood why they would do it because it hurt so bad. It was by far the worst pain I've ever went through. I get why they would bring out the hacksaw. There was part of me that's like, 'That might actually feel better.'"

Keselowski broke his leg nearly two months ago in mid-December when he slipped on ice during a family ski trip. He underwent surgery and was forced to miss last week's exhibition Clash Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, while continuing his rehab.

Despite needing six months to make a full recovery, the 2012 Cup Series champion was cleared to drive the No. 6 Ford for RFK Racing in Sunday's Daytona 500, which marks the official start of the 2026 Cup Series season.

"It's hard to explain to people that have never broken their femur before what it's like," said Keselowski, who was seen using a cane on Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway. "It's not the same as breaking your leg below your knee. Your femur is the biggest bone in your body. It's got a lot of things running through it, and it has to heal. You can't really cast it. You can't do any of those things. You just kind of have to tough it out."

The 41-year-old added that he won't know how the pain will affect him until Thursday's qualifying race.

"I'm eight weeks in, and until about three-to-five weeks in, there was a question if I was going to walk again, let alone drive a race car," he said. "Those were the thoughts that were going through my mind. I was confident I was going to put the work in, and I was going to own whatever result there was. There were certainly a lot of moments where you're like, 'Ooh, this isn't a layup.' … But until you get in a race car going 190 miles an hour, you don't know. You don't know how it's going to feel."