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  • Matt McCall departing Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing at 2024 season’s conclusion

    Matt McCall departing Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing at 2024 season’s conclusion

    Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing took to social media to announce that Matt McCall, who currently serves as a crew chief to driver/owner Brad Keselowski and the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse team in the NASCAR Cup Series division, will not be returning to the organization for the 2025 season.

    McCall, a former racer turned engineer and crew chief from Denver, North Carolina, is a graduate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a degree in engineering. He first joined RFK Racing at the start of the 2022 season. By then, the organization had been rebranded from Roush Fenway Racing as Keselowski joined the organization as a part-time owner with owner Jack Roush and competitor of the organization’s iconic No. 6 Ford entry. In addition, McCall had departed Chip Ganassi Racing as the organization’s assets were acquired by Trackhouse Racing.

    After failing to qualify for the 2022 Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the duo of McCall and Keselowski achieved a non-points victory in the first of two Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona International Speedway that led to the 64th running of the Daytona 500, where they proceeded to finish in ninth place despite leading a race-high 67 laps.

    Over the next three seasons (103 current events total), McCall navigated Keselowski and the No. 6 RFK Racing team to 17 top-five results, 36 top-10 results and two Cup Series Playoff appearances, including this season. The highlight of the driver-crew chief duo was when they won at Darlington Raceway this past May, which snapped a three-year winless drought for both McCall and Keselowski as they also navigated the organization’s No. 6 Ford entry to its first Cup victory since July 2011.

    Prior to RFK Racing, McCall, who made his Cup crew chief debut on an interim role for a single event with Richard Childress Racing and Jeff Burton in July 2013, spent the previous seven seasons (2015-21) as a crew chief for Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 1 Chevrolet team, where he worked with Jamie McMurray during the first four season before working with Kurt Busch during the latter two. During the six-year span, McCall notched his first Cup career victory as a crew chief at Kentucky Speedway with Busch in July 2019. He would achieve two additional victories with Busch between the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

    Overall, McCall has accumulated four victories, two poles, 47 top-five results, 134 top-10 results and eight Playoff appearances while working with four different competitors in 356 events as a Cup Series crew chief. He and Keselowski are currently ranked in 13th place in the 2024 driver’s standings on the strengths of nine top-five results and 14 top-10 results as they strive to conclude the 2024 season on a strong note.

    In the social media announcement made by RFK Racing of McCall’s departure, the team stated: “We want to thank Matt for his dedicated efforts over the last three seasons, his role in the success that we have had and we wish him well in future endeavors.”

    Plans for both McCall and RFK Racing’s new crew chief for the 2025 Cup Series season remain to be determined.

    Matt McCall’s final event as a crew chief for Brad Keselowski and the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse team is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, November 10, at Phoenix Raceway for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race that will cap off the 2024 season. The finale’s broadcast time is slated to commence at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Chris Buescher outduels Shane van Gisbergen in overtime for wild Cup victory at Watkins Glen

    Chris Buescher outduels Shane van Gisbergen in overtime for wild Cup victory at Watkins Glen

    In a season mired with missed opportunities that resulted in him missing the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs by a single points position, Chris Buescher took advantage of the chance to cap off this season on a strong note by winning the Go Bowling at The Glen (Watkins Glen International) on Sunday, September 15, amid a wild overtime shootout and a final lap bump and pass on Shane van Gisbergen.

    The 2015 Xfinity Series champion from Prosper, Texas, led three times for 19 of 92 over-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified 24th and utilized pit strategy to methodically carve his way up the leaderboard. With a bevy of Playoff contenders encountering on-track issues from start to finish, Buescher, who pitted prior to the second stage’s conclusion, utilized fresher tires than the leaders to briefly lead for the first time with 33 laps remaining before he pitted two laps later. He then cycled back to the lead with 17 laps remaining during a late round of green flag pit stops.

    Then among three late-race caution and restart periods, including the third and latest restart that sent the event into overtime, Buescher, who had maintained the lead during all restart periods, was bumped out of the lead by van Gisbergen, who proceeded to lead the penultimate lap while Buescher remained within striking distance. Van Gisbergen then made the slightest contact with the guardrails through the Bus Stop that got him loose through the curbs and the turns, which enabled Buescher to reassume the lead amid another round of contact between both through the Inner Loop. With van Gisbergen unable to return the favor within the course’s final pair of turns, Buescher drove away to claim his first victory of the 2024 Cup Series season and become the first non-Playoff competitor to win a Playoff event this season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, September 14, Ross Chastain notched his first Cup Series pole position of the 2024 season and the second of his career after he posted a pole-winning speed at 122.279 mph in 72.130 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Martin Truex Jr., who posted the second-fastest qualifying speed at 122.052 mph in 72.264 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Todd Gilliland and rookie Carson Hocevar dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Ross Chastain launched ahead with an early advantage through the frontstretch and he maintained the top spot through the opening set of turns through the Esses and the backstretch while the field behind jostled for early spots amid multiple lanes.

    Then through the Bus Stop corner, early trouble struck as Corey LaJoie bumped and sent Kyle Busch, who was running towards the top-15 mark, for a spin towards the middle of the turn, where he clipped Playoff contender Christopher Bell as Bell spun while his teammate and Playoff contender Denny Hamlin clipped Busch and sustained damage to his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE entry after he got bumped by Ryan Preece. Among other competitors who were involved included Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bubba Wallace, both of whom hit the guardrails while going off the course, while Busch’s wrecked No. 8 zone Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry was left stalled in the Inner Loop turn.

    During the chaos, Ryan Blaney, the reigning Cup Series champion and a 2024 Playoff contender, drove his No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry off the course and came to a stop due to a broken steering column as a result of hitting Brad Keselowski while avoiding the opening lap carnage. The issue was enough for NASCAR to rule Blaney out of contention to continue without having completed the first lap, though Blaney was left heated at NASCAR for not allowing his team to repair the car despite not sustaining any significant damage from the carnage. By then, Bell continued without sustaining any significant damage to his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE entry while Hamlin and Busch dropped out of the lead lap category with damage to their respective entries.

    When the race restarted under green on the fifth lap, Chastain, who led the opening four laps under caution, rocketed ahead with another strong start through the frontstretch and the Esses while the rest of the field behind fanned out. In the process, Allmendinger, who restarted in the top five, was dropping off the pace due to a mechanical issue with his No. 13 Go Bowling Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry. With Allmendinger dropping out of contention, the rest of the field navigated smoothly through the backstretch, Bus Stop, Inner Loop and the final set of turns from Turns 5 to 7 as Chastain retained the lead and led the following lap.

    Over the next three laps, Chastain stabilized his early advantage to six-tenths of a second over Truex while van Gisbergen, Bowman and Playoff contender Chase Briscoe were running in the top five ahead of Playoff competitors Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Chase Elliott. With Michael McDowell occupying ninth place, he was ahead of five Playoff contenders that included Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Ty Gibbs while Erik Jones occupied 15th place ahead of Chris Buescher, rookie Zane Smith, Noah Gragson, Daniel Hemric and Corey LaJoie.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Chastain continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Truex while van Gisbergen, Bowman and Briscoe continued to run in the top five ahead of Cindric, Suarez, Elliott, McDowell and Reddick. By then, 11 of 15 remaining Playoff contenders on the track were running in the top 14 on the track while Brad Keselowski, Harrison Burton and Bell were mired back from 25th to 27th, respectively. In addition, Denny Hamlin was mired a lap down in 34th place following repairs to his No. 11 Toyota.

    Five laps later, Chastain extended his advantage to three seconds over van Gisbergen, who overtook Truex for the runner-up spot a lap earlier, while Bowman and Briscoe battled for fourth place in front of Suarez. Behind, Cindric, Elliott, McDowell and Reddick were racing in the top 10 ahead of Larson, Logano, Zane Smith, Byron and Ty Gibbs while Keselowski, Bell, Burton and Hamlin all continued to be mired outside the top-20 mark.

    Another lap later, McDowell pitted his No. 34 Benebone Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry under green from ninth place. A host of names that included van Gisbergen, Logano, Zane Smith, Byron, Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Corey LaJoie, rookie Carson Hocevar, Noah Gragson, rookie Josh Berry, Justin Haley, Keselowski, Juan Pablo Montoya, Harrison Burton, John Hunter Nemechek, Todd Gilliland and Austin Dillon pitted during the next lap period before the leader Chastain pitted his No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry on Lap 18. As a result, Truex cycled into the lead as he was followed by Bowman, Briscoe, Suarez and Cindric while Keselowski was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Truex, who came into the event 19 points below the top-12 cutline in the Playoff standings, notched his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Playoff rivals Bowman, Briscoe, Suarez, Cindric, Elliott, Reddick and Larson followed suit in the top eight, respectively, while non-Playoff competitors Erik Jones and Daniel Hemric were scored in the top 10. By then, the remaining Playoff contenders on the track that included Logano, Ty Gibbs, Byron, Keselowski, Bell, Burton and Hamlin were scored in 17th, 20th, 21st, 25th, 28th, 30th and 34th, respectively. Despite being mired a lap down, Hamlin was able to fend off Kyle Busch to be the first competitor scored a lap down at the first stage’s conclusion and receive the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, some led by Truex, including a host of competitors who remained on the track before the first stage’s conclusion, pitted while the rest led by Chastain, including those who pitted prior to the stage’s conclusion, remained on the track. Among the Playoff contenders who pitted with Truex included Bowman, Briscoe, Suarez, Cindric, Elliott, Reddick and Larson.

    The second stage period started on Lap 24 as Chastain and McDowell occupied the front row in front of van Gisbergen and Logano. At the start, Chastain fended off both McDowell and van Gisbergen through the frontstretch and the first set of turns including the Esses as the field fanned out while navigating up the Esses. With Suarez making contact and sending Reddick for a spin in the first turn amid a stack-up as the race remained under green flag conditions, Chastain would proceed to lead the first through the backstretch, the Bus Stop and the Inner Loop before he navigated his way through the final set of turns and led the following lap.

    Over the next five laps, starting on Lap 26, and with most of the field settling in a long single-file line, Chastain increased his advantage to as high as a second over van Gisbergen before the advantage shrunk to two-tenths of a second by Lap 29. Chastain would stabilize his lead to two-tenths of a second over van Gisbergen by the Lap 30 mark while McDowell, Logano, Zane Smith, LaJoie, Ty Gibbs, Byron, Hocevar and Buescher were scored in the top 10 ahead of Gragson, Bell, Berry, Montoya and Nemechek. By then, Playoff contenders Burton, Truex, Briscoe and Bowman were mired just inside the top-20 mark while Elliott, Cindric, Larson, Suarez and Keselowski were mired in the top-30 mark. In addition, Reddick was down in 33rd place in front of team owner Hamlin.

    At the Lap 35 mark, Chastain maintained the top spot by eight-tenths of a second over van Gisbergen while McDowell and Logano battled fiercely for third place. Behind, Zane Smith trailed in fifth place ahead of teammate LaJoie while Ty Gibbs, Byron, Hocevar and Buescher were running in the top 10. By then, Bell was in 13th as Burton, Briscoe, Truex and Bowman were mired inside the top-20 mark. With Elliott, Cindric, Larson and Keselowski trailing back in 22nd, 24th, 25th and 28th, respectively, Reddick was still mired in 32nd in front of Suarez and Hamlin.

    A lap later, a host of names including Buescher, Montoya, Erik Jones, Larson, Justin Haley, Keselowski and Kaz Grala pitted under green. More names including McDowell, Zane Smith, LaJoie, Noah Gragson, Bell, Berry, Nemechek, Truex, Gilliland, Elliott, Hemric, Cindric, Austin Dillon and Reddick pitted during the following lap before the caution flew due to Suarez spinning and getting his No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry stuck in the gravel trap in Turn 6. During the pit stops, Keselowski was penalized for a second time, this time for an uncontrolled tire violation as a tire rolled out of his pit stall. Larson was also penalized for causing vehicle interference.

    With the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 40 officially concluding under caution, Chastain, who was unable to enter pit road to pit under green before the caution being flown for teammate Suarez spinning and instead remained on the track, proceeded to claim his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Van Gisbergen, who was also trying to pit with Chastain, followed suit in second along with Playoff contenders Logano, Ty Gibbs, Byron, Burton, Briscoe and Bowman while Ryan Preece and Hamlin were scored in the top 10. By then, the remaining Playoff contenders on the track that included Bell, Truex, Cindric, Elliott, Larson, Keselowski, Reddick and Suarez were mired in 20th, 21st, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 33rd and 35th, respectively.

    During the stage break, some led by Ty Gibbs and Byron pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.

    With 48 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Chastain and van Gisbergen occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out through the frontstretch, Chastain maintained the top spot ahead of van Gisbergen and a hard-charging Briscoe while the rest of the field scrambled while bumping and navigating through the Esses, the backstretch and the Bus Stop corner. With the field still jostling for spots through the Inner Loop and the final set of turns, Chastain led the following lap ahead of van Gisbergen, Briscoe, McDowell and LaJoie.

    At the halfway mark with 45 laps remaining, Chastain retained the lead by nearly six-tenths of a second over van Gisbergen, Briscoe, McDowell and LaJoie while Buescher, Hocevar, Montoya, Gragson and Logano were running in the top 10 ahead of Truex, Nemechek, Berry, Bell, Elliott, Cindric, Haley, Bowman, Kaz Grala and Hemric. By then, Playoff contenders Ty Gibbs, Byron, Hamlin, Burton, Keselowski, Larson, Reddick and Suarez were mired outside the top 20.

    A lap later, the caution returned when Hamlin, who was pinned in a tight three-wide battle with Keselowski and Larson just outside the top-20 mark towards the entry of the Esses, was sent sideways and into the guardrails by Keselowski as he sustained more damage to his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE entry. Despite continuing, the incident jeopardized Hamlin’s hopes of advancing to the Round of 12 in the Playoffs following his final lap accident at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    During the caution period, some including Logano, Keselowski and Larson pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track. Hamlin also pitted to continue to have more repairs made to his entry.

    The start of the next restart period with 41 laps remaining featured Chastain rocketing away from the field with the lead through the frontstretch and the first set of turns leading up to the Esses as the field scrambled for late spots. The field proceeded to navigate through the backstretch, the Bus Stop and the Esses smoothly as van Gisbergen and McDowell tried to keep the leader Chastain within close pursuit. As Chastain led the following lap, LaJoie and Buescher were scored in the top five while Briscoe was trying to fend off Hocevar and teammate Gragson for sixth place while Truex and Montoya were up into the top 10.

    With 35 laps remaining, Chastain retained a narrow lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging van Gisbergen as McDowell, Buescher, LaJoie, Hocevar, Gragson, Briscoe, Truex and Elliott were scored in the top 10. By then, the following Playoff contenders that included Bell, Cindric, Bowman, Byron and Ty Gibbs were mired in the top-20 mark while Reddick, Logano, Larson, Keselowski, Suarez and Burton were mired in the top-30 mark. Meanwhile, Hamlin was down in 34th place.

    Two laps later, Buescher, who had fresher tires than the leader Chastain, rocketed past Chastain through the frontstretch as he assumed the lead. By then, van Gisbergen was down in third place and losing the spot to McDowell entering the first turn while LaJoie and Hocevar followed suit in the top six. Another lap later, Chastain and van Gisbergen pitted for fresh tires and fuel before Buescher pitted from the lead during the following lap.

    With 30 laps remaining, some including Montoya, Byron, Hocevar, Erik Jones and Haley pitted under green as Bell was bumped and sent for a spin by Austin Dillon in Turn 7 while trying to enter pit road. With the race remaining under green flag conditions, Bell pitted along with Nemechek and Ty Gibbs. As the pit stop cycle continued with a bevy of names including Gragson and Elliott pitting, McDowell retained the lead before he pitted with 25 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Logano was leading ahead of Zane Smith as third-place Larson pitted under green. By then, Cindric, LaJoie, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon and Gilliland had pitted. Shortly after, Zane Smith pitted from the runner-up. With Buescher cycling his way up the leaderboard, he would then overtake Logano for the lead with 17 laps remaining while Keselowski, van Gisbergen, Hocevar and Chastain trailed in the top six. As Kaz Grala crashed in Turn 7 with help from Hemric, the race remained under green flag conditions.

    With 15 laps remaining, Buescher extended his advantage to four seconds over Logano as van Gisbergen, Keselowski and Hocevar were scored in the top five ahead of Chastain, McDowell, Preece, Briscoe and LaJoie. By then, Playoff contenders Truex, Byron and Elliott were scored in the top-14 mark on the track while Cindric, Bowman and Larson were trailing in the top-20 mark. Meanwhile, Ty Gibbs, Suarez, Bell, Reddick and Burton were mired in the top-30 mark while Hamlin was back in 33rd place.

    Four laps later, the caution flew due to debris reported in Turn 6 as a result of Playoff contender Harrison Burton blowing a left-rear tire and leaving debris scattered in the turn. By then, Keselowski and Logano had pitted while Buescher was leading ahead of a hard-charging van Gisbergen. During the caution period, some including Playoff contenders and teammates Bowman, Byron and Elliott pitted while the rest led by Buescher remained on the track. Among those who pitted included Playoff contender Reddick.

    With the race restarting with seven laps remaining, Buescher and Hocevar, both of whom restarted on the front row in front of van Gisbergen and Chastain, dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and the first turn as the field fanned out entering the Esses. In the midst of the battles, Buescher maintained the lead in front of Hocevar and van Gisbregen through the backstretch. Just then, the caution returned when Logano made contact with Keselowski in the Esses resulting in Keselowski turning into Byron and Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry coming off the ground and on top of the left side of Keselowski’s No. 6 King’s Hawaiian Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry while being pinned towards the guardrails as both were left with heavily damaged race cars.

    The start of the next restart period with three laps remaining did not last long as Elliott and Berry, both of whom were running in the middle of the pack, were bumped into one another by Gilliland entering the Esses, which in turn ignited an accordion effect as both hit the guardrails along with Truex and Logano while Reddick was sent sideways and in front of Kyle Busch. Amid the incident, Buescher had maintained the lead ahead of Hocevar, Chastain, van Gisbergen, McDowell and Briscoe while the event was sent into overtime.

    The start of the first overtime attempt featured Buescher and Hocevar dueling for the lead through the frontstretch until van Gisbergen gave Buescher a little tap entering the first turn. The contact caused both Buescher and Hocevar to go wide as van Gisbergen made a three-wide pass on both to assume the lead through the Esses. With van Gisbergen leading, Buescher remained within striking distance of the former up the Esses and through the backstretch, Bus Stop and Inner Loop corners while the field behind jostled for late spots.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, van Gisbergen remained as the leader by three-tenths of a second over Buescher while Chastain was trying to fend off Hocevar and a bevy of competitors for third place. From the first turn to the backstretch, van Gisbergen maintained a reasonable lead over a hard-charging Buescher.

    Then through the Bus Stop, van Gisbergen made the slightest of contact with the right-side guardrails, which got him through the corner and the curbs as Buescher quickly closed the gap. Buescher then veered to the right and despite van Gisbergen’s effort to defend, made contact with the leader as he muscled his No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry into the lead through the Inner Loop. Van Gisbergen then tried to close the gap back through a brief straightaway leading up to Turn 6, but he got loose in Turn 6 and had to step out of the gas to keep his No. 16 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry running straight in Turn 7. With van Gisbergen losing ground after going sideways, Buescher was able to smoothly navigate his way through Turn 7 and muscle back to the frontstretch victorious and to his first elusive checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season by nine-tenths of a second over van Gisbergen.

    With the victory, Buescher, who missed the 2024 Playoff field by a single points position amid a strong regular-season stretch, notched his sixth NASCAR Cup Series career win in his 321st series start, his first both at The Glen and on a road course venue, and his first since winning the 2023 regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway. The victory was also the ninth of the season and the fourth in recent weeks for the Ford nameplate while Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing notched its second Cup victory of the 2024 season and first since teammate/co-owner Brad Keselowski won at Darlington Raceway in May. As an added bonus, this season marks the first time where Roush’s Nos. 17 and 6 entries won in the same Cup season since 2011.

    Buescher’s Cup victory at The Glen over van Gisbergen marked the first time a last-lap pass for the win was made since Joey Logano made the last accomplishment over Kevin Harvick in 2015. It also marked the first time a non-Playoff competitor won a Playoff event since AJ Allmendinger made the last accomplishment last October at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.

    “I thought we lost it there on the last [restart],” Buescher said on the frontstretch on USA Network. “Man, to stay right there with [van Gisbergen]. [The Bus Stop] was the spot that he was better than us and he missed it, so I tried to cross over. He went to cut. Just hard racing there. Just such an awesome finish. To be that good for so much at the end of the race, all race. To get a win, it’s good. We came here to be [Playoff] spoiler. We’re going to do that. Man, we would’ve like to have won a couple of weeks ago, but this is huge. It’s such a big win for us. Everybody at [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing]’s worked so hard. To finally get a road course win, we’ve been so close so many times. To finally pull that off is fantastic.”

    Meanwhile, as Buescher celebrated in Victory Lane, van Gisbergen, who only led the penultimate lap, managed to smile despite being left “gutted” after capping off his strong run with his first top-two result of the season. His previous best result through his last seven Cup starts was 20th, which occurred at Circuit of the Americas in March. The three-time Supercars champion from Auckland, New Zealand, is scheduled to compete at Talladega Superspeedway and at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October, which will also mark his final pair of races of the season and with Kaulig Racing overall before he graduates to a full-time Cup campaign in 2025 with Trackhouse Racing.

    “I knew Chris [Buescher] was really going to send it and push me if [he] could get there,” van Gisbergen said. “As I turned [the car] and got a bit loose and clipped the inside wall, just driver error. I’m gutted. [The] WeatherTech Camaro was really good. The race was awesome with Ross [Chastain] and Chris and the others at the end. I’m gutted we couldn’t get [the win]. I had a lot of fun, but I’m pretty angry at myself. It was just a little bump to get [Buescher] wide [during the overtime shootout] and I knew I was going to get it back, so that’s why I was pushing so hard. It is what it is, but just gutted.”

    Rookie Carson Hocevar notched a career-best third-place result ahead of the pole-sitter Ross Chastain, who led a race-high 51 laps, while rookie Zane Smith achieved his second Cup career top-five result by finishing fifth.

    Chase Briscoe was the highest-finishing Playoff contender in sixth place while Michael McDowell, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece and Playoff contender Austin Cindric finished in the top 10.

    The remaining Playoff contenders on the track that included Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Harrison Burton, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick and William Byron ended up finishing 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 26th, 27th and 34th, respectively.

    As a result, the four Playoff competitors who enter next weekend’s Round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway below the top-12 cutline are Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Harrison Burton. Currently, Hamlin is six points behind Chase Briscoe and teammate Ty Gibbs for the 12th and final transfer spot into the Round of 12 while Keselowski, Truex and Burton trail the cutline by 12, 14 and 20 points, respectively.

    There were 11 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured seven cautions 21 for laps. In addition, 31 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Chris Buescher, 19 laps led

    2. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap led

    3. Carson Hocevar, one lap led

    4. Ross Chastain, 51 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    5. Zane Smith

    6. Chase Briscoe

    7. Michael McDowell, seven laps led

    8. Corey LaJoie, two laps led

    9. Ryan Preece

    10. Austin Cindric

    11. Noah Gragson

    12. Kyle Larson

    13. Daniel Suarez

    14. Christopher Bell

    15. Joey Logano, six laps led

    16. Todd Gilliland

    17. Bubba Wallace

    18. Alex Bowman, one lap led

    19. Chase Elliott

    20. Martin Truex Jr., four laps led, Stage 1 winner

    21. John Hunter Nemechek

    22. Ty Gibbs

    23. Denny Hamlin

    24. Harrison Burton

    25. Josh Berry

    26. Brad Keselowski

    27. Tyler Reddick

    28. Austin Dillon

    29. Justin Haley

    30. Kyle Busch

    31. Daniel Hemric

    32. Juan Pablo Montoya, one lap down

    33. Erik Jones, two laps down

    34. William Byron, two laps down

    35. Kaz Grala, five laps down

    36. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Transmission

    37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

    38. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Joey Logano – Advanced

    2. Christopher Bell +46

    3. Austin Cindric +43

    4. Alex Bowman +41

    5. Daniel Suarez +36

    6. Tyler Reddick +30

    7. Chase Elliott +30

    8. Ryan Blaney +29

    9. Kyle Larson +26

    10. William Byron +25

    11. Chase Briscoe +6

    12. Ty Gibbs +6

    13. Denny Hamlin -6

    14. Brad Keselowski -12

    15. Martin Truex Jr. -14

    16. Harrison Burton -20

    The Round of 16 in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to conclude next Saturday, September 21, at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race and where the first of three elimination processes will occur. The event’s broadcast time is slated to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Buescher, Wallace lament missing 2024 Cup Series Playoffs

    Buescher, Wallace lament missing 2024 Cup Series Playoffs

    In a span of 367 grueling laps of the 2024 Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace went from competing against one another for the 16th and final berth to this year’s Playoffs to both being knocked out of contention amid a new race winner capitalizing on the Playoff’s “Win and You’re In” format.

    The diminished Playoff hopes for Buescher and Wallace occurred after both dominated the headlines throughout the Darlington weekend and withstood a series of on-track trials of their own to remain in Playoff contention until the drop of the checkered flag and the conclusion of this year’s 26-race regular-season stretch.

    The battle between Buescher and Wallace commenced with the latter striking first as he led the first 34 laps from the pole position. Wallace would proceed to finish in second place at the conclusion of the first stage period and accumulate nine stage points while Buescher ended up in 10th place, which allowed Wallace to overtake Buescher for the 16th and final Playoff berth.

    Throughout the second stage period, Buescher would regain the upper hand by a slight margin as Wallace slipped out of the top-five mark. Despite ending up in 13th place at the second stage’s conclusion while Wallace finished ninth, which enabled him to claim an additional two stage points, Buescher leaped back atop Wallace for the final Playoff berth.

    Then throughout the final stage period, late drama struck for both Buescher and Wallace that began with 46 laps remaining when the former got squeezed into the backstretch’s outside wall by Todd Gilliland before he proceeded to spin the latter. Despite sustaining slight cosmetic damage to his No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, Buescher remained both on the lead lap and above the cutline. Then with 24 laps remaining, Wallace’s Playoff hopes took a hit after he was collected in a multi-car wreck in Turn 2, when he ran into the rear of a wrecking William Byron before he was rammed in the rear by Noah Gragson sending Wallace spinning below the track. Despite plummeting below the leaderboard, Wallace was able to keep his damaged No. 23 U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry XSE under power and in race pace.

    With Wallace initially appearing to lose ground to Buescher on points for the final Playoff berth, Buescher was then placed at a disadvantage as Chase Briscoe, who came into Darlington in a “must-win” situation, rocketed away with the lead during a late-race restart with 17 laps remaining. For the final 17 laps, Briscoe would fend off Kyle Busch, another Playoff “must-win” contender, to win the race and leapfrog both Buescher and Wallace in the Playoff standings to secure his spot into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs.

    For Buescher, the outcome resulted in the Prosper, Texas, native being the first competitor who was scored outside the top-16 cutline and missing his third opportunity to make the Playoffs a year after he transferred all the way to the Round of 8 and won three races.

    From losing to a record-setting finish of 0.001 seconds to Kyle Larson at Kansas Speedway to sustaining a cut tire amid a late-race battle for the win with Tyler Reddick at Darlington, both occurring earlier in May, Buescher reflected on various instances where he missed opportunities to secure a regular-season victory that would have locked him into the Playoffs. With a total of five top-five results and 12 top-10 results in 26 races, the Texan also attempted to reflect on the positives made earlier in the season that would enable him to conclude the 2024 season on a strong note.

    “We got back in contention there at the end and got a decent finish out of it,” Buescher said on USA Network. “We just didn’t quite get it done again and we’re on the outside looking in. It’s just the system we’re all playing in. We had such a great year. Everyone at [Roush Fenway Keselowski] has worked so hard. We’ve been so fast. We’ve outrun so many of these cars that are gonna get to run for a championship, but that’s the system and we didn’t work it right.”

    Like Buescher, Wallace, who made his first Cup Series Playoffs and finished a career-best 10th a year ago in the final standings, was also left disappointed on pit road despite a late summer surge to fight his way back into the Playoffs. But his hopes evaporated with the recent surge of surprise winners that include Chase Briscoe and Harrison Burton. Nonetheless, the Mobile, Alabama, native praised the fight and determination exhibited by his No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota team in keeping both the driver and team in contention until the regular-season finale’s conclusion.

    Currently, Wallace has racked up career-high stats of five top-five results and 10 top-10 results, both of which equal his total accumulated results from the previous two seasons. With his current average-finishing result of 15.8, which marks his personal best, Wallace has 10 races remaining on the 2024 schedule to add to his stats and notch his first Cup victory in two seasons.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “We were back and forth on our U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry,” Wallace said. “We were a little too loose, a little too tight. And the caution a couple laps on tires where we stayed out, I don’t know if that was the deciding factor or not. I was so tight there and got back there in traffic in a spot we hadn’t been all day and got caught up someone else’s mess. It’s unfortunate. I hate it for our guys. Man, hats off to [Briscoe]. I thought I did something yesterday. They one-upped us and showed up when it was game time, so that’s pretty badass so congrats to them. Man, just wasn’t good enough for 16th this year. I hate that. It stinks saying that, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort from all of us on this No. 23 car. Best of luck to [Reddick] and hopefully, a Toyota wins.”

    Overall, both Buescher and Wallace join Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch, Todd Gilliland, rookie Carson Hocevar, Michael McDowell, rookie Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon, Daniel Hemric, Justin Haley, Corey LaJoie, John Hunter Nemechek and rookie Zane Smith as full-time Cup Series competitors who did not qualify for the 2024 Playoffs. Nonetheless, all have the final 10-race Playoff stretch to contend for as high as 17th place in the final standings.

    The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season continues with the upcoming Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which will commence the Playoffs. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, September 8, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Buescher, Gibbs pleased; Wallace dejected amid top-10 runs and Playoff shakeup at Daytona

    Buescher, Gibbs pleased; Wallace dejected amid top-10 runs and Playoff shakeup at Daytona

    Harrison Burton’s first NASCAR Cup Series career victory in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 24, was a victory that dramatically shook up the 2024 Cup Series Playoff field as he went from being mired outside the top-30 mark in this year’s regular-season standings to locking himself into the Playoffs and contend for a championship.

    Burton’s victory also meant that 13 spots are solidified by guaranteed Playoff competitors who have recorded at least one victory through 25 of 26 regular-season events on the 2024 schedule. In return, three open spots to the Playoffs remain vacant ahead of next weekend’s regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway for the crown-jewel Southern 500 and have left a multitude of big names, including runner-up finisher Kyle Busch, in a “must-win” situation to make the Playoffs.

    Among those who remain within striking distance of one another for the vacant Playoff spots based on points ahead of next weekend’s regular-season finale include Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace, all of whom survived a “war of attrition” night mired with on-track chaos to claim top-10 results.

    Ty Gibbs, who sported Dennis Quaid’s Reagan movie on his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE entry, backed up his top-three result from the previously scheduled event at Michigan International Speedway by finishing in fifth place in Saturday’s event at Daytona amid an overtime shootout.

    The fifth-place run marked Gibbs’ seventh top-five result of the 2024 Cup Series season and his 11th top-10 result through 25 scheduled events. As a result, Gibbs, who came into the event 38 points above the top-16 cutline towards making the Playoffs, increased his advantage by one point as he strives to make his first Cup Series Playoffs after next weekend’s regular-season finale at Darlington.

    Ironically, Darlington is where Gibbs notched his career-best result of second place earlier in May, and the Charlotte, North Carolina native is aiming for one spot better to also land him his first Cup Series career victory.

    “[Tonight’s finish] was really important,” Gibbs said on NBC. “I was just happy to have a good clean day, good points day. I think we have the speed to go win [at Darlington], so I think it’d be cool to go win and get my first win at the Southern 500. It would be awesome.”

    Like Michigan, Buescher, the reigning Coke Zero Sugar 400 winner, endured a rallying type of night where he was collected in on-track carnage and had to fight his way back to finish inside the top 10. Compared to Michigan, however, the Prosper, Texas’ incident at Daytona occurred late in the event with 10 laps remaining as he got squeezed into the Turn 1 outside wall against Ricky Stenhouse Jr. amid a multi-car wreck that nearly flipped the pole-sitter, Michael McDowell.

    With the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank/Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry managing to continue with minimal damage, Buescher avoided contact from another multi-car wreck with two laps remaining and managed to squeeze his way to a 10th-place finish in an overtime shootout.

    As a result, Buescher, who led 10 laps en route to his 10th-place run at Daytona, is 21 points ahead of the cutline in his quest to make his third career Cup Series Playoffs and second in a row while driving for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. He also holds sole possession of the final transfer spot ahead of the race at Darlington, a venue where Buescher nearly won in May before he was involved in a late skirmish with Tyler Reddick that knocked both out of contention while battling for the lead and win.

    “Our Fifth Third Bank Mustang was so good,” Buescher said. “We were able to push unbelievably well and make a ton of speed. It was a lot of fun for a long while there. [I got] Caught up in another accident. We were just trying to get it to the end and ultimately, it was not the day we needed, but yeah, we go to Darlington points being what they are. There’s a little bit of a cushion there, but we know we were really good there last time [in May]. [We’ll] Try and seal the deal this go around and make it easy going into the Playoffs.”

    Perhaps, no competitor was left more bitter with the outcome than Bubba Wallace, who dropped back out of the top-16 cutline despite rallying to post a strong sixth-place result at Daytona.

    The Mobile, Alabama, native methodically carved his way from starting 18th to lead for the first time on Lap 46. Leading 16 overall laps, Wallace’s event briefly went south when he was involved in a multi-car wreck with 10 laps remaining that dropped him from the lead group. After having his No. 23 Columbia/23XI Racing Toyota Camry XSE repaired and steering clear of another multi-car wreck with two laps remaining, Wallace navigated his way to sixth place when the checkered flag flew after an overtime shootout.

    The good news for Wallace was finishing in the top 10 for the 10th time in 2024, tying his career-best finish, and accumulating 10 top-10 results like his previous two Cup seasons.

    However, Harrison Burton’s Daytona victory dropped Wallace below the top-16 cutline two weeks after he boosted his way back above the cutline. Currently, Wallace is six points ahead of Chastain in the Playoff picture standings at 17th, but 21 points below the cutline.

    Ahead of this year’s regular-season finale at Darlington, Wallace is coming off four consecutive top-nine runs at the historic venue, including back-to-back seventh-place finishes during his last two Cup runs at Darlington. Wallace, however, is setting his primary focus on winning at Darlington to make the Playoffs. If he can accomplish this, it would mark his second consecutive appearance as a Playoff contender as he strives to be both competitive and win like teammate Tyler Reddick has done twice, including recently at Michigan.

    “You got one car [Reddick] fighting for a regular-season championship and another car [Wallace] right around the bubble. It’s unacceptable,” Wallace said. “I’ll take all that weight on my shoulders. [I] Should’ve won multiple times this year and I haven’t. We don’t even deserve to be here and we are. I got to go win next week. That’s it.”

    The pursuit to make the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace continues next Sunday, September 1, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Cook Out Southern 500, which will air at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Scott Graves to call 300th Cup event as crew chief at Michigan

    Scott Graves to call 300th Cup event as crew chief at Michigan

    A significant milestone mark is in the making for Scott Graves, crew chief for Chris Buescher and the No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang team in the NASCAR Cup Series. By participating in this weekend’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Graves will call his 300th event as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series.

    A native of Clifton Spring, New York, Graves graduated from Texas Tech University with a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1994. Twelve years later, he teamed up with Roush Fenway Racing and worked as an engineer on Roush’s No. 99 Ford entry in the NASCAR Truck Series that was piloted by Erik Darnell. Another five years later, Graves worked as a team engineer for RFR’s No. 60 Ford Mustang team in the Xfinity Series, a team that achieved eight victories and went on to clinch the Xfinity Series’ owner’s championship with the help of drivers Carl Edwards and Billy Johnson.

    The 2012 season was Graves’ first as a crew chief, where he was atop the pit box of Roush’s No. 60 Ford Mustang team in four Xfinity Series races. Making his debut as a crew chief at Watkins Glen International in August, Graves went to Victory Lane for the first time with Carl Edwards capitalizing on a one-race return in the series. He returned to crew chief for Billy Johnson at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Trevor Bayne at Bristol Motor Speedway in August and Travis Pastrana at Richmond Raceway in September, respectively. Graves also made his crew chief debut in three NASCAR Cup Series races late in 2012, beginning at Dover International Speedway in September, where he worked with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Following a strong 12th-place result at Dover, Graves returned as Stenhouse’s Cup crew chief at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October and at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, respectively.

    In 2013 Graves was named crew chief for Stenhouse and the No. 17 RFR Ford Fusion team in the Cup Series, which marked Stenhouse’s first full-time season as a competitor in NASCAR’s premier series after winning back-to-back Xfinity titles. Throughout the 36-race schedule, Graves and Stenhouse achieved a pole, one top-five result and three top-10 results throughout the 36-race schedule, with the latter finishing in 19th place in the final standings and claiming the Rookie-of-the-Year title.

    For the following two seasons, Graves returned to the Xfinity Series and worked as crew chief for Chris Buescher and RFR’s No. 60 Ford Mustang team. During the two-year stint, Graves achieved three victories and the 2015 Xfinity Series championship with Buescher. After Buescher moved up to the Cup circuit with Front Row Motorsports, Graves joined Joe Gibbs Racing and worked as a crew chief for Daniel Suarez and the No. 19 Toyota Camry team. In their first season together, Graves and Suarez won three races and claimed the 2016 Xfinity Series championship, which marked Graves’ second consecutive title in the Xfinity circuit.

    Graves initially commenced the 2017 NASCAR season as crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota Camry team in the first four of five Xfinity Series races of the schedule. After going to Victory Lane with Kyle Busch at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, Graves then moved up to the Cup Series and replaced Dave Rogers, who took an indefinite leave of absence, as the crew chief for Suarez and the No. 19 Toyota Camry team for the remaining 31 Cup events of the season. The move reunited Graves and Suarez after both won the 2016 Xfinity title. Together, the duo achieved one top-five result and 10 top-10 results as Suarez finished in 20th place in the final standings.

    Graves remained as Suarez’s crew chief for the majority of the 2018 Cup season. Following the first 30 events of the schedule, where Graves and Suarez achieved a pole, three top-five results and eight top-10 results, Graves was replaced by Dave Rogers for the final six events. Despite Suarez proceeding to finish in 21st place in the final standings with Rogers atop the No. 19 pit box, Graves still managed to reach 100 career events as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series before being replaced by Rogers.

    In September 2018, Graves was named crew chief for the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang team and veteran Ryan Newman for the 2019 Cup season, a move that reunited Graves with RFR. Throughout the 36-race schedule, Graves and Newman made the Playoffs based on points and went on to finish in 15th place in the final standings after being eliminated from title contention following the Round of 16. In addition to making the Playoffs, the duo achieved three top-five results, 14 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 14.6.

    The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season was a roller coaster season for Graves, Newman and the No. 6 RFR Ford Mustang team that commenced on a harrowing note after Newman was bumped and turned by Ryan Blaney on the final lap of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway while leading the event. The contact resulted with Newman flipping over and being hit by an oncoming Corey LaJoie at full speed before flying in the air, sliding and coming to a rest upside down near the pit lane exit, all while he managed to claim ninth place in the final running order. While Newman was ruled out indefinitely due to his injuries following the accident, Graves spent the next three races working with interim competitor Ross Chastain, who finished no higher than 17th during the three-race stint. Despite Newman returning to competition at Darlington Raceway in May amid a two-month delay of competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he and Graves were unable to mount a comeback to make the Playoffs as they went on to conclude the season in 25th place in the final standings and with a single additional top-10 result throughout the final 32 events on the schedule.

    For the majority of the 2021 Cup season, Graves retained his role as the crew chief for Newman and the No. 6 RFR Ford Mustang team, where the duo achieved two top-fives and five top-10 results through 31 events, all despite missing the Playoffs. Then with five races remaining on the schedule, team owner Jack Roush swapped the two-car team’s pit crews and crew chiefs resulting in Graves transitioning to the No. 17 team piloted by Chris Buescher, whom Graves reunited with for the first time since 2015. Following the swap, Graves led Buescher and the No. 17 team to a season-best third-place result at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October and a ninth-place run at Martinsville Speedway in October before Buescher settled in 19th place in the final standings, nine spots ahead of Newman. By then, Graves surpassed 200 Cup events as a crew chief.

    Through the first 16 events of the 2022 Cup season, Graves navigated the No. 17 Ford Mustang team that was rebranded to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing to four top-10 results, all of which were made by Buescher as he had recorded a strong runner-up result at Sonoma Raceway in June and achieved his first Cup career pole at Dover Motor Speedway in late April. Amid the results, Graves was paired with Truck Series competitor Zane Smith at World Wide Technology Raceway in early June, where Smith replaced Buescher for a single event after the latter tested positive for COVID-19. Then coming off a 30th-place result at Nashville Superspeedway in late June, Graves was assessed a four-race suspension following a loose wheel infraction that occurred during the event. Despite RFK Racing’s attempt to appeal the penalty, which enabled Graves to participate in the following event at Road America, the team eventually withdrew its appeal as Graves was absent for four events throughout July.

    Returning by early August, Graves and Buescher recorded two top-10 results through the final four regular-season events but fell short of making the 2022 Cup Playoffs. Three races later, Graves achieved his first Cup career victory at Bristol Motor Speedway in September after Buscher led a race-high 169 laps, including the final 61, to achieve his second career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his first since 2016 and the first since Roush Fenway Racing rebranded to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. Following the breakthrough victory at Bristol, Graves would navigate Buescher and the No. 17 team to only a single top-10 result through the final seven-scheduled events before settling in 21st place in the final standings.

    The 2023 Cup Series season was Graves’ breakout season to date that commenced with him, Buescher and the No. 17 team to seven top-10 results throughout the first 21 events on the schedule. Then starting in late July through the end of August, Graves and Buescher ignited a hot streak that commenced with the duo winning at Richmond Raceway and securing a spot in the 2023 Cup Playoffs. They would then notch back-to-back victories in recent weeks after winning at Michigan International Speedway before capitalizing on an overtime shootout to win the regular-season finale at Daytona another three races later.

    Once in the Playoffs, the duo would record three top-10 results through the first six Playoff events, which were enough for them to transfer from the Round of 16 to 8. Amid respective finishes of 11th, 21st and eighth throughout the Round of 8. However, Graves and Buescher fell short of making the Championship 4 cutline. Nonetheless, they proceeded to lead 18 laps during the finale at Phoenix Raceway in November before Buescher ended up in fifth place on the track and in a career-best seventh place in the final driver’s standings.

    This season, Graves and Buescher have recorded five top-five results and nine top-10 results through 23 scheduled events, with the duo falling short of their first victory of the season to Kyle Larson at Kansas Speedway in May by 0.001 seconds. Despite being ranked in a tie for 13th place in the regular-season standings, they trail the cutline to make the Playoffs by three points with three regular-season events remaining on the schedule.

    Through 299 previous Cup events, Graves has achieved four victories, three poles, 28 top-five results and 79 top-10 results while working with six different competitors.

    Scott Graves is scheduled to call his 300th Cup Series event as a crew chief at Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday, August 18. The event’s broadcast time is slated to occur at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Buescher, Reddick involved in post-race altercation amid late-race battle at Darlington

    Buescher, Reddick involved in post-race altercation amid late-race battle at Darlington

    For a second consecutive weekend, Chris Buescher was denied an opportunity to claim his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2024 season amid an eventful run and intense battle for the win in the closing stages of the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, May 12. 

    Compared to a week ago at Kansas Speedway, where he was edged by Kyle Larson in the closest-recorded finish in the Cup Series history at 0.001 seconds but managed a smile, Buescher this week was left fuming over Tyler Reddick, the latter of which foiled both opportunities of netting a victory at the track deemed “Too Tough to Tame.” 

    The late drama for the victory that eventually led to tempers flaring started during a restart with 33 laps remaining when Reddick and Brad Keselowski, Buescher’s teammate and co-owner at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, spent the following three laps battling dead even for the lead. By then, Reddick, the pole winner had received stellar pit stops from his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota pit crew that enabled him to beat Keselowski off of pit road from the first pit stall throughout the event’s caution and stage break periods, including the latest service with 37 laps remaining.

    Then entering the frontstretch with 30 laps remaining, Keselowski, who made a bold charge underneath Reddick, made contact with the latter as Reddick scraped the outside wall while Keselowski nearly bounced off of Reddick. With both Reddick and Keselowski briefly falling off the pace and trying to regain their pace, Buescher capitalized on the contact and hard racing by diving his No. 17 Fifth Third Bank/Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse beneath both through the frontstretch as he emerged with the lead entering the first two turns. 

    After muscling ahead of Keselowski to claim the runner-up spot with 28 laps remaining, Reddick then spent the next 18 laps stalking and narrowing his deficit to Buescher. Then as he got to Buescher’s rear bumper while trailing him by a tenth of a second through the backstretch with 10 laps remaining, Reddick seized an opportunity by diving low beneath Buescher in a bid to reclaim the lead through Turns 3 and 4. Instead of the move sticking below the track through the turns as Reddick had hoped, Reddick’s Toyota slid up the track and pinned Buescher’s Ford against the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4.  

    The contact resulted in both falling off the pace as both had their rear tires flattened and pitting their respective entries during the following lap, with their hopes of winning for the first time at Darlington Raceway also evaporated. During their late-race issues. Keselowski zipped by both and led the final eight laps en route to his first Cup victory in three years as he also received the honors of recording the first elusive victories of the season for both Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing and the Ford Mustang Dark Horse stock car. 

    After taking the checkered flag in 30th place, two spots ahead of Reddick but two laps behind the leaders, before parking his entry on pit road, Buescher wasted no time stalking over to Reddick, where he gave the latter a shove and exchanged harsh words as Reddick still had his helmet on before Buescher walked back to his car. Amid the heated confrontation, Buescher maintained his composure as he summarized his disappointment and perspective over the late-race incident from his post-race interview. 

    “We got wrecked,” Buescher, who led 21 of 293-scheduled laps, said on FS1. “That one’s clear as day. [I] Don’t need any cameras to tell us. [Me and Reddick] raced each other really clean over the years, try to be really respectful about it, and we get used up. I’m just really pissed off about it right now. We certainly had a chance to win another [race].” 

    “Man, I wanted [the win] for our Fifth Third Bank group right here,” Buescher added. “[Reddick] knows he messed up. He said it, but it doesn’t change anything for us. I told him he’s got a win sticker on [his No. 45 door] and we’re still trying to find ours. We get used up like that and take away those opportunities stuff. That’s two weeks in a row we’ve had a shot to win races.” 

    The 30th-place result marks Buescher’s second-worst finish through the first 12 events of the 2024 Cup Series schedule and it dropped him one spot in the regular-season standings to 12th place, where he trails points leader Kyle Larson by 155 points. Nonetheless, Buescher, who remains poised for his first victory of the season, is 15 points above the top-16 cutline, enabling him to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs as this year’s regular-season stretch reaches its halfway mark. 

    Meanwhile, Reddick, who led a race-high 174 laps and won the second stage, was also left disappointed on pit road after ending up 32nd in the final running order despite spending the majority of the event running at the front and dominating in his No. 45 MoneyLion Toyota Camry XSE entry that sported a special throwback scheme honoring the late NASCAR icon Tim Richmond as Reddick also sported a throwback mustache to mirror Richmond. Amid the confrontation, Reddick was quick to accept responsibility for his role in the contact with Buescher.  

    “I completely understand where [Buescher]’s coming from,” Reddick said. “He’s running the top [lane], running his own race, running his own line, keeping me at bay. I made a really aggressive move and was hoping I was gonna clear him. When I realized I wasn’t going to, I tried to check up and not slide up into him, but…I wish I wouldn’t have done that.”  

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “I completely understand why he’s that mad,” Reddick added. “He did nothing wrong. Just trying to win the race. Take myself out, that’s one thing like I can live with that. I’m just disappointed it played out the way it did and took him out of the race as well. That was not the goal there. Just have to work on that and try to make some better decisions going forward.”  

    Compared to Buescher, Reddick has one victory under his belt through the first 12 events of the 2024 Cup Series schedule after he won at Talladega Superspeedway three races ago. Despite being currently guaranteed a spot into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs, Reddick also dropped one spot in the regular-season standings as he is ranked in sixth place and trails Larson by 90 points as he continues his pursuit for additional victories before the regular season’s conclusion in August. 

    With Darlington Raceway in the rearview mirror, the next event on the 2024 Cup Series schedule for Buescher, Reddick and the rest of the field is the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, where both Buescher and Reddick are set to compete in for equal chances of the event’s prize of $1 million.

    The 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway is set to occur next Sunday, May 19, and air at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Chris Buescher to make 300th Cup career start at Richmond

    Chris Buescher to make 300th Cup career start at Richmond

    Competing in his ninth full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, Chris Buescher is set to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s event at Richmond Raceway, the driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse will make career start No. 300 in NASCAR’s premier series. 

    A native of Prosper, Texas, Buescher made his inaugural presence in the Cup Series at Auto Club Speedway in March 2015. By then, he was campaigning in his second full-time season in the Xfinity Series for Roush Fenway Racing. Driving the No. 34 Ford Fusion for Front Row Motorsports as an interim competitor for David Ragan, who was serving as an interim competitor for the injured Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing, Buescher started 33rd and finished a season-best 20th place in his Cup debut. He would pilot FRM’s No. 34 Ford for five additional Cup events, where he would earn three top-25 results at Martinsville Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and at Talladega Superspeedway, respectively.  

    Nearly a month after winning the 2015 Xfinity Series championship, Buescher was announced as a full-time Cup Series competitor in Front Row Motorsports’ No. 34 Ford for the 2016 season. Through the first 20 regular-season events, the Texan finished no higher than 14th place on the track, which occurred at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, and was mired outside the top-30 mark in the standings. Then at Pocono Raceway in August, Buescher capitalized on a pit strategic call to assume the lead on Lap 127 and retain the lead prior to the event being red-flagged on Lap 138 and eventually being deemed official due to inclement weather, which resulted with NASCAR declaring Buescher the race winner as he notched his first Cup career in his 27th series start. With the victory, Buescher became the first Cup rookie candidate to win a NASCAR premier series event since Joey Logano won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2009 and he recorded the second career win for Front Row Motorsports.

    Following the Pocono victory, Buescher, who still needed to race his way above the top-30 cutline in the standings to be eligible to make the Playoffs, finished fifth at Bristol two races later. Despite finishing 30th, fifth, 35th, 17th and 24th, respectively, during the final five regular-season events, Buescher managed to vault himself above the cutline and make his inaugural presence in the Playoffs. Following respective finishes of 28th, 30th and 23rd throughout the Round of 16, however, he was eliminated from title contention. Finishing no higher than 16th during the final seven events on the schedule, Buescher capped off his first full-time Cup campaign in 16th place in the final standings. 

    The 2017 season presented another new beginning for Buescher, who joined JTG-Daugherty Racing to pilot the team’s second entry, the No. 37 Chevrolet SS. After finishing no higher than 11th during the first 16 events on the schedule, he notched his first top-10 result of the season after finishing 10th at Daytona in July. He then finished ninth at Indianapolis two races later before finishing sixth at Michigan International Speedway another three races later. Amid the results, Buescher did not qualify for the 2017 Cup Series Playoffs. Managing a sixth-place finish at Kansas Speedway in October, Buescher settled in 25th place in the final standings. Despite recording zero top-five results throughout the 2017 season, he managed to double his top-10 results in a season from two to four and boost his average-finishing result from his rookie Cup season from 26.1 to 21.4. 

    Buescher would remain at JTG-Daugherty Racing for the following two Cup seasons. During the two-year stint, he accumulated a total of two top-five results, six top-10 results and 14 laps led, with his best on-track results being a pair of fifth-place finishes during both Daytona events in 2018. In 2018, Buescher ended up in 24th place in the final standings and recorded an average-finishing result of 21.0 as he also surpassed 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series. During the 2019 season, he gained four spots to 20th place at season’s end and boosted his average-finishing result to 17.8. 

    Two months prior to the 2019 season’s conclusion, Buescher was announced to return to Roush Fenway Racing to pilot the No. 17 Ford Mustang for the 2020 season, where he replaced Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as Stenhouse made the transition to JTG-Daugherty Racing. Buescher commenced the season by finishing in third place during the 62nd running of the Daytona 500 after dodging a final lap harrowing accident involving teammate Ryan Newman. He then only accumulated an extra top-five result at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in August, where he finished fifth, and a total of six top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, which were not enough for him to make the Playoffs for a fourth consecutive season. He would proceed to accumulate two additional top-10 results during the Playoffs before settling in 21st place in the final standings and with an average-finishing result of 19.6. 

    Throughout the 2021 Cup season, Buescher’s highest on-track result was a third-place finish at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October. He initially finished in second place during the regular-season finale at Daytona in August, but was demoted to last place after his car failed post-race inspection amid a rear sub-frame assembly violation. With a total of eight top-10 finishes and 93 laps led, Buescher, who did not make the 2021 Cup Playoffs, settled in 19th place in the final standings and with an average-finishing result of 17.3. By then, he also surpassed 200 Cup career starts. 

    In 2022, Buescher, who commenced the season by winning the second Bluegreen Vacations Duel event at Daytona, settled in 16th place during the 64th running of the Daytona 500 before notching back-to-back top-10 results in March. At Dover Motor Speedway, the Texan nabbed his first Cup career pole position, where he would proceed to finish eighth. Then following a difficult May and early June period that included Buescher enduring a late rollover accident during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte followed by missing the inaugural event at World Wide Technology Raceway due to a positive COVID-19 test, he recorded a strong runner-up finish at Sonoma Raceway. Despite finishing third at Richmond Raceway in August and earning four additional top-10 results during the final 10 regular-season events, he fell short of making the 2022 Cup Playoffs.

    Buescher then rallied three races later by notching his second Cup career victory at Bristol in September after leading a race-high 169, including the final 61. The victory not only snapped a 222-race winless drought for Buescher, but it also snapped a five-year winless drought for the Roush organization as the Texan also recorded the first victory for the organization that had been rebranded to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. Finishing no higher than sixth during the final seven events on the schedule, Buescher settled in 21st place in the final standings. By then, he achieved double digits in top-10 results (10), led 194 laps throughout the season and recorded an average-finishing result of 17.9. 

    The 2023 Cup season was a career year for Buescher, who commenced the season by finishing fourth during the 65th running of the Daytona 500 after dodging a final lap multi-car wreck. After only recording a single top-10 result during his next nine starts, he then finished no lower than 18th during the following 12 regular-season events. Mired within the 12-race stretch were two top-five results and six top-10 results that kept Buescher and the No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing team in the mix of contending for a Playoff spot.

    Then at Richmond in July, Buescher led 88 laps and fended off Denny Hamlin during a three-lap shootout to score his first victory of the season and the third of his Cup career, which also enabled Buescher to clinch his spot for the 2023 Cup Playoffs. The following weekend, he led a race-high 52 laps and fended off a late challenge from Martin Truex Jr. to achieve back-to-back Cup victories for the first time in his career at Michigan International Speedway. Three races later, Buescher capped off the regular-season stretch by winning at Daytona after assuming the lead during an overtime shootout and leading the final two laps amid a 1-2 finish for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, with teammate/owner Brad Keselowski settling in second place.

    With two top-five results and three top-10 results achieved during the first six Playoff events of the 2023 season, Buescher managed to transfer from the Round of 16 to 8. Amid respective finishes of 11th, 21st and eighth throughout the Round of 8, however, his title hopes came to a late end as he was unable to transfer into the Championship 4 round.

    Nonetheless, Buescher proceeded to lead 18 laps and finish fifth during the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway in November, which was enough for him to settle in a career-best seventh place in the final standings. Along with a career-high three victories, Buescher achieved career-high stats in top fives (nine), top 10s (17) and laps led (255) along with a new average-finishing result (12.1).  

    Through 299 previous Cup starts, Buescher has achieved five victories, one pole, 20 top-five results, 59 top-10 results, 626 laps led and an average-finishing result of 19.2. He has recorded four top-10 results through the first six events on the 2024 schedule, with his best result being a runner-up finish at Phoenix Raceway in early March. He is currently ranked in 12th place in the 2024 regular-season standings.

    Buescher is scheduled to make his 300th Cup Series career start at Richmond Raceway for the Toyota Owners 400 on Easter Sunday, March 31, with the event’s broadcast time slated to occur at 7 p.m. ET on FOX. 

  • Logano clinches first Daytona 500 pole; McDowell claims front-row starting spot

    Logano clinches first Daytona 500 pole; McDowell claims front-row starting spot

    Joey Logano saved his best qualifying lap for last and the result netted him the Busch Light Pole Award for this year’s 66th annual running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway following the event’s single-car, two-round qualifying session on Wednesday, Feb. 14.

    The qualifying format that determined the front row and pole winner of this year’s Daytona 500 event was based on two qualifying rounds comprised of a single-lap session for each competitor. Following the first round, the top-10 fastest qualifiers from a total of 42 transferred to the second and final single-lap round to contend for the pole and a front-row starting spot.

    During the qualifying session, Logano, who was the fastest qualifier during the first qualifying round, repeated his strong, early performance by claiming the pole position for this year’s Great American Race. He posted a pole-winning lap at 181.947 mph in 49.465 seconds in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse, which was enough to outperform Michael McDowell, who qualified with the second-fastest qualifying lap at 181.686 mph in 49.536 seconds.

    With his accomplishment, Logano, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and the 2015 Daytona 500 champion, became the 45th competitor to claim the pole position for the Great American Race as he also notched his 29th Cup Series career pole and first on a superspeedway venue.

    Logano also snapped Chevrolet’s 11-year pole-winning streak by achieving Ford’s first 500 pole since Carl Edwards in 2012 and he became the first non-Hendrick Motorsports competitor to win the pole position for the 500 since Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made the last accomplishment in 2020. As a result, Logano also recorded the first Daytona 500 pole award for Team Penske as he strives to battle for his second Great American Race victory this upcoming Sunday, Feb. 18.

    “This [pole] is all about the team,” Logano said on FS1. “I’d like to take credit, but I can’t today. The guys have done such an amazing job working on these cars. This superspeedway qualifying is a hundred percent the car. There’s only so much a driver can do, so I’m really proud of [the team]. It’s a big win for our team, for everyone at Team Penske, Ford with the new Dark Horse Mustang. Being able to come down here and put in on the pin. Finally, someone else wins the pole. That part feels good. I’ve never even been close to a superspeedway pole before, so it’s my first pole in a speedway. It couldn’t be at a cooler event [than], obviously, Daytona 500. Huge deal for Team Penske.”

    Joining Logano on the front row for this year’s Daytona 500 and for the first time in his career is Michael McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 champion who qualified in his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Front Row Motorsports. Ironically, this year’s Daytona 500 marks the first time Ford competitors have swept the front-row starting spots since Edwards and Greg Biffle in 2012. McDowell’s win at last year’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course enabled him to qualify for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs and strive to contend for a second Daytona 500 victory.

    Kyle Larson, the 2022 Daytona 500 pole winner and the 2021 Cup Series champion, posted the third-fastest qualifying time of 181.550 mph in 49.550 seconds and will be one of the remaining 40 competitors to vie for their official starting spots for the 500 through a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duel that will take place on Thursday, Feb. 15. Austin Cindric and Chase Elliott completed the top five in qualifying time and speed while William Byron, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain and Harrison Burton, all of whom advanced to the second and final qualifying round, rounded out the top 10 on the qualifying chart.

    Todd Gilliland, who was one of 32 competitors who did not transfer to the second qualifying session, posted the 11th-fastest qualifying time of 180.339 mph in 49.903 seconds followed by Riley Herbst, Ryan Preece, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez and Anthony Alfredo.

    Alfredo and David Ragan were also victorious along with Logano and McDowell as both achieved guaranteed starting spots for this year’s Daytona 500 by being the two fastest non-chartered qualifiers of six on the leaderboard.

    Alfredo ended up being the fastest non-chartered competitor on the leaderboard after posting his qualifying lap at 179.648 mph in 50.098 seconds, which was enough to claim 20th place on the leaderboard. With his accomplishment, Alfredo, a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for Our Motorsports and a part-time Cup competitor in Beard Motorsports’ No. 62 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry this season, will make his second career start in the Daytona 500 after making his first with Front Row Motorsports in 2021. In addition, Beard Motorsports, who did not make the 500 field last season, will appear in the 500 for a sixth time this upcoming Sunday.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “This is insane,” Alfredo said. “We were just talking about every possible scenario we might find ourselves in today, tomorrow and obviously, Sunday, but to make it to Sunday’s a challenge. It was such a competitive field of open cars and drivers behind the wheel. I’m just really thankful for the Beard family [for] giving me this opportunity and Death Wish Coffee coming on board. We have, clearly, a fast Chevrolet Camaro. To know that we’re in [the Daytona 500] and cannot have to race in tomorrow [via the Duels] and just remove ourselves from some of the sketchy circumstances and focus on Sunday is just an amazing feeling.”

    Ragan posted the 27th-fastest qualifying lap at 179.283 mph in 50.200 seconds, which was enough for him to outperform Jimmie Johnson, who posted the 35th-fastest lap at 178.845 mph in 50.323 seconds. With his accomplishment, Ragan, who is piloting Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse as part of the team’s #Stage60 program, will make his 17th appearance in the Great American Race this Sunday and his first since the 2022 season. This year’s Daytona 500 will mark his first Cup start as a Roush competitor since the 2011 season as Ragan will also be pursuing his first 500 victory.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “It’s always big to be in the Daytona 500 and the whole week, I’ve just been trying to make sure we didn’t have any mistakes,” Ragan said. “I really feel like we were gonna have a shot at a top-10 or top-12 starting spot, but it just shows all the hard work this BuildSubmarines.com Ford team has done. I’m really proud for [crew chief] Derrick [Finley] and proud for the whole [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing] guys. I appreciate [owners] Brad Keselowski and Jack Roush [for] giving me an opportunity to come down here to try to win a Daytona 500.”

    The remaining open competitors including Jimmie Johnson, BJ McLeod, JJ Yeley and Kaz Grala will compete for the final two open spots for this weekend’s Daytona 500 through Thursday’s Duels.

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duels that will determine the rest of the starting lineup for this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 scheduled for Feb. 18 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX. First, on Thursday, Feb. 15, the first Bluegreen Vacations Duel is slated to commence at 7 p.m. ET on FS1 while the second Duel event will follow suit at approximately at 8:45 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Buescher wins Cup regular-season finale at Daytona in overtime; Wallace clinches final Playoff berth

    Buescher wins Cup regular-season finale at Daytona in overtime; Wallace clinches final Playoff berth

    With nearly half the field vying for the 16th and final spot to make the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing duo of Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski captured the final spotlight amid an overtime shootout as Keselowski drafted teammate Buescher to an overtime victory in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 26.

    The 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Buescher from Prosper, Texas, led the final two of 163 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started 11th and kept his car intact throughout the event that was mired with competitive racing, 22 lead changes and 17 different competitors taking turns to lead at least a lap amid the draft, even including a 12-car pileup on Lap 94 that wiped out a handful of Playoff hopefuls. Then after surging his way towards the front prior to a harrowing rollover accident involving Ryan Preece with five laps remaining that sent the event into overtime, Buescher received the draft needed from teammate Keselowski to overtake Kevin Harvick and fend off the field through the final two laps to claim his unprecedented third NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season.

    By virtue of Buescher, who was already locked into the Playoffs based on winning twice prior to Daytona, winning the regular-season finale at Daytona, Bubba Wallace benefited by rounding out the 2023 Cup Series Playoff field after finishing in 12th place while several top names, among which included Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, rookie Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman and Aric Almirola, did not make the Playoffs.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, August 25, Chase Briscoe notched his first Cup pole position of the season and the second of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 181.822 mph in 49.499 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Aric Almirola, who clocked in the second-best qualifying lap at 181.693 mph in 49.534 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Ryan Preece was the only competitor who dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Briscoe, who started on the outside lane, quickly jumped ahead before he transitioned his No. 14 Magical Vacation Planner Ford Mustang to the inside lane in front of teammate Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang exiting the frontstretch and through the first two turns. As the stacked field navigated through the backstretch, Briscoe muscled ahead with drafting help from teammate Almirola, but Bubba Wallace quickly gained ground from the outside lane as he dueled with Almirola for the runner-up spot. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Briscoe led the first lap as Wallace challenged Briscoe for the lead with drafting help from Riley Herbst, who was piloting the No. 36 Monster Energy Zero Sugar Ford Mustang for Front Row Motorsports.

    Through the second lap, Briscoe and Wallace continued to duel for the lead in front of two stacked lanes of competitors, with Briscoe gaining a slight advantage with drafting help from teammate Almirola while Wallace had Herbst still drafting his No. 23 Luke Combs/Columbia Toyota TRD Camry. Through the backstretch and Turns 3 and 4, the inside lane led by Briscoe prevailed as Briscoe started to surge ahead followed by Almirola and Harrison Burton. Then through the frontstretch, rookie Ty Gibbs became the first competitor to lead the outside lane as he moved his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry in front of Wallace as Briscoe proceeded to lead the third lap.

    Through the first five scheduled laps and as the field started to fan out and jostle early for positions amid the draft, Briscoe was leading ahead of teammate Almirola, Burton, Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher while Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace were in the top 10. By then, all 39 starters were separated within three seconds.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Briscoe retained the lead by 0.075 seconds over teammate Almirola while Burton, Larson and Buescher followed suit in the top five. By then, Truex was serving as the lead competitor on the outside lane as he dueled with Allmendinger for sixth place before Denny Hamlin moved up the outside lane and in front of teammate Truex in his bid for the front. Amid the field still engaged in two tight-packed lanes, Briscoe continued to lead the race.

    Five laps later, Briscoe was still leading ahead of teammate Almirola, Burton, Larson and Buescher while Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Truex were in the top 10. By then, Bell, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Blaney, Wallace, Herbst, Tyler Reddick, Kevin Harvick and Ross Chastain were battling within the top 20. Meanwhile, Joey Logano was in 21st ahead of Michael McDowell, Preece, Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman and Daniel Suarez, William Byron was back in 29th and Brad Keselowski drifted back to 38th behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as part of a conservative play.

    At the Lap 25 mark and with the field continuing to run within two tight-packed lanes, Hamlin, who used the outside lane to move his No. 11 FedEx Cares Toyota TRD Camry into the lead from Briscoe two laps earlier, was leading ahead of teammate Truex while his other two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Bell and Ty Gibbs followed suit along with his 23XI Racing competitor Wallace. By then, Briscoe fell back to sixth while Herbst, Harvick, Almirola and Logano were scored in the top 10. In addition, Harrison Burton was back in 11th followed by Cindric, Larson, Suarez and Allmendinger while Elliott, who was dealing with radio issues, was in 16th ahead of Austin Dillon, Buescher, Kyle Busch and McDowell.

    Just past the Lap 30 mark, Hamlin retained the lead ahead of his three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates while Herbst started to ignite a charge as the lead competitor on the outside lane as he also dueled with Wallace for fifth while receiving drafting help from Ford teammates Harvick, Logano and Cindric. Herbst would then boost his way up to the runner-up spot by Lap 32 before Hamlin moved up the track through the backstretch to block Herbst. This allowed Truex to muscle a challenge on the inside lane during the proceeding lap as the Toyota competitors became separated within two tight-packed lanes.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 35, Truex, who received a big push from teammate Bell to muscle past teammate Hamlin through the backstretch as the field fanned out, captured his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Teammate Bell settled in second followed by Harvick, Ty Gibbs, Logano, Wallace and Cindric while Hamlin fell back to eighth in front of Briscoe and Suarez. By then, all but one of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap as the event featured two lead changes for three different leaders.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Truex pitted for their first service of the night. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Austin Hill exited first after opting for no fresh tires, though he missed his pit stall, followed by Logano, the first competitor with four fresh tires, as Truex, Bell, Wallace, Harvick, Suarez, Hamlin and Briscoe followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Justin Haley was penalized for equipment interference. In addition, Kyle Busch was penalized for a crew member jumping over the pit wall too soon. Once Hill pitted again, Logano cycled into the race lead.

    The second stage started on Lap 40 as Logano and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, Truex and Logano dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Logano muscled ahead in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang entering the backstretch with drafting help from Harvick and Suarez. Truex would continue to lead the outside lane in front of teammate Bell while Logano retained the lead for the following lap on the inside lane.

    By Lap 45 and as the field started to fan out to three tight-packed lanes, Logano was pushed ahead of the stacked field followed by Harvick and Suarez while Truex tried to regain ground from the outside lane with continuous help from teammate Bell as Wallace tried to follow suit. Soon after, Elliott surged towards the front in his No. 9 LLumar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as part of a third drafting lane running toward the outside wall. Elliott would then be drafted into a duel against Logano for the lead through the first two turns as he had Allmendinger, Kyle Busch and Stenhouse assisting him. Then as Elliott had appeared to break ahead of the pack, Allmendinger made his move to the front and led Lap 47 as he dueled against Elliott for the lead. Allmendinger would then break away from the pack along with Kyle Busch while Elliott dueled against Stenhouse for third place.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Elliott led a lap for himself followed by Logano as Allmendinger, who led the previous three laps, was back in third. By then, Kyle Busch and Harvick were in the top five followed by Haley, Ty Gibbs, Stenhouse, Chastain and Almirola while Truex, Austin Hill, Bell, Buescher and Chandler Smith occupied the top 15. By then, all 39 starters were running on the lead lap and separated by two-and-a-half seconds.

    Two laps later, a three-wide battle for the lead ensued as Logano was stuck in the middle lane, Elliott charged on the inside lane and Allmendinger muscled ahead on the outside lane with drafting help from Kyle Busch. As the field was also stacked in three tight-packed lanes, Allmendinger retained the lead from the outside lane while Ty Gibbs tried to launch a charge on the inside lane. By then, Elliott lost his momentum after nearly wrecking with Stenhouse through the frontstretch prior to Lap 54 while Logano also drifted back within the top 10 as he continued to run in the middle lane.

    Then on Lap 55, Ross Chastain made his presence known at the front as he led the middle lane and surged his No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to a narrow lead before dueling against Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger. By then, Chastain had drafting help from Logano while Hamlin drifted back to 37th after bailing on the three-wide pack towards the front.

    Just past the Lap 60 mark and with the field settling in two tight-packed lanes, Chastain, who took the lead from Allmendinger a few laps prior, was leading by a narrow margin over Logano while Truex, Bell, Preece, Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, Haley and Harvick were battling in the top 10. With the field still settling in two packed lanes, Chastain would continue to lead by the Lap 65 mark.

    By Lap 70 and with most of the field migrating to the outside lane, Chastain was leading ahead of Logano, Preece, Elliott and Harvick while Larson, Blaney, Bell, Stenhouse and Truex were running in the top 10. By then, Almirola was in 11th ahead of Ty Gibbs, Buescher, Burton and Keselowski while Josh Berry, Cindric, Bowman, Reddick and Byron were battling up in the top 20. Behind, Briscoe was back in 21st, Austin Dillon was in 26th ahead of Suarez, Erik Jones and Kyle Busch, Allmendinger was shuffled back in 31st, Wallace settled in 34th and Hamlin continued to run in 37th.

    Five laps later, Ryan Blaney made his move beneath Chastain exiting the backstretch as he surged to the lead in his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang with drafting help from teammate Logano and Harvick. Chastain would settle in fourth place and duel with Harvick for third while Stenhouse, Preece, Almirola, Elliott, Buescher and Larson battled within the top 10. Keselowski, who ran towards the rear of the field earlier in the event, would also carve his way to run just outside the top 10. Not long after and as the intensity of the two tight-packed racing increased, Stenhouse would surge his No. 47 Boost by Kroger Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the front and lead the halfway mark on Lap 80 as Blaney and Chastain, both of whom Stenhouse was battling with, followed suit.

    A lap later, green flag pit stops ensued as Stenhouse led Chastain, Bell, Berry, Ty Gibbs, Truex, Reddick, Erik Jones, Wallace, Hamlin and BJ McLeod to pit road for service, mainly for fuel. Another wave of competitors led by Blaney, Logano, Harvick, Brennan Poole, JJ Yeley, Austin Hill, Allmendinger, Haley and Chandler Smith pitted during the proceeding lap as Almirola cycled into the lead. Amid the pit stops, Hamlin was penalized for a crew member jumping over the pit wall too soon as he was forced to return to pit road and serve a pass-through penalty. Herbst would also be penalized for meeting the same fate as Hamlin while Poole was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    By Lap 84, a big group of competitors led by Almirola pitted under green as Harrison Burton cycled into the lead followed by Keselowski and Michael McDowell. Burton and McDowell would pit two laps later before they were able to blend back on the track and retain the top-two spots ahead of the charging pack. With the pack quickly catching up to Burton and McDowell through the backstretch, Keselowski then tried to make a move to Burton’s outside for the lead, but the field fanned out to nearly four lanes through the frontstretch as Kyle Busch ignited his charge to the lead. Suarez followed suit along with Alex Bowman and Austin Dillon as Kyle Busch aggressively carved his No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead by Lap 87.

    With five laps remaining in the second stage, Kyle Busch was leading ahead of Suarez, Bowman, Austin Dillon and Keselowski while Burton was getting shuffled out of the top five amid two tight-packed lanes. As the laps dwindled, the field fanned out to three lanes as Busch continued to lead.

    Then on the final lap of the second stage, Lap 94, trouble ensued when Ty Gibbs, who was trying to surge to the front, slipped sideways off the front nose of teammate Bell and clipped the leader Blaney as both were sent hard against the outside wall, collecting Bell, Reddick, Stenhouse and Bowman in the process as Allmendinger, Hamlin, Herbst, Cindric, Austin Dillon, Harvick, Larson, Poole, Buescher and Burton were also involved. The wreck, which proved costly to Gibbs as his hopes of making the Playoffs came to an end, was enough to place the event in a red flag period for nine-and-a-half minutes. By then, Keselowski escaped the carnage to capture the stage victory, which was his fourth of the 2023 Cup season, while Kyle Busch, Suarez, Bowman, Byron, Reddick, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Chastain and Logano were scored in the top 10. In addition, Truex, who dodged the incident, was crowned the 2023 Cup Series Regular Season champion.

    Under the stage break and once the red flag period was lifted, a majority of the lead lap field led by Keselowski pitted for service while Stewart-Haas Racing’s Briscoe and Almirola remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Kyle Busch exited first while Elliott, Suarez, Chastain, Keselowski, Byron and Logano followed suit.

    With 56 laps remaining, the final stage started as Briscoe and Kyle Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Briscoe emerged with the lead and surged ahead with drafting help from teammate Almirola while Busch dueled with Erik Jones for third place. As Busch regained ground through the backstretch, he then challenged Briscoe for the lead as he had Bowman and Suarez pushing him. Despite Briscoe managing to lead the proceeding laps, he kept being engaged in a side-by-side duel against Busch for the lead as Almirola, Erik Jones and Bowman were in the top five. Meanwhile, Wallace, who was on the brakes to avoid the multi-car wreck at the end of the second stage, was up to seventh as he tried to crack the top five along with Keselowski and Suarez.

    With 50 laps remaining, Briscoe continued to lead as he had both lanes under his control followed by teammate Almirola, Erik Jones, Keselowski, Wallace and Logano while Kyle Busch tried to charge back to the front on the outside lane. Wallace would then move up in front of Busch and lead the outside lane during the following lap as he dueled against Logano for fifth while Josh Berry joined the battle.

    Five laps later and with the field slowly starting to fan out to three lanes, Briscoe retained the lead ahead of a long single file line on the inside lane as teammate Almirola, Erik Jones, Keselowski and Logano were in the top five. By then, Wallace fell back to 13th as Berry, Chandler Smith, McDowell, Bell and Corey LaJoie charged in the top 10 in front of Kyle Busch while Elliott and Suarez were mired back in the top 20.

    Another five laps later and with most of the field migrating to the outside lane, Briscoe was leading ahead of teammates Almirola and Preece while Buescher and Harvick were in the top five. By then, Keselowski, Elliott, Ty Dillon, Chandler Smith and Truex were in the top 10 while Wallace, who briefly moved back into the top five, fell back to 14th after being shuffled out of the draft before he blended back into the draft towards the outside wall. With nearly the entire field continuing to run in a long single-file line toward the outside wall, Briscoe also continued to lead ahead of teammates Almirola and Preece with 35 laps remaining.

    With 30 laps remaining, Briscoe retained the top spot by 0.083 seconds over teammate Almirola followed by Preece, Buescher and Harvick while Keselowski, Elliott, Ty Dillon, Chandler Smith and Truex continued to run in the top 10. With Erik Jones, Kyle Busch and Logano mired in 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively, Wallace retained 14th in front of McDowell while Bell, Austin Hill, LaJoie, Byron and Bowman were running in the top 20.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Briscoe continued to lead a long line of competitors towards the outside wall, with teammates Almirola and Preece along with Buescher and Harvick following suit. By then, the top-six spots continued to be occupied by Ford competitors as Keselowski was in sixth, Elliott served as the lead Chevrolet competitor in seventh and Wallace was the leading Toyota competitor as he returned to the top 10.

    A lap later, Preece attempted to make a charge to the front on the inside lane, but he got shuffled out of the draft and drifted back as Chandler Smith served as the lead competitor on the inside lane while Briscoe retained the lead on the outside lane.

    With 16 laps remaining, a wave of competitors led by Chandler Smith, including Wallace, pitted under green, mainly for fuel, as Briscoe continued to lead the rest of the field. Briscoe would then lead another wave of competitors to pit road for service under green with 14 laps remaining. Once the wave of competitors led by Briscoe completed their service, Harvick, who pitted during the first wave, cycled as the leader ahead of Elliott, Almirola, Buescher, Keselowski, Bowman and Briscoe while the wave of competitors who pitted earlier led by Kyle Busch, who was running 12th in front of Wallace, was slowly gaining ground.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Harvick was leading ahead of Elliott, Almirola, Buescher and Keselowski while Bowman, Briscoe, Byron, Logano and Ty Dillon trailed behind. Meanwhile, Wallace was in 13th behind McDowell and Kyle Busch while Erik Jones and Truex occupied the top 15.

    Two laps later, Almirola launched a charge on the outside lane, but Harvick moved up the track to block his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate. Harvick would then surge ahead with the top spot followed by Almirola and Buescher as Elliott tried to fight back on the inside lane as he had teammate Larson drafting him. Elliott then tried to launch another charge on the inside lane with seven laps remaining, but Harvick surged ahead on the outside lane as he, Almirola and Buescher briefly broke away from the pack. Teammates Buescher and Keselowski then overtook Almirola through the backstretch to move up to second and third as they settled behind Harvick with five laps remaining.

    Shortly after, the caution flew when Preece, who was running in the middle of the pack through the backstretch, got hit by Erik Jones as he veered sideways and collected teammate Briscoe in the process. Amid the collision, Preece’s No. 41 RaceChoice.com Ford Mustang then went airborne and barrel-rolled multiple times in the air and towards the backstretch’s infield before the battered car came to a violent rest on all four wheels. Despite the wild ride that ended his hopes of making this year’s Playoffs, Preece emerged uninjured as he was placed on a stretcher and medically escorted to the infield care center before being transported to a local hospital for further evaluation. Preece’s wild wreck was also enough to send the event into overtime.

    Following an extensive caution period, the race restarted in overtime as Harvick and Buescher occupied the front row in front of Elliott and Keselowski. At the start, Buescher and Harvick dueled for the lead entering Turns 1 and 2 until Buescher gained the upper hand as his teammate and co-owner Keselowski drafted his No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang into the lead entering the backstretch. Buescher then maintained the lead followed by Keselowski’s No. 6 King’s Hawaiian Ford Mustang as Almirola tried to move up to third place while battling alongside teammate Harvick and in front of Logano.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Buescher, who transitioned from the inside to the outside lane to retain the momentum and keep Keselowski behind him, remained as the leader as Harvick launched a charge with drafting help from Elliott. The two Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing competitors would slightly surge ahead entering the backstretch and remain on the outside lane with more momentum that included pushes from Almirola and Logano keeping them ahead of Harvick and Elliott. With Buescher and Keselowski starting to pull away from the pack through Turns 3 and 4, Harvick got shuffled out of the draft as Almirola and Elliott fanned out in their final hopes of making the Playoffs. Despite gaining momentum with drafting help, their runs were not enough to catch the Roush competitors as Buescher surged ahead and beat Keselowski to the finish line to capture his third checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season by 0.098 seconds over Keselowski.

    With the victory, Buescher became the fourth different competitor to achieve at least three victories throughout the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season as he also notched the fifth career win of his premier series resume and first at Daytona. With a total of 2,021 points, Buescher, who has made the Playoffs for the second time in his career and first since 2016, will line up in fourth place in this year’s Playoff grid and will embark on a 10-week Playoff stretch to battle for this year’s championship, beginning next weekend at Darlington Raceway.

    “[I owe Brad Keselowski] A little more than [the push],” Buescher said on NBC. “That was amazing. So proud to get Fifth Third Bank into Victory Lane here at Daytona. I knew we were coming here with fast [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing] Ford Mustangs and got there at the end and showed when it counted. That’s as much Brad’s win as ours right there. That was the right help. Aggressive, sticking with us, too, all the way to the line. I was waiting for him to do something there coming to the finish. I figured we’d be side-by-side, but looked like he got stalled out a little behind. Just so thankful to Brad for all those pushes there at the right time. [This season]’s hard to explain. It’s awesome, though. To be sitting here again [as a winner] so quickly. What a heck of a start into the Playoffs right now. It’s been a long time coming, a lot of work. So amazing for us.”

    While Buescher celebrated on the frontstretch, Bubba Wallace celebrated with his pit crew, family, friends, teammate Tyler Reddick and team owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin on pit road after securing the 16th and final spot to make the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs by finishing 12th on the track and being 47 points ahead of Daniel Suarez, who ended up 20th. As a result, Wallace, who is in his third season driving for 23XI Racing and was able to lock both 23XI Racing cars in the Playoffs alongside teammate Tyler Reddick, has qualified for the Cup Playoffs for the first time in his career and in a season highlighted with four top-five results, six top-10 results, 14 top-15 results and five 12th-place finishes, a career-high 159 laps led and an average-finishing result of 16.8 throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch. He will line up in 16th place in the Playoff standings with 2,000 points as he will contend for his first series title.

    “That was the most stressed, but also the most locked in that I’ve ever been, knowing that this place is mostly out of your control,” Wallace said. “I just try to focus on doing the things that I could do. Missing that wreck [at the end of Stage 2] was massive. [I] Appreciate [spotter] Freddie [Kraft]. He’s one of the best up on the roof that gets us through a lot and that’s what helps our resume here at the speedway stuff. Proud to be locked into the Playoffs. This is special for our team. 23XI [Racing], third year in, getting both cars in the Playoffs. We’ve gone through a lot of trials and tribulations, but just so proud of the effort that we put in. No matter how much we set ourselves back, we know that we have a kickass group and we can bounce back from anything.”

    Meanwhile, Elliott was left disappointed after surging his way to finish fourth on the track, but could not gain the momentum needed to make the Playoffs as this season will mark the first time where he will not contend as a Playoff competitor. Amid a difficult regular-season stretch where he was absent for a total of seven events, six due to an injury from a snowboarding accident earlier this season, Elliott remained optimistic as he set his sights on gaining momentum for the 2024 season.

    “I really liked where we were before the caution [with five laps remaining],” Elliott said. “Honestly after the [overtime] restart there, we had the bottom lane that we wanted. I knew [Keselowski] was gonna go with [Buescher]. I thought [Harvick] was gonna take the bottom [lane] and he did, and we really had all the help that we could ask for behind…It’s a bummer, for sure. [I] Hate the season’s worked out like it has, but the good news is the car got in the owner’s points. That’s a big deal. Credit to [crew chief] Alan [Gustafson] and everybody for continuing to work and scratch and claw while I was out to keep our team alive and to give ourselves a chance, so that’s a big deal. Probably much bigger than a lot of people realize to our team. Looking forward to these next 10 [races] and try to make a little noise on that side of things and just try to get ready and prepare for next year. I appreciate everybody’s support. The season hasn’t been what I would want by any means, but certainly gonna be some lessons taken from it and I think we’ll be better for it on the other end.”

    Almirola came home in third place behind Buescher and Keselowski as he too missed the 2023 Playoffs while Elliott and Logano finished in the top five on the track. Bowman, who also missed the Playoffs, settled in sixth while Kyle Busch, Byron, Harvick and Corey LaJoie finished in the top 10.

    William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kevin Harvick and Bubba Wallace have made the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

    Daniel Suarez, rookie Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Cindric, Aric Almirola, Justin Haley, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece, Todd Gilliland, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Harrison Burton, Chase Briscoe and Ty Dillon are the remaining full-time competitors who did not make the Playoffs.

    There were 22 lead changes for 17 different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 18 laps. In addition, 25 of 39 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Chris Buescher, two laps led

    2. Brad Keselowski, six laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Aric Almirola, three laps led

    4. Chase Elliott, two laps led

    5. Joey Logano, nine laps led

    6. Alex Bowman

    7. Kyle Busch, five laps led

    8. William Byron, one lap led

    9. Kevin Harvick, 14 laps led

    10. Corey LaJoie

    11. Ty Dillon

    12. Bubba Wallace

    13. Michael McDowell

    14. Austin Hill

    15. Chandler Smith

    16. Christopher Bell

    17. Ross Chastain, 19 laps led

    18. Erik Jones

    19. JJ Yeley

    20. Daniel Suarez, one lap led

    21. Justin Haley

    22. Josh Berry

    23. BJ McLeod

    24. Martin Truex Jr., four laps led, Stage 1 winner

    25. Tyler Reddick

    26. Denny Hamlin, one lap down, 12 laps led

    27. Kyle Larson, two laps down

    28. Harrison Burton, three laps down, five laps led

    29. AJ Allmendinger, three laps down, eight laps led

    30. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident, 67 laps led

    31. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident

    32. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Overheating

    33. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

    34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    35. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident

    36. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, four laps led

    37. Austin Cindric – OUT, Accident

    38. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

    39. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident

    The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set to commence next Sunday, September 3, during Labor Day weekend at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina for the Cook Out Southern 500. The event’s broadcast is scheduled to occur at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Keselowski, Harvick clinch 2023 Cup Series Playoff spots with top-21 runs at Watkins Glen

    Keselowski, Harvick clinch 2023 Cup Series Playoff spots with top-21 runs at Watkins Glen

    While William Byron celebrated an emphatic victory following a dominant performance in the Go Bowling at The Glen on Sunday, August 20, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski were left feeling victorious after both former NASCAR Cup Series champions officially secured spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on points.

    The event at Watkins Glen started off on a rough note for Keselowski, the 2012 Cup Series champion who was one of five competitors to start at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. Following the first of 90-scheduled laps, the Michigan native was mired in the next-to-last position in 35th place and had only managed to carve his way up to 33rd place just past the Lap 10 mark.

    Then during the first cycle of green flag pit stops in between the conclusion of the first stage period and the start of the second stage period, Keselowski and crew chief Matt McCall rolled the dice by remaining on the track while most of the field pitted. This allowed Keselowski to move up as high as seventh place in the leaderboard before he pitted his No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang under green on Lap 30. He would then be mired back within the top 30 through the second stage period and pit during the event’s only caution period with nearly 30 laps remaining despite climbing up to 13th.

    Restarting 18th during the final restart with 30 laps remaining, Keselowski would take the checkered flag in 15th place, which marked his 12th top-15 result of the season. With Byron, who came into the event as a four-time race winner of this season, winning at The Glen, Keselowski, who did not score any stage points at The Glen, but ended up 107 points ahead of Bubba Wallace, who holds the 16th and final vacant spot to the Playoffs, in the regular-season standings, was able to clinch his spot for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs.

    Keselowski’s accomplishment means that the 2023 season will mark his 11th season making the Cup Series Playoffs, his first since 2021 and his first as a driver/co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. He missed the 2022 Playoffs during his first season as a driver/co-owner after notching only a single top-five finish, six top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 19.2 throughout the 36-race schedule. This season, he has achieved five top-five results, 10 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 14.3 through 25 scheduled events.

    In addition, Keselowski is still pursuing his first victory as a driver/co-owner in the Cup Series, with his latest victory occurring at Talladega Superspeedway in April 2021 while driving for Team Penske.

    “We had a pretty strong month or so,” Keselowski said on USA Network. “We had a really good car today with our BuiltSubs Ford Mustang. Just ran solid. Basically, started last and got to 15th. If we could’ve caught a break on the yellows and all that, I think we could’ve ran top 10 today. My teammate Chris Buescher and both [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing cars], we’re finding speed here before the Playoffs start. Overall, a really good day for us. What’s great for us going into Daytona is we can go in there and just have fun. It’s great to have that off of our shoulders. We’re gonna race really hard, but with nothing to lose. That makes us really dangerous.”

    Like Keselowski, Sunday’s event at The Glen started off on a rough note for Kevin Harvick, who rolled off the starting grid in 33rd place and without his championship-winning crew chief Rodney Childers, who returned to North Carolina due to a personal matter. With Stewart-Haas Racing engineer Stephen Doran calling the shots atop the No. 4 Ford Mustang pit box, Harvick, the 2014 Cup Series champion, spent the early stages of the event mired outside the top 30. He would crack his way into the top 15 at the conclusion of the first stage period and during the first cycle of green flag pit stops before he pitted just past the Lap 22 mark.

    Mired back towards the top-30 mark upon his pit service, Harvick was scored 24th at the halfway mark and just past the second stage’s conclusion with the 2014 Cup Series champion not scoring any stage points. Running in 14th place during the event’s only caution period with 35 laps remaining after Chase Elliott ran out of fuel on the course, Harvick joined a handful of competitors to pit under caution and restarted in the middle of the pack with 30 laps remaining.

    When the checkered flag flew, Harvick nursed his No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang in 21st place, which marked his second consecutive finish outside the top 20. By being 103 points above Bubba Wallace, who holds the 16th and final vacant spot in the Playoffs, in the regular-season standings, Harvick was also able to accomplish a similar feat to Keselowski’s by clinching his spot for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on points.

    With his accomplishment, Harvick, who is currently embarking in his 23rd and final full-time season in NASCAR’s premier series, will make his 17th career appearance as a Cup Series Playoff contender as he battles for his final opportunity to win his second Cup title and first since 2014. This season, he has achieved six top-five results, 11 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 14.0 through 25 scheduled events.

    Having achieved 60 career victories in the Cup Series, Harvick is still pursuing his first of the season and first since winning at Richmond Raceway last August.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “We’ll go down to [Daytona International Speedway] and push as hard as we can, and be ready for Darlington [Raceway],” Harvick said. “We’ve been terrible on the road courses the last two weeks. The last month before that, we did good. We had cars that were capable to run in the top five, so as long as it’s an oval [track], we’ll be fine.”

    With secured berths to the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs set for both, Keselowski and Harvick shift their attention to the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero Sugar 400, which will officially determine the full 16-driver field of this year’s Cup Series Playoffs. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, August 26, at 7 p.m. ET on NBC.