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  • Buescher goes back-to-back with dramatic Cup victory at Michigan

    Buescher goes back-to-back with dramatic Cup victory at Michigan

    The one-day wait amid an extensive rain delay period was worth the wait for Chris Buescher and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing as both navigated their way to win the rain-postponed FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway that started on Sunday, August 6, and concluded on Monday, August 7.

    The 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Prosper, Texas, led three times for a race-high 52 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he rolled off the starting grid in fourth place and was coming off a breakthrough victory at Richmond Raceway. Amid a one-day postponement of the event due to precipitation and various pit strategies that ensued throughout the event, Buescher, who managed to cycle his way past dominant Martin Truex Jr. amid the final cycle of green flag pit stops with nearly 40 laps remaining, assumed the race lead with 18 laps remaining and, despite nearly losing the lead with 12 laps remaining, fended off a late surge from Truex to notch his second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory in recent weeks and gain needed momentum with the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs looming.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, August 5, Christopher Bell notched his second Cup pole position of the season and the sixth of his career after posting a fast pole-winning lap at 193.382 mph in 37.232 seconds, which marks the fastest qualifying lap posted since the 2020 Daytona 500. Joining him on the front row was Ross Chastain, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 193.242 mph in 37.259 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included Corey LaJoie, JJ Yeley and Austin Hill dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Another competitor who also dropped to the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments was Josh Berry, who was piloting the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club entry in place of the suspended Noah Gragson.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a delay of more than an hour and a half due to precipitation, Bell and Chastain dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Chastain, who restarted on the inside lane, received a huge shove from rookie Ty Gibbs to muscle his No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead through Turns 1 and 2, where he then moved in front of Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry entering the backstretch. As the field fanned out and jostled early for positions exiting the backstretch and entering Turns 3 and 4, Chastain proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Bell while Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs followed suit.

    Through the second lap, Chastain maintained the lead ahead of Bell while Truex battled Buescher for third place ahead of Ty Gibbs. Behind, Logano retained sixth ahead of Chase Elliott while William Byron, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney were in the top 10.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Chastain was leading by four-tenths of a second over Truex followed by Bell, Buescher and Ty Gibbs while Logano, Elliott, Wallace, Byron and Blaney were in the top 10. Behind, Denny Hamlin was in 11th ahead of Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Tyler Reddick while Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick was mired in 21st ahead of Erik Jones, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. while AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Preece, Justin Haley, Todd Gilliland and Corey LaJoie rounded out the top 30.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Chastain stabilized his early advantage to four-tenths of a second over Truex while third-place Bell trailed by more than a second. With Buescher and Ty Gibbs remaining in the top five, Wallace was up to sixth ahead of Elliott and Byron while Logano fell back to ninth in front of teammate Blaney.

    Four laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Kyle Busch, who was battling Blaney for 10th place, moved up the track and made contact with Blaney, where he then got loose, spun and made contact with the outside wall in Turn 2 on the driver’s side. The incident, which was enough to terminate Busch’s event early as he sustained his fifth DNF of the season, occurred as Chastain was being challenged by Truex for the lead. It also served as the competition caution period initially planned for Lap 20.

    During the competition caution period, a majority of the field led by Chastain pitted for service while 11 competitors led by the race leader Truex remained on the track amid mixed strategy.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 19, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead until Truex muscled his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota TRD Camry into the lead through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. With the field fanning out, Truex maintained the lead by half a second over teammate Gibbs while Buescher followed suit along with Wallace and Blaney. Behind, Elliott was in sixth followed by Suarez and Reddick, but Reddick would overtake both by Lap 21 while Chastain, the first competitor who pitted during the competition caution, was in 10th.

    Just past the Lap 25 mark and amid a series of on-track battles, Truex was leading by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Ty Gibbs while Buescher, Wallace and Blaney were scored in the top five. Truex would extend his advantage to more than a second over Gibbs by Lap 30. By then, Reddick, who started 15th, rocketed his No. 45 Rocket League Toyota TRD Camry into fifth place while Chastain was mired in ninth in between teammate Suarez and Keselowski. In addition, Bell was in 12th behind Byron, Larson, who nearly got loose entering Turn 4, fell back to 15th ahead of Hamlin and Logano was mired in 24th ahead of Aric Almirola and Harvick. In addition, Josh Berry was in 28th in between Kaulig Racing’s Haley and Allmendinger.

    On Lap 34, the second caution of the event flew when Elliott, who was running in ninth after being overtaken by Trackhouse Racing’s Suarez and Chastain a lap earlier, slipped sideways after blowing a right-rear tire and wrecked against the Turn 2 outside wall. The incident not only terminated Elliott’s race amid extensive damage to his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, but it hampered his hopes of gaining valuable points towards the 2023 Cup Series Playoff cutline. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Buescher pitted while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.

    With six laps remaining in the first stage period, the race proceeded under green as Truex and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start, Truex muscled ahead from Wallace while starting on the outside lane as the field fanned out to four lanes entering the first two turns and the backstretch. With Truex remaining ahead of Wallace on the track and amid a series of on-track battles between competitors on mixed strategies, Ty Gibbs was in third followed by Keselowski and Suarez while Larson was in sixth ahead of Corey LaJoie and teammate Alex Bowman.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Truex, who announced his return for the 2024 Cup season with Joe Gibbs Racing on Saturday, claimed his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season. Wallace trailed in second while Ty Gibbs, Keselowski, Larson, Suarez, Bowman, Hamlin, Erik Jones and LaJoie were scored in the top 10. By then, Byron, who was running ninth, got loose, slipped up and slapped towards the outside wall entering Turn 4 as he limped his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 across the start/finish line in 13th.

    Under the stage break, some led by Truex, who remained on the track during the two previous caution periods, pitted while the rest led by Bowman remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Stenhouse was penalized for speeding on pit road and for an uncontrolled tire violation. Not long after, Truex made another pit stop as he was sent to the rear of the field.

    The second stage started on Lap 50 as Bowman and Erik Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Bowman and Jones dueled for the lead entering the first two turns as the field fanned out. Bowman and Jones would continue to duel for the lead through the backstretch while Hamlin, Reddick, Bell and Blaney followed pursuit. Then as the field made their way through Turns 3 and 4, the caution quickly returned when Berry, who was running 16th and battling with Harrison Burton, got loose in front of LaJoie and spun backwards towards the outside wall as he slapped the wall while barely missing Todd Gilliland before the damaged No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 came to a rest below the turn’s grass as his event came to an end. By then, Byron, who was on the Damaged Vehicle Policy clock period spanning seven minutes as his pit crew attempted to repair the No. 24 car, ran out of their scheduled repairment time as his event also came to an end.

    During the following restart on Lap 55, Bowman rocketed ahead with the lead from the outside lane as he then moved in front of Erik Jones to retain the top spot through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. With the battles ensuing through the backstretch, Bell rocketed his way around Erik Jones for the runner-up spot as he pursued Bowman for the lead while Chastain aggressively carved his way up to 11th.

    Through the Lap 60 mark, Bowman was leading by a tenth of a second over Bell followed by Erik Jones, Hamlin and Reddick while Blaney, Austin Cindric, Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon and Allmendinger were in the top 10. By then, Chastain, Wallace, Briscoe, Larson and Truex were in the top 15 while Logano, LaJoie, Almirola, Haley and Buescher occupied the top 20. Behind, Keselowski was mired in 21st ahead of Harrison Burton, Ty Dillon, Ty Gibbs and Suarez while Harvick was back in 26th.

    Four laps later, Bell, who had just overtaken Bowman amid a battle for the lead through the frontstretch, slipped sideways entering Turns 1 and 2 amid close-quarters racing with Bowman with Hamlin joining the battle. This resulted with Bell spinning backwards towards the outside wall as he pounded the wall and sustained significant rear end damage to his pole-winning car. During the caution period, the entire field led by Bowman, expect for Josh Bilicki, pitted for service. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Bowman exited first followed by Truex, Reddick, Blaney, Larson, Austin Dillon and Cindric. Bilicki would pit prior to the restart as Bowman reassumed the lead.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 69, where Bowman and Reddick occupied the front row, Bowman and Reddick dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Reddick managed to muscle ahead from the inside lane and assume the lead through the backstretch. As the field fanned out amid a series of on-track battles, including a pair of run-ins involving Blaney and LaJoie, Reddick maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Bowman while Larson was up in third followed by Truex, Cindric and Erik Jones.

    Four laps later, the caution returned due to reports of precipitation occurring around the speedway. Soon after, the field led by Reddick was directed to pit road and the event was placed in a red flag period due to the ongoing precipitation on Lap 74. With the precipitation increasing and the delay spanning more than an hour, NASCAR ended up postponing the remainder of the event’s coverage to Monday, August 7, at noon ET on USA Network.

    The following day on Monday, the field endured a brief 33-minute delay due to light mist before returning to the track under a cautious pace. During the caution period, Bell pitted even when pit road was closed for additional repairs to his pole-winning car amid his wreck from Sunday as he was still scored on the lead lap. Once pit road opened for the entire field to pit, some led by Reddick and including Bowman, Larson, Austin Dillon, Ty Gibbs, LaJoie, Stenhouse, Michael McDowell, Haley, Cole Custer and Bilicki pitted while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.

    When the race resumed under green flag conditions on Lap 82 amid an extensive caution period due to reports of light precipitation, where Truex and Cindric occupied the front row, Truex and Cindric dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Bubba Wallace made a bold three-wide move on both through the backstretch to assume the lead in his No. 23 DoorDash Toyota TRD Camry. With Wallace leading the proceeding lap, Truex settled in second while Keselowski battled Cindric for third in front of Erik Jones, Buescher and Hamlin. Jones then overtook Keselowski and Cindric in a three-wide move through the backstretch to move his No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to third as Wallace retained the lead. As the field continued to jostle for positions through the Lap 85 mark, Wallace stabilized his advantage to within a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Truex.

    By Lap 90, the top-three competitors were separated by nearly half a second as Wallace was still leading by two-tenths of a second over Truex followed by Erik Jones while Cindric and Suarez trailed in the top five by more than a second. Behind, Keselowski was in sixth ahead of teammate Buescher, Hamlin, Harrison Burton and Allmendinger while Blaney, Chastain, Logano, Reddick, Bowman, Larson, Briscoe, Harvick, Ryan Preece, Almirola and Ty Gibbs were battling within the top 20.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Truex cycled his way around Wallace, who continued to remain on the track and stretch his fuel tank to finish the second stage, to reassume the lead through the frontstretch while third-place Erik Jones trailed by six-tenths of a second. Behind, Suarez trailed in fourth place by more than a second while Hamlin was in fifth and trailing by more than two seconds.

    Two laps later, the caution flew when Preece, who was running 22nd, blew a right-rear tire entering Turn 1, but he managed to avoid hitting the outside wall as he fell off the pace with light smoke coming out of his No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang. During the caution period, some including the race leader Truex pitted while the rest led by Wallace and including Suarez, Keselowski, Chastain, Allmendinger, Logano, Bowman, Larson, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon, LaJoie and Custer remained on the track amid mixed strategy ensuing. Amid the pit stops, Hamlin, who was running in the top five prior to the caution period, stalled his car while trying to exit his pit stall as he plummeted towards the rear of the lead lap field.

    As the race restarted with 13 laps remaining in the second stage period, Wallace and Suarez dueled for the lead amid two tight-stacked lanes. Behind, Austin Dillon fell off the pace after nearly hitting the outside wall in Turn 1 and pitted under green due to a flat right-side tire, a move that pinned him a lap behind the leaders. Back at the front, Wallace and Suarez continued to duel for the lead until Suarez, who restarted beneath Wallace on the front row, managed to rocket his No. 99 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead entering Turns 3 and 4 as he assumed the lead from Wallace while Keselowski was in third.

    Just past the Lap 110 mark and amid a series of on-track battles, Suarez retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Keselowski while Wallace fell back to third in front of Bowman and Logano. Behind, Larson was in sixth ahead of Allmendinger while Truex charged his way up to eighth place while on four fresh tires and a full tank of fuel. Meanwhile, Hamlin carved his way up to 17th while battling Harvick for position.

    At the conclusion of the second stage period on Lap 120, Truex, who overtook Wallace for third place on Lap 118 as he continued to rocket his way back to the front on fresh tires, surged past Keselowski entering the backstretch and managed to side-draft Suarez amid Suarez trying to block Truex to claim the stage victory, his fifth of the season, in a photo finish. Suarez, who came into the event 34 points below the top-16 cutline towards the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, settled in second followed by Keselowski while Wallace, Bowman, Larson, Logano, Allmendinger, Cindric and Buescher were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Truex while the rest led by Buescher and including Reddick, Blaney, Harvick, Almirola, Gilliland and McDowell remained on the track with more mixed strategy ensuing. Amid the pit stops, Bell was penalized for his pit crew jumping over the pit wall too soon.

    With 74 laps remaining, the final stage started as Buescher and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher and Reddick dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. The caution then quickly returned when Cindric rubbed McDowell up into teammate Gilliland as Gilliland got squeezed towards the outside wall. In the ensuing contact, Bowman, who came into the event 42 points below the top-16 cutline, received light contact from Briscoe that got Bowman loose and spinning as he hit Gilliland before spinning with front nose damage on his No. 48 Ally Detroit Pistons Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. During the caution period, some including Wallace, Briscoe, the Dillon brothers, Gilliland, Erik Jones, Larson and Haley pitted while the rest led by Buescher remained on the track.

    With the race restarting with 67 laps remaining, Buescher surged ahead with the lead from the outside lane as he then fended off Reddick through the first two turns and entering the backstretch. Reddick maintained second in front of Blaney, Harvick and Cindric while Almirola was in sixth. Behind, Truex carved his way to seventh as he then battled Almirola for more while Hamlin was in eighth followed by Chastain and Burton.

    Seven laps later, Buescher stabilized his lead to two-tenths of a second over Reddick followed by Blaney while Truex moved up to fourth in front of Harvick. Behind, Cindric was in sixth ahead of Hamlin, Almirola, Chastain and Burton while McDowell, Ty Gibbs, Keselowski, Logano, Suarez, Preece, Allmendinger, Wallace, Larson and Austin Hill occupied the top 20.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Buescher continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Reddick while Truex trailed by less than six seconds as Hamlin moved up to fourth ahead of Blaney, Cindric and Harvick.

    Seven laps later, green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Buescher surrendered the lead to pit followed by Reddick and Harvick as Reddick exited ahead of Buescher off of pit road. During the following lap, however, Reddick returned to pit road due to a flat right-rear tire on his No. 45 entry, an issue that left Reddick steaming towards his pit crew. By then, Hamlin and Almirola pitted under green before Truex surrendered the lead to pit with 41 laps remaining. Amid the pit stops, Buescher managed to cycle his No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang past Truex on the track as Keselowski assumed the lead with less than 40 laps remaining.

    With 30 laps remaining, Keselowski retained the lead by over Suarez followed by Larson, Erik Jones and Logano, Bell, Wallace, LaJoie, Stenhouse and Preece were scored in the top 10. By then, Ty Gibbs, who was running in fifth place, pitted under green. Logano and LaJoie would pit a few laps later as Keselowski extended his lead to six seconds over Suarez and seven seconds over Larson. By then, Buescher worked his way up to 11th while Truex trailed behind in 12th.

    With 25 laps remaining, Suarez surrendered the runner-up spot to pit under green along with Preece. Keselowski would then surrender the lead the following lap to pit his No. 6 Nexlizet Ford Mustang as Larson assumed the lead. With 23 laps remaining, however, Larson pitted his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 from the lead along with Erik Jones, Bell and Wallace as Ty Dillon cycled into the lead followed by brother Austin Dillon. Behind, Buescher and Truex moved up to third and fourth as the latter, who had a strong race car, continued to try to navigate his way around the former with both having enough fuel to finish the event.

    Once the Dillon brothers pitted with nearly 20 laps remaining, Buescher cycled his way into the race lead with 18 laps remaining as Truex continued to intimidate and trail by two-tenths of a second. Buescher would continue to lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Truex while third-place Hamlin trailed by four seconds as Keselowski and Harvick were in the top five.

    Then with 13 laps remaining, Truex, who gained ground to Buescher’s rear bumper through the frontstretch, made his move beneath Buescher for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 as both dueled for the top spot through the backstretch. Truex then side-drafted Buescher back through the frontstretch as he led the following lap by a hair before Buescher returned the favor by side-drafting Truex in a fight to reassume the lead. Despite leading with 12 laps remaining, Truex got loose entering Turn 1, which allowed Buescher to pull ahead with the lead by nearly a second.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Buescher stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Truex while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than three seconds. Keselowski and Larson remained in the top five while Harvick, Chastain, Blaney, Suarez and Cindric were in the top 10. Behind, Ty Gibbs was in 11th ahead of Erik Jones and Almirola while Bell carved his damaged car to 14th place ahead of Wallace.

    With five laps remaining, Truex regained his ground on Buescher as he was only trailing by two-tenths of a second for the lead in his fast No. 19 Toyota. With Buescher retaining the lead, Truex kept Buescher’s No. 17 Ford close within his sights amid the draft as he tried to gain a run around Buescher with the laps dwindling.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Buescher remained as the leader by less than three-tenths of a second over Truex. Through Turns 1 and 2, Truex could not gain a run to draw even with Buescher as both entered the backstretch. Then entering Turns 3 and 4, Truex made a final lap charge to get alongside Buescher, but the run was not enough as Buescher managed to retain the lead and beat Truex to the finish line by a tenth of a second to notch his second consecutive checkered flag in recent weeks.

    With the victory, Buescher, who ended up leading a race-high 52 laps, recorded his fourth career win in NASCAR’s premier series as this marks his first season notching multiple Cup victories, thus making him the sixth multi-race winner of the 2023 Cup Series season, and first time claiming back-to-back Cup race victories. The victory was also the 14th overall in the Cup circuit for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing at the Irish Hills, making RFK Racing the winningest organization at the speedway, and their first since Greg Biffle won in 2012 while Ford claimed its 21st Cup victory, ninth in a row, at Michigan.

    Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “That was our plan [to win],” Buescher said on USA Network. “That’s what we come to do every weekend. It’s awesome. Glad we got to get this whole [race] in. I know it’s been a long weekend, but this Castrol Edge Mustang was so good in practice, qualifying. This team gave me a great car again. [I] Had to work for that [win], too. Hard racing there at the end. Martin [Truex Jr.] was very clean with me. I appreciate that. [I] Get to go to Victory Lane two weeks in a row, so that’s pretty awesome. We’ve got work to do, but that’s massive progress right there for us to do [and win at] two vastly different racetracks. We got road [course] races coming up. I’m excited for those two and Daytona. I look at the schedule we have ahead of us, and this is a heck of a time to get turned on and get rolling.”

    Truex, who led six times for 47 laps, settled in second place for the second time this season amid a strong performance on the track. This also marks Truex’s fourth runner-up result at the Irish Hills as he continues his pursuit for his first Michigan win.

    “I think we just needed maybe a little bit longer run to wear the tires some more,” Truex, who extended his lead in the regular-season standings to 57 points, said. “I felt like we were a little better, but it’s just really hard to pass the leader on equal tires. We had an unbelievable Auto-Owners Camry today and hats off to everybody that puts in the work on these things. It was a rocket. It’s just the leader in clean air is really, really hard to pass. Just didn’t quite have enough, but all in all, a good day.”

    Hamlin came home in third place while Keselowski, Buescher’s teammate and co-owner at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, ended up in fourth place in his home track. The fourth-place result marked Keselowski’s fifth top-five result of the season as he is now 168 points above the top-16 cutline towards the Playoff standings, but he was also left satisfied from an owner’s perspective with Buescher winning the race and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing gaining momentum with the start of the Playoffs lingering.

    “[I’m] Really happy for all the folks at Castrol and for [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing],” Keselowski said. “There’s a lot of work going on here and we’re digging deep and getting the results. I’m just so thankful and proud for everyone at RFK. We’re letting our results speak for themselves and Chris [Buescher] has done a heck of a job driving the car. When you can win, it feels really good, but we got to keep some humbleness and keep our head down. There’s some great competition out here.”

    Larson completed the top five in fifth place while Suarez, teammate Chastain, Harvick, Blaney and Erik Jones finished in the top 10. Notably, Ty Gibbs settled in 11th while Bell rallied from his early wreck on Sunday to finish 13th ahead of Logano and LaJoie. In addition, Wallace fell back to 18th ahead of Austin Dillon, McDowell ended up a lap down in 24th, Allmendinger settled in 26th, Reddick fell back to 30th and Bowman ended up 33rd after he was unable to finish due to a steering issue to his car stemming from his late wreck.

    There were 26 lead changes for 16 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 43 laps. In addition, 21 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With three regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the regular-season standings by 57 points over teammate Denny Hamlin and 96 over William Byron.

    William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and rookie Ty Gibbs occupy the remaining vacant spots to the Playoffs based on points, with Gibbs occupying the 16th and final vacant spots by three points over Michael McDowell, five over Daniel Suarez, 24 over AJ Allmendinger, 44 over Alex Bowman, 53 over Austin Cindric, 55 over Chase Elliott, 72 over Justin Haley, 81 over Aric Almirola and 89 over Ryan Preece.

    Results.

    1. Chris Buescher, 52 laps led

    2. Martin Truex Jr., 47 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    3. Denny Hamlin, one lap led

    4. Brad Keselowski, 15 laps led

    5. Kyle Larson, two laps led

    6. Daniel Suarez, 12 laps led

    7. Ross Chastain, 16 laps led

    8. Kevin Harvick

    9. Ryan Blaney, one lap led

    10. Erik Jones

    11. Ty Gibbs, one lap led

    12. Austin Cindric

    13. Christopher Bell, one lap led

    14. Joey Logano

    15. Corey LaJoie

    16. Aric Almirola

    17. Harrison Burton

    18. Bubba Wallace, 21 laps led

    19. Austin Dillon, two laps led

    20. Ty Dillon, two laps led

    21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    22. Ryan Preece, one lap down

    23. Justin Haley, one lap down

    24. Michael McDowell, one lap down

    25. Cole Custer, one lap down

    26. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

    27. JJ Yeley, one lap down

    28. Austin Hill, two laps down

    29. Todd Gilliland, three laps down

    30. Tyler Reddick, three laps down, seven laps led

    31. Chase Briscoe, three laps down

    32. Josh Bilicki, four laps down, one lap led

    33. Alex Bowman – OUT, Steering, 19 laps led

    34. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident

    35. William Byron – OUT, Dvp

    36. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident

    37. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in Indianapolis, Indiana. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, August 13, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Buescher captures dramatic Cup victory at Richmond, clinches Playoff spot

    Buescher captures dramatic Cup victory at Richmond, clinches Playoff spot

    With the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs less than a month away from commencing, Chris Buescher punched his ticket into the Playoffs following a dramatic victory in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on Sunday, July 30.

    The 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Prosper, Texas, led three times for 88 of 400 scheduled laps, including the final six, in an event where he rallied from starting 26th to challenge for the lead and eventual victory. After assuming the lead for the first time with 195 laps remaining, Buescher would then navigate his way through a series of green flag pit stops and pit strategies to remain upfront.

    He was then headed towards a victory when a late caution period with 10 laps remaining briefly stalled his progress. With a fast pit service by his pit crew during the caution period, Buescher was able to retain the lead and fend off Denny Hamlin during a three-lap shootout to grab his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season and become the 12th different competitor to be guaranteed a Playoff spot by winning.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, July 29, Tyler Reddick notched his first Cup pole position of the 2023 season and the fifth of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 113.689 mph in 23.749 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Kyle Busch, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 113.636 mph in 23.760 seconds.

    Prior to the event, AJ Allmendinger dropped to the rear of the field due to a driver change after Derek Kraus practiced and qualified his Kaulig Racing entry while Allmendinger opted to pull double duty by competing in Saturday’s Xfinity event at Road America before returning in time to compete for Sunday’s Cup event at Richmond.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Reddick pulled ahead while starting on the inside lane and assumed an early lead while Denny Hamlin challenged Kyle Busch for the runner-up spot through Turns 1 and 2. As the field fanned out through the backstretch, Reddick proceeded to lead the first lap in his No. 45 Xfinity 10G Network Toyota TRD Camry while Hamlin and Busch continued to battle for second in from of Chase Elliott, William Byron and Bubba Wallace.

    Through the second lap, the field continued to fan out and jostle for early positions while Reddick stretched his early advantage to three-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Kyle Busch settled in third in front of Elliott, Byron and Wallace.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Reddick was leading by nearly four-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Busch, Elliott and Byron while Wallace, rookie Ty Gibbs, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Preece and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were in the top 10. Behind, Brad Keselowski was in 11th ahead of Kyle Larson, rookie Noah Gragson, Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland while Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Joey Logano and Aric Almirola occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Truex, who made contact with Stenhouse a few laps earlier, had fallen back to 21st ahead of Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher, Harrison Burton and Ryan Blaney while Christopher Bell was mired in 27th.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Reddick continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over owner Hamlin while Busch trailed by more than a second. Behind, Elliott retained fourth ahead of Wallace, Byron and Gibbs while Harvick was in eighth ahead of teammate Preece and Stenhouse.

    Fifteen laps later, Reddick stabilized his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Hamlin while third-place Busch trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Wallace moved up to fourth in front of Elliott, Byron and Ty Gibbs while Harvick, Preece and Stenhouse stabilized themselves in the top 10. In addition, Keselowski and Larson were in 11th and 13th, Bowman cracked the top 15 in 15th, Logano was mired in 17th ahead of Almirola, Austin Dillon was back in 21st ahead of Chastain, Blaney, Truex and Bell and Daniel Suarez was in 28th.

    Another 10 laps later, Reddick retained the lead by half a second over Hamlin while Busch, Wallace and Elliott continued to run in the top five. By then, Harvick overtook Ty Gibbs to move into seventh place while Keselowski cracked the top 10 as he was in 10th. In addition, McDowell was in 12th and Larson retained 13th in front of teammate Bowman and Gragson while Logano was mired in 18th.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Reddick extended his advantage to more than a second over Hamlin. By then, Wallace moved his No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry up into third place, trailing his teammate and owner by more than two seconds, while Busch and Elliott trailed behind in the top five. In addition, Harvick moved his No. 4 Rheem Ford Mustang into sixth place over Byron while Preece and Keselowski overtook Ty Gibbs to move up to eighth and ninth place, respectively.

    Ten laps later, Reddick, who started to approach lapped traffic, extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Hamlin while teammate Wallace trailed in third place by more than two seconds. While Elliott and Harvick continued to run in the top five, Kyle Busch, who started on the front row, had dropped to ninth. In addition, a bevy of names that included Chase Briscoe, Larson, Buescher, Bell, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Blaney, Truex, AJ Allmendinger, Erik Jones, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Justin Haley were mired outside the top 15 and within the top 30 on the track while Ryan Newman, who was making his third Cup start of the season, was in 30th.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 70, Reddick captured his fourth stage victory of the 2023 season. Teammate Wallace followed suit in second along with owner Hamlin while Elliott, Harvick, Preece, Byron, Aric Almirola, Keselowski and Ty Gibbs were scored in the top 10. By then, 29 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap, with Suarez, who was in 29th, able to fend off race leader Reddick to remain on the lead lap at the stage’s conclusion.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Reddick pitted for their first round of service. Following the pit stops, Reddick retained the lead after exiting first followed by teammate Wallace, Hamlin, Elliott, Harvick, Keselowski and Ty Gibbs. Amid the pit stops, Preece endured a slow pit service after stopping his car over the pit line and had to reverse to avoid a penalty, which dropped him out of the top 15.

    The second stage started on Lap 78 as 23XI Racing’s Reddick and Wallace occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Reddick retained the lead by a narrow margin over teammate Wallace, but Wallace fought back on the outside lane as both dueled dead even for the top spot during the following lap. With the momentum on the outside lane, Wallace assumed the lead on Lap 80. By then, Elliott moved up to third after overtaking Hamlin, who was being pressured by Keselowski for fourth while Harvick followed suit in sixth along with McDowell, who used the outside lane during the restart to move into the top 10.

    Five laps later, Keselowski overtook Elliott to claim third place while Hamlin situated himself in fifth place. By then, teammates Wallace and Reddick continued to run first and second, with Wallace leading by half a second. Another two laps later, Hamlin dueled against Elliott while running on the outside lane for fourth place as Harvick followed in pursuit.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Wallace was leading by more than a second over teammate Reddick followed by Keselowski, Hamlin and Elliott while Harvick, Almirola, Ty Gibbs, Logano and McDowell were running in the top 10. Behind, Buescher was in 11th ahead of Kyle Busch, Preece, Stenhouse and Bowman while Byron, Chastain, Bell, Austin Dillon and Briscoe occupied the top 20. By then, Larson was in 21st, Blaney was mired in 24th behind Erik Jones, Allmendinger was running in 25th ahead of Suarez, Truex was back in 27th and Austin Cindric was mired in 28th.

    Ten laps later, Wallace stabilized his advantage to more than a second over teammate Reddick while third-place Keselowski trailed by more than two seconds, all while Hamlin and Elliott remained in the top five in front of Harvick.

    Another 10 laps later, green flag pit stops commenced as Preece pitted along with Todd Gilliland. During Lap 122, more competitors that included Redick, Keselowski, Elliott, Buescher, Larson, Cindric, Gragson, Almirola, Bowman, Austin Dillon, Allmendinger, Haley and the leader Wallace pitted. Amid the pit stops, Almirola was penalized for a commitment line violation.

    On Lap 128, more competitors that included Hamlin, Harvick, Ty Gibbs, Logano and Bell, who would be eventually penalized for speeding on pit road, pitted under green. With the majority of green flag pit stops completed by Lap 135, McDowell, who has yet to pit, was leading followed by Wallace while Reddick, Truex and Keselowski were in the top five. McDowell would relinquish the lead to Wallace by Lap 137, though he remained on the track.

    At the Lap 150 mark, Wallace was leading by more than a second over teammate Reddick followed by Keselowski, Hamlin and Buescher while Elliott, Preece, Kyle Busch, Logano and Ty Gibbs were in the top 10. By then, McDowell and Truex pitted while on an alternate pit strategy.

    By Lap 172, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Ty Gibbs and Austin Dillon pitted. A few laps later, more competitors that included Keselowski, Buescher, Preece, Byron and Newman pitted. The leader Wallace would pit by Lap 174 along with Erik Jones, Chastain, Almirola, Briscoe, Harvick, Elliott, Reddick, Allmendinger, Larson, Stenhouse and others.

    On Lap 180, Hamlin, who cycled into the lead, pitted his No. 11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota TRD Camry under green along with Logano, Blaney and Bell. With the majority of the green flag pit stops being completed by then, Keselowski, who overtook Truex on his alternate strategy, was the new leader.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 200, Keselowski was leading followed by Reddick, Buescher, Wallace and Hamlin while Truex, Busch, Preece, Ty Gibbs and Austin Dillon were in the top 10. Behind, McDowell was in 11th followed by Harvick, Logano, Bowman and Elliott while Stenhouse, Byron, Almirola, Briscoe and Larson occupied the top 20.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 230, Keselowski claimed his third stage victory of the 2023 Cup season. Teammate Buescher followed suit in second while Reddick, Wallace, Hamlin, Busch, Preece, Truex, Ty Gibbs and Logano were scored in the top 10. By then, 17 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while Bowman, who was in 18th, was able to fend off teammate Larson to emerge as the first competitor a lap down and receive the free pass during the stage break.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Keselowski pitted. Following the pit stops, Keselowski retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by teammate Buescher, Reddick, Wallace, Busch and Hamlin.

    With 161 laps remaining, the final stage started as teammates Keselowski and Buescher occupied the front row. At the start, Keselowski rocketed ahead with the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. With Hamlin using the outside lane to launch forward into the top five and while battling Wallace, Keselowski maintained the lead ahead of Buescher while Reddick retained third. Behind, Wallace and Hamlin continued to battle while Kyle Busch was in sixth ahead of Preece, Ty Gibbs and Logano.

    With 150 laps remaining, Keselowski retained the lead in his No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang by less than four-tenths of a second over teammate Buescher while Reddick, Hamlin and Wallace were scored in the top five ahead of Busch and Preece.

    Fifteen laps later, Keselowski continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over teammate Buescher while third-place Reddick trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Hamlin and Wallace remained in the top five while Busch, Preece, Logano, Truex and Elliott were scored in the top 10.

    With less than 120 laps remaining, green flag pit stops returned as Buescher pitted along with Wallace, Busch, Logano and others. Keselowski would then pit with 115 laps remaining followed by Reddick, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Almirola, Harvick and others. Amid the pit stops, Buescher was able to cycle ahead of teammate Keselowski, who nearly pitted outside his pit box. With 108 laps remaining, Hamlin, who cycled into a brief lead, pitted along with Blaney while Truex, who was running on an alternate strategy was leading, followed by Buescher.

    With 105 laps remaining, however, Buescher cycled into the race lead over Truex. Buescher would then extend his advantage to more than four seconds over Reddick with 90 laps remaining while Truex, Wallace and Preece were scored in the top five. Meanwhile, Keselowski was mired back in sixth ahead of Kyle Busch and Hamlin.

    With 65 laps remaining and as Buescher continued to lead, another cycle of green flag pit stops occurred as teammate Keselowski pitted. Logano would follow suit to pit along with Preece, Wallace, Harvick, Almirola, Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Elliott, Busch and Reddick. Buescher would then surrender the lead to pit with 62 laps remaining along with Ty Gibbs and Stenhouse while Blaney, who has yet to pit, was leading followed by Truex. Amid the pit stops, Reddick was penalized for a commitment line violation as he smoked the tires to try to enter pit road.

    With 54 laps remaining, Buescher, who was able to gain ground on Truex amid the pit strategies, overtook him to reassume the lead. Buescher would proceed to extend his advantage to nearly four seconds with less than 50 laps remaining while Hamlin, Preece and Keselowski were in the top five. Behind, Kyle Busch was in sixth while Logano, Wallace, Harvick and Almirola were scored in the top 10.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Buescher was leading by more than six seconds over Hamlin while Preece, Busch and Truex were scored in the top five. By then, Keselowski was in sixth ahead of Logano and Harvick while Wallace fell back to ninth in front of Almirola. In addition, 13 competitors were scored on the lead lap, with Austin Dillon, Briscoe and Elliott occupying the final three lead lap positions.

    Ten laps later, Buescher continued to lead by more than five seconds over Hamlin while third-place Preece trailed by more than six seconds as Busch, Truex and Keselowski were in the top six.

    Then with 10 laps remaining, the caution flew when Gragson sent Suarez for a spin in Turn 4 as Suarez smoked the rear tires of his No. 99 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 before coming to a rest near the apron in Turn 4. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Buescher pitted. Following the pit stops, Buescher retained the lead after exiting first followed by Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Preece, Truex and Keselowski.

    Down to the final three laps, the event restarted under green as Buescher and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher launched ahead to retain the lead while Preece challenged Hamlin for second as the field behind fanned out entering Turns 1 and 2. Hamlin then tried to launch forward towards the lead while on the outside lane entering the backstretch, but he was blocked by Buescher’s No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang, who retained the lead with two laps remaining.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Buescher remained in the lead by half a second over Hamlin while Logano and Busch battled for third. With Hamlin unable to gain ground for a final lap charge, Buescher was able to navigate his way around the circuit smoothly for a final time and zip back to the frontstretch to claim his first checkered flag of the 2023 Cup season.

    With the victory, Buescher, who came into the event 111 points above the top-16 cutline towards the Playoffs, notched his third career victory in NASCAR’s premier series and his first since winning at Bristol Motor Speedway in September 2022. He also recorded the second victory for the newly named Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

    “Yeah, it was smooth sailing there, trying to take care of Fastenal Mustang,” Buescher said on USA Network. “These guys over at [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing], this No. 17 team gave me a great hot rod. This thing was so good. [I] Was just trying to take care of it there. I knew even on our green flag stuff, we were so strong during the race. I had a good feeling about it there. Pretty awesome to pull it off. Proud of everybody. That was a long way from the back [of the field] this morning, so heck of a race for us. We’ve had this [race] circled since last fall. I was really hopeful this could be the one that would turn the page for us. Sure enough, right off the truck I thought it was. I hate that qualifying went the way it did. I was sitting there beating myself up trying to figure out what we were going to do there. Made it to Victory Lane here in Richmond. I’d have told you to flood this place three years ago. My opinions are changing quite a bit here. What a day, though. That’s awesome…We’ve been talking about this a lot and you don’t get to ask me about points anymore.”

    Despite ending up in sixth place in spite of leading a race-high 102 laps, Keselowski was left pleased in being victorious as a team owner for the second time in his second season as both a driver and owner in the Cup Series for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

    “I’m happy for Chris,” Keselowski, who celebrated with Buescher in Victory Lane, said. “We are incrementally building. Solid day for both teams here at RFK. I’m happy for everybody that works on these teams, everybody that supports us with Fastenal and Ford and Build Subs. We led a lot of laps with both cars. Neither cars, we really started up front. Drove through. Great job with the pit crews. A lot to be proud of today. Of course, I want to win as a driver, but just happy that we’re as competitive as we are. We want to keep building and keep being more competitive every week.”

    Meanwhile, Hamlin, who led 20 laps and was coming off a milestone victory at Pocono Raceway, settled in the runner-up spot for the second time this season.

    “I drove in way too deep [in Turns 1 and 2],” Hamlin said. “I was trying to get to the outside there. [I] Really had a great run off of Turn 2 on the restart and off of [Turn] 4 again. But, yeah, I was just so close to him there that I wanted to try to squirt a little extra gas to try to get to the outside. Just too much brake. Man, I’m happy for Chris, [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing], those guys. I know they worked really hard to get to this point. I can appreciate the struggle that it is to get to this point. Congratulations to them. Definitely a great job by this Mavis team. Kept me in it all day long. We just lacked a little, little bit to be the best there. So we just need to improve on it. Still a good day.”

    Kyle Busch came home in third place followed by Logano while Preece achieved a strong fifth-place result. Keselowski finished sixth while Truex, Almirola, Austin Dillon and Harvick, who made his final start at Richmond, completed the top 10. Notably, Wallace ended up 12th in front of Elliott and Blaney, rookie Ty Gibbs finished 15th, pole-sitter Reddick ended up 16th, Larson ended up 19th, the final competitor on the lead lap. Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger ended up 26th and 27th, respectively, after both wrecked while finishing the event.

    There were 18 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 21 laps. While all 36 starters finished the event, 19 finished on the lead lap.

    With four regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. leads the regular-season standings by 39 points over teammate Denny Hamlin and 43 over William Byron.

    William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell currently occupy the remaining vacant spots in the Playoffs based on points, with McDowell occupying the 16th and final vacant spot by 18 points Ty Gibbs, 22 over AJ Allmendinger, 34 over Daniel Suarez, 40 over Chase Elliott, 42 over Alex Bowman, 64 over Austin Cindric, 70 over Justin Haley, 86 over Aric Almirola and 88 over Ryan Preece.

    Results.

    1. Chris Buescher, 88 laps led

    2. Denny Hamlin, 20 laps led

    3. Kyle Busch

    4. Joey Logano

    5. Ryan Preece

    6. Brad Keselowski, 102 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    7. Martin Truex Jr., 18 laps led

    8. Aric Almirola

    9. Austin Dillon

    10. Kevin Harvick

    11. Chase Briscoe

    12. Bubba Wallace, 80 laps led

    13. Chase Elliott

    14. Ryan Blaney, two laps led

    15. Ty Gibbs

    16. Tyler Reddick, 81 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    18. Alex Bowman

    19. Kyle Larson

    20. Christopher Bell, one lap down

    21. William Byron, one lap down

    22. Michael McDowell, one lap down

    23. Erik Jones, one lap down

    24. Ross Chastain, one lap down

    25. Todd Gilliland, one lap down

    26. Austin Cindric, one lap down

    27. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

    28. Noah Gragson, two laps down

    29. Ryan Newman, two laps down

    30. Justin Haley, two laps down

    31. Harrison Burton, three laps down

    32. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

    33. Daniel Suarez, four laps down

    34. Ty Dillon, four laps down

    35. JJ Yeley, four laps down

    36. BJ McLeod, five laps down

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of this season to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, August 6, at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Brad Keselowski to make 500th Cup career start at Gateway

    Brad Keselowski to make 500th Cup career start at Gateway

    Competing in his 14th full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, Brad Keselowski is set to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s event at World Wide Technology Raceway, the driver/owner of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang will make his 500th career start in NASCAR’s premier series.

    A second-generation racer and native of Rochester Hills, Michigan, Keselowski made his inaugural presence in NASCAR’s premier series at Texas Motor Speedway in November 2008. By then, he was competing in the Xfinity Series on a full-time basis for JR Motorsports and had accumulated two victories in the season while battling for the series’ championship. Driving the No. 25 Chevrolet Impala for Hendrick Motorsports, Keselowski started 37th and finished 19th in his Cup debut. He returned to compete in the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he finished 23rd after starting 31st.

    The following season, Keselowski, who remained at JRM as a full-time competitor in the Xfinity circuit, spent the majority of the season splitting between the No. 25 HMS Chevrolet Impala and the No. 09 Phoenix Raceway Chevrolet Impala. After finishing outside the top 20 in his first two Cup starts of the season with HMS, he then made his first start with Phoenix Racing at Talladega Superspeedway in April. It was there where Keselowski achieved an upset by winning his first Cup career race after making contact with Carl Edwards on the final lap, where a late blocking move from Edwards to stall Keselowski’s run through the frontstretch sent Edwards’ No. 99 Ford sideways, airborne and into the catchfence while upside-down after getting hit by Ryan Newman. Keselowski’s Talladega victory occurred in his fifth career start in NASCAR’s premier series and it was also the first for Phoenix Raceway. He then backed up his Talladega victory by finishing seventh at Darlington Raceway with HMS in May and sixth at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with Phoenix in June. During his next seven scheduled Cup starts between HMS and Phoenix, Keselowski’s best result was eighth at Talladega in November. He then competed in the final three scheduled events of the season in the No. 12 Dodge Charger for Team Penske, where his best result was 25th at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.

    In 2010, Keselowski joined forces with Team Penske in both the Xfinity and Cup Series circuits, where he replaced David Stremme to drive the No. 12 Dodge in the Cup circuit. While Keselowski’s campaign in the Xfinity circuit was a success by winning the series championship and gifting team owner Roger Penske his first NASCAR championship, the Cup circuit was a difficult season for the Michigan native, who commenced the season by finishing 36th in his Daytona 500 debut. Three races later at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, he was poised for a top-six run until he was intentionally turned, sent airborne and hit the frontstretch outside wall roof-first by Edwards with three laps remaining. The incident occurred after Keselowski had hit and wrecked Edwards on Lap 41, which prompted NASCAR to park Edwards for the remainder of the event. Despite rallying to finish in the top 15 six times for the remaining 22 of 26 regular-season events, he did not accumulate enough points or results towards the front to make the 2010 Cup Playoffs. Keselowski went on to achieve his first Cup career pole at New Hampshire in September followed by back-to-back 10th-place runs at Talladega and Texas Motor Speedway between October and November. With a 13th-place result at Homestead, he concluded his first full-time Cup season in 25th place in the final standings and with an average-finishing result of 22.4.

    In April 2010, Keselowski was named the driver of Team Penske’s iconic No. 2 Dodge while teammate Kurt Busch, who piloted the No. 2 car since 2006, moved over to Penske’s No. 22 Dodge entry for the 2011 Cup season. Commencing the season with a 29th-place result in the 53rd running of the Daytona 500 after being eliminated in a late wreck, Keselowski finished no higher than 15th during the first nine events of the season. Despite capitalizing on a late strategic call to finish third at Darlington in May, he then finished 13th and 19th during his next two scheduled starts. Then at Kansas Speedway in June, he executed on another pit strategic call by leading the final nine laps and beating his mentor Dale Earnhardt Jr. by nearly three seconds while on a low tank of fuel to achieve his second Cup career victory and snap a 75-race winless drought. After recording three top-10 results during his next seven starts, he then achieved his second victory of the season at Pocono Raceway in August following a late duel against Kyle Busch. The victory occurred after Keselowski rallied from a harrowing accident during a test session at Road Atlanta, which left the driver with a broken left ankle and back pain. Despite his injuries, Keselowski’s Pocono victory ignited a hot streak that would see the driver of the No. 2 Dodge finish second and third during his next two starts before grabbing his unprecedented third victory of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. After finishing sixth during the following weekend at Atlanta in September, Keselowski solidified his spot to qualify for the 2011 Cup Playoffs. With four top-five results recorded during the first six Playoff events, he ran as high as third place in the standings. Four consecutive results outside of the top 15, however, dropped Keselowski to fifth place in the final standings. Overall, the 2011 season delivered great success for Keselowski and the No. 2 Team Penske Dodge team on the strength of three victories, 10 top-five results, 14 top-10 results, 298 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.8.

    The 2012 season was a career year for Keselowski, who rallied from being involved in a late multi-car wreck during the 54th running of the Daytona 500 to grab his first victory of the season at Bristol in March. He went on to win at Talladega in April and at Kentucky Speedway in June while racking 10 top-five runs and 15 top-10 results during the 26-race regular-season stretch before making his second consecutive appearance in the Playoffs. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series. At the start of the Playoffs, Keselowski prevailed in a late battle against five-time champion Jimmie Johnson to win the Playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway in September. Two races later, Keselowski reaffirmed his bid for the title by prevailing in a late fuel strategic call to win at Dover Motor Speedway. By then, he was leading the series standings for the first time in his career. Despite finishing no worse than 11th during the following five Playoffs events, which included a runner-up result at Texas Motor Speedway in November, Johnson managed to gain ground and assume the points lead with back-to-back victories at Martinsville and Texas between October and November. Then during the penultimate event of the season at Phoenix Raceway, Keselowski capitalized on a late incident that involved Johnson and dodged two multi-car wrecks in the closing laps to finish sixth and reassume the points lead by 20 points entering the finale at Homestead. At Homestead, Keselowski capitalized on another late misfortune impacting Johnson’s title run due to a rear gear failure to finish 15th and clinch the first NASCAR Cup Series championship for himself and for Team Penske. With the accomplishment, Keselowski joined Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon as the only competitors to win a Cup title within the first three seasons of full-time competition. He also recorded the final championship for the Dodge nameplate, which was set to depart NASCAR following the 2012 season. In total, Keselowski capped off his championship season with five victories, 13 top-five results, 23 top-10 results, 735 laps led and  a career-best average-finishing result of 10.1.

    Piloting a Ford Fusion while remaining in the No. 2 entry in his bid to defend his series title, Keselowski commenced the 2013 season with four consecutive top-four finishes. Despite earning 11 top-10 results throughout the 26 regular-season stretch, including a strong runner-up result at Watkins Glen International in August, he endured a series of inconsistent runs in the spring and summer periods, including a 25-point dock in points due to a rear-housing infraction at Texas in April, that left him and the No. 2 team outside of the Playoff cutline in September. With his bid to defend the title evaporated, he proceeded to finish in the top 10 five times during the Playoffs. This included achieving his first elusive victory of the season at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October. With a total of one victory, one pole, nine top-five results, 16 top-10 results, 476 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.9 throughout the 2013 season, Keselowski settled in 14th place in the final standings.

    After finishing in second place in the Clash at Daytona International Speedway in February, Keselowski rolled out of the gate with three consecutive top-three runs to commence the 2014 Cup season. This included his first victory of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March after overtaking Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap when Earnhardt Jr. ran out of fuel. He went on to win at Kentucky and New Hampshire in July before capping off the regular-season stretch with a win at Richmond Raceway, which marked the 400th motorsports victory all-time for Team Penske. With four regular-season victories, Keselowski earned the top seed to the newly formatted Playoffs. He then commenced the Playoffs by winning at Chicagoland and earning a one-way transfer from the Round of 16 to 12. During the Round of 12, he was involved in a late wreck at Kansas due to a blown right-front tire and controversial run-ins involving Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart at Charlotte. On the verge of being eliminated early from title contention, Keselowski responded back with vengeance by winning at Talladega in October and transferring to the Round of 8. Keselowski’s late misfortunes, however, continued, starting at Martinsville, where he ignited a late multi-car accident amid a stack-up due to a mechanical issue. This was then followed by another controversial run-in at Texas, where he ran into the side of Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet on a late restart that knocked Gordon out of contention for the win and led to a brawl on pit road following the race. Despite finishing fourth during the final Round of 8 event at Phoenix, Keselowski was eliminated from title contention. Nonetheless, he capped off the season with a third-place run at Homestead before settling in fifth place in the final standings. Despite falling short of winning his second Cup title, Keselowski concluded the season with multiple career highs in victories (six), poles (five), top fives (17) and laps led (1,540). 

    Poised to make another run for his second title, the 2015 Cup season produced a single victory for Keselowski and the No. 2 team, which occurred at Auto Club Speedway in March following a last lap pass on Kurt Busch. Despite making his fourth career appearance in the Playoffs and transferring all the way from the Round of 16 to 8, he fell short of making the Championship 4 finale and settled in seventh place in the final standings on the strength of nine top-five results, a career-high 25 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 11.1. During the following two Cup seasons, he made the Playoffs and accumulated a total of seven victories, four poles, 25 top-five results, 47 top-10 results and average results within 11th place. While he ended up in 12th place in the 2016 standings after being eliminated following the Round of 12, he transferred all the way to the Championship 4 finale in 2017, where he ended up in fourth place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 300 Cup career starts.

    In 2018, Keselowski won the Clash at Daytona in February before enduring a winless stretch during the first 24 regular-season events. His first elusive victory then occurred in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in September followed by another crown-jewel event, which was the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which solidified his spot to make the 2018 Cup Playoffs. The momentum did not stop there for Keselowski and the No. 2 team as they racked up a third consecutive victory at Las Vegas to commence the Playoffs and deliver the 500th motorsports victory for Team Penske. Keselowski’s title hopes, however, came to an end following the Round of 12 as he went on to finish in eighth place in the final standings.

    For the 2019 season, it only took the first two races of the season for Keselowski to record a victory, which occurred at Atlanta in February as he recorded the first Cup victory for the Ford Mustang brand. Backing up his Atlanta victory with wins at Martinsville in March and at Kansas in May enabled the Michigan native to make the Playoffs for the eighth time in his career. Despite transferring from the Round of 16 to 12 on the strength of three consecutive top-five results, he missed the cutline to the Round of 8 by a mere margin after finishing no higher than 11th during the Round of 12. With just two top-10 results during the final four events, Keselowski concluded the 2019 Cup season in eighth place in the final standings for a second consecutive year.

    Keselowski’s first victory of the 2020 Cup season occurred in the seventh event of the season and during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May following an overtime shootout. Two races later, he achieved another victory to the season at Bristol Motor Speedway in June after dodging a late incident involving teammate Joey Logano and Chase Elliott. He went on to win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July before entering the 2020 Cup Playoffs, which marked his ninth trip to NASCAR’s postseason battle for the title. A dominant victory at Richmond in September enabled Keselowski and the No. 2 team to transfer from the Round of 16 to 12. He then achieved three consecutive top-six runs during the Round of 8 to grab a spot to the Championship 4 finale for the second time in his career. During the finale at Phoenix Raceway in November, he finished in second place behind title rival Elliott both on the track and in the final standings. By then, Keselowski concluded the season with 24 top-10 results, which marked his seventh time concluding a season with 20+ top-10 results along with four victories, 13 top-five results, 952 laps led and tying his career-best average-finishing result with 10.1. He had also surpassed 400 Cup career starts.

    In 2021, which marked his 15th season driving for Team Penske, Keselowski commenced the season on a fiery note after being involved in a final lap multi-car wreck with teammate Logano on the final lap of the 63rd running of the Daytona 500 while bidding for the win. Nine races later, he achieved his lone victory of the season at Talladega in April after overtaking Matt DiBenedetto on the final lap. With a total of 10 top-10 results throughout the regular-season stretch, including his victory at Talladega, Keselowski achieved a spot in the Cup Playoffs for the 10th time in his career. His bid for a second title, however, came to an end following the Round of 8, but seven results in the top 10 were enough for Keselowski to cap off the season in sixth place in the final standings.

    Following 15 memorable seasons at Team Penske, Keselowski embarked on a new phase to his racing career in 2022 by joining Roush Fenway Racing as the driver of the No. 6 Ford Mustang and co-owner of the organization, which was rebranded to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. He commenced the season with early momentum after winning the first of two Bluegreen Vacation Duels at Daytona in February, which allowed him to start in third place for the 64th running of the Daytona 500. During the 500, he led a race-high 67 laps and was in position of winning the event during a two-lap shootout until he got shuffled back to ninth place in the final running order. Four races later, where he finished no higher than 12th on the track, Keselowski and the No. 6 RFK Ford team were slapped with an L2-level penalty and docked 100 driver/owner points following a post-race infraction at Atlanta in March, where the team violated two sections pertaining to the modification of a single source supplied part (rear fascia) within NASCAR’s rulebook. Amid the penalty, Keselowski endured a dismal regular-season stretch as he recorded a total of three top-10 results and finished no higher than seventh, which occurred at New Hampshire in July, as he did not make the 2022 Cup Playoffs. This marked his first absence from the Playoffs since 2013. Keselowski, however, rallied throughout the Playoffs by finishing seventh in the Southern 500 before notching his first pole of the season at Texas in September, where he went on to finish eighth. Prior to this, he led 109 laps at Bristol and was within striking distance of contending for the victory until he cut a tire late while leading and falling back to 13th place in the final scoreboard. Keselowski then captured his first top-five result in the No. 6 entry by finishing fifth at Homestead in October. He also crossed the finish line in fourth place during the penultimate event at Martinsville in November, but was disqualified due to his car failing to meet the minimum weight requirements during post-race inspection. Capping off his difficult season in 35th place at Phoenix due to an electrical issue, Keselowski concluded the season in 24th place in the final standings on the strength of a single top-five result, six top-10 results, 224 laps led and an average-finishing result of 19.2.

    Currently, Keselowski has achieved three top-five results, six top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 14.8 through the first 14-scheduled events of the 2023 Cup season. His best result of the season thus far has been a runner-up finish at Atlanta in March, where he led 47 of 260 laps and was leading before being overtaken by ex-teammate Joey Logano on the final lap. Nonetheless, the results have placed Keselowski in ninth place in the regular-season standings as he is 102 points above the top-16 cutline to be in contention to make the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs.

    Through 499 previous Cup starts, Keselowski has achieved one championship, 35 victories, 18 poles, 142 top-five results, 239 top-10 results, 9,022 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.0. By making his 500th career start at Gateway, he will become the 46th different competitor to achieve the milestone mark.

    Keselowski is primed to make his 500th Cup Series career start at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 4, with the event’s coverage to occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Suarez, Buescher claim front row starting spots for 2023 All-Star Race

    Suarez, Buescher claim front row starting spots for 2023 All-Star Race

    Daniel Suarez won the pole position for the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race and will share the front row with Chris Buescher after both won a Heat Race qualifying event that determined the official starting lineup for the main event at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Saturday, May 20.  

    The starting lineup for the two Heat races consisting of 60 laps was determined through NASCAR’s Pit Crew Challenge that occurred on Friday, May 19, with the drivers’ qualifying time determined based on their respective crew’s pit stop time through a four-tire pit stop and the timing lines being established one box behind and ahead of the designated pit box. The teams who delivered the fastest pit services would enable their respective entries to start towards the front of the two All-Star Heat Races or the All-Star Open.

    Following the pit stops, rookie Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew won the Pit Crew Challenge after the team posted the fastest pit service overall in 13.012 seconds. Gibbs, however, is currently not locked into the All-Star Race and will look to race his way into the main event while on pole position in the All-Star Open that will occur on Sunday, May 21, prior to the All-Star feature. As a result, Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 Trackhouse Racing pit crew led by crew chief Travis Mack placed the former Xfinity Series champion from Monterrey, Mexico, on pole position for the first Heat Race after posting the second-fastest pit service overall, but first as an eligible competitor, in 13.297 seconds.

    During the first Heat Race, which determined the official starting lineup of the inside rows for the All-Star feature, Suarez, who lost the lead to Chase Elliott at the start, led the final 34 of 60-scheduled laps while on wet weather tires amid one caution period and occurrences of precipitation around the circuit to win and claim pole position in the All-Star Star for the first time in his career. As a result, Suarez, a two-time All-Star Open winner whose best result in the All-Star Race is second from 2018, will vie for his first All-Star victory in his fourth attempt on Sunday.

    “The car was very fast,” Suarez said on FS1. “I have to thank my guys. I have an amazing team. We have a great group of people. We haven’t been able to show that in the last races, but we’re fast. I can’t thank enough everyone that helps us to get to this point. Just happy to be here and hopefully, we can have a strong performance tomorrow as well.”

    Joey Logano settled in second place behind Suarez followed by Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin. Ryan Blaney settled in sixth while Chase Elliott ended up seventh followed by Kevin Harvick, Austin Cindric, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Erik Jones, respectively, all of whom will start on the inside rows for the All-Star event.

    Meanwhile, Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing pit crew placed the former Xfinity Series champion from Prosper, Texas, on pole position for the second Heat Race after posting the third-fastest pit service in 13.381 seconds.

    During the second Heat Race, which determined the official starting lineup of the outside rows for the All-Star feature, Buescher led all 60-scheduled laps as he beat runner-up Austin Dillon by more than a second and claim a front-row starting spot (second place) for Sunday’s main event. During Buescher’s dominant victory, the second Heat event also featured a single caution period due to rain and that enabled the teams to switch from starting on slick tires to wet tires. As a result, Buescher, who will be making his third All-Star career start on Sunday, will also vie for his first All-Star victory.

    “That was awesome,” Buescher said. “I was so proud of our group. This Fastenal Mustang has been really fast from the time we unloaded off the truck. The pit crew did a fantastic job and put us in a great spot here today. We’re in a good place for the race tomorrow evening. 

    “I’m excited. I’m ready for this thing. Let’s go. Let’s go get a million dollars.”

    Dillon settled in second followed by William Byron, Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace while Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick rounded out the top 10, respectively, all of whom will start on the outside rows for the All-Star Race.

    With 21 competitors earning guaranteed starting spots for the 2023 All-Star Race, the remaining three vacant spots for the main event will be determined at the conclusion of the 2023 All-Star Open which will occur prior to the All-Star feature on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1. With 16 competitors competing in the All-Star Open, the top-two finishers of the Open consisting of 100 laps will transfer to the main event. The 24th and final starting spot will be awarded to the competitor who is named the Fan Vote winner.

    All-Star Race Starting Lineup

    1. Daniel Suarez

    2. Chris Buescher

    3. Joey Logano

    4. Austin Dillon

    5. Chase Briscoe

    6. William Byron

    7. Christopher Bell

    8. Brad Keselowski

    9. Denny Hamlin

    10. Bubba Wallace

    11. Ryan Blaney

    12. Martin Truex Jr.

    13. Chase Elliott

    14. Kyle Busch

    15. Kevin Harvick

    16. Kyle Larson

    17. Austin Cindric

    18. Ross Chastain

    19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    20. Tyler Reddick

    21. Erik Jones

    22. *All-Star Open Winner

    23. *All-Star Open Runner-up

    24. *Fan Vote Winner

    With the official starting lineup set, the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway is scheduled to occur on Sunday, May 21, at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 pit crew wins NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge at North Wilkesboro

    Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 pit crew wins NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge at North Wilkesboro

    In the return of NASCAR’s Pit Crew Challenge at a revived venue, the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota TRD Camry pit crew piloted by rookie Ty Gibbs and led by crew chief Chris Gayle achieved an advantage in their quest to make the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race by winning the All-Star Pit Crew Challenge at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Friday, May 19.

    The No. 54 JGR pit crew executed the top four-tire pit service time of the day at 13.012 seconds, which was enough to best 36 challengers and their respective pit crews as they claimed the $100,000 bonus. The result also awarded Gibbs, the reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Charlotte, North Carolina, the pole position for the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Open which will comprise 100 laps and occur on Sunday, May 21, at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

    This year’s Pit Crew Challenge made its first return since 2012 and served as part of NASCAR’s revival to the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, with the last NASCAR competition occurring in 1996 and was won by four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon.

    During the Pit Crew Challenge, which determined the starting lineup for the All-Star Open and two 60-lap Heat Races, which will determine the official starting lineup for the All-Star Race, the 37 competitors who participated in the challenge drove their respective cars into a pit stall prior to entering and stopping at their assigned for their pit service, which would start the time. Once the pit crew completed the four-tire service, the competitors exited their pit stall and crossed the stall after their own, which would complete the time.

    With the top starting spot for the All-Star Open, Gibbs, a 2023 Cup Series Rookie-of-the-Year contender who is currently campaigning in his first full-time season in NASCAR’s premier series, will attempt to race his way into this first All-Star Race event that will occur on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. Gibbs’ pit crew led by crew chief Chris Gayle include car chief Nate Bellows, fueler Peyton Moore, jackman Darrell Edwards, front-tire changer Blake Houston, rear-tire changer Mike Hicks and carrier Jacob Holmes.

    “All credit to [the pit crew],” Gibbs said on FS1. “To be honest with you, I don’t think you should be interviewing me. You should be interviewing those guys. They work so hard. Thank you to all those boys out there. All those guys work so hard, so I appreciate them and all they do. I’m excited. We’ll see what happens. [I’m] Excited that NASCAR brought this [pit crew challenge] back. I really appreciate them giving these pit crew guys a shot.”

    Joining Gibbs on the front row for the All-Star Open will be Josh Berry, who will also be making his fourth start as an interim competitor in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for the injured Alex Bowman. Despite Bowman and the No. 48 team’s eligibility for this year’s All-Star Race after winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2022, Berry does not meet any automatic eligibility criteria for the event as he will attempt to race his way into the main event on Sunday. Nonetheless, the No. 48 pit crew delivered on Friday with the fifth overall and second for the All-Star Open pit stop time at 13.677 seconds.

    Corey LaJoie will line up in third place for his starting spot for the All-Star Open while Harrison Burton, Justin Haley, Michael McDowell, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Preece, Aric Almirola and AJ Allmendinger will start in the top 10.

    NASCAR All-Star Open Lineup (including pit stop time)

    1. Ty Gibbs (13.012 seconds)

    2. Josh Berry (13.677 seconds)

    3. Corey LaJoie (13.911 seconds)

    4. Harrison Burton (14.091 seconds)

    5. Justin Haley (14.294 seconds)

    6. Michael McDowell (14.509 seconds)

    7. Todd Gilliland (14.707 seconds)

    8. Ryan Preece (14.760 seconds)

    9. Aric Almirola (14.776 seconds)

    10. AJ Allmendinger (15.796 seconds)

    11. Josh Bilicki (18.281 seconds)

    12. Ty Dillon (18.447 seconds)

    13. Chandler Smith (19.004 seconds)

    14. Ryan Newman (20.300 seconds)

    15. Noah Gragson (20.886 seconds)

    16. JJ Yeley (21.066 seconds)

    Meanwhile, Daniel Suarez and Chris Buescher were also left victorious after both achieved pole positions for the two Heat Qualifying Races that will occur on Saturday, May 20, beginning at 7:20 p.m. ET on FS1.

    For Suarez, who received the second-fastest pit service from his No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team led by crew chief Travis Mack at 13.297 seconds, he will lead a group of 11 competitors overall to the start of the first Heat event, with the first Heat event determining the starting lineup of the inside lane for the All-Star Race. Joining him on the front row will be Chase Elliott, whose No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 pit crew posted the fourth-overall pit stop time at 13.572 seconds.

    “[The pit crew] are legends,” Suarez said. “I’m very, very fortunate to have an amazing pit crew. We have amazing people and it’s showing. It’s amazing that we’re gonna have a good starting spot [for the Heat Race]. The car is pretty good. I’m confident that we’re gonna be able to keep our track position, have some fun and hopefully, be fighting for the big trophy on Sunday.”

    Buescher, who received the third-fastest pit service from his No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang team led by crew chief Scott Graves at 13.381 seconds, will lead a group of 10 competitors to the start of the second Heat event that will follow suit at 8:15 p.m. ET on FS1 and determine the starting lineup of the outside lane for the All-Star Race. Joining him on the front row will be Austin Dillon, whose No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 pit crew posted the sixth-overall pit stop time at 13.712 seconds.

    “That was awesome,” Buescher said. “I’m so proud of our group. You’re interviewing the wrong person. I had nothing to do with [the result]. I just got it for [the pit crew] and they did a heck of a job. [I’m] Gonna be watching all the on-track activities here these next two days and be ready for this race. We had a really good car in practice too, so I’m pumped right now. That’s awesome.”

    Heat Race #1 Lineup

    1. Daniel Suarez (13.297 seconds)

    2. Chase Elliott (13.572 seconds)

    3. Joey Logano (13.835 seconds)

    4. Denny Hamlin (14.089 seconds)

    5. Chase Briscoe (14.674 seconds)

    6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (15.063 seconds)

    7. Austin Cindric (14.154 seconds)

    8. Kevin Harvick (15.579 seconds)

    9. Ryan Blaney (18.819 seconds)

    10. Christopher Bell (20.064 seconds)

    11. Erik Jones (21.359 seconds)

    Heat Race #2 Lineup

    1. Chris Buescher (13.381 seconds)

    2. Austin Dillon (13.712 seconds)

    3. William Byron (13.867 seconds)

    4. Ross Chastain (14.373 seconds)

    5. Kyle Larson (14.697 seconds)

    6. Martin Truex Jr. (15.115 seconds)

    7. Bubba Wallace (15.167 seconds)

    8. Brad Keselowski (18.044 seconds)

    9. Kyle Busch (19.531 seconds)

    10. Tyler Reddick (21.034 seconds)

    With the starting lineups for both the All-Star Open and the All-Star Race Heat events set, the first All-Star Race Heat event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, May 20, at 7:20 p.m. ET on FS1 followed by the second All-Star Race Heat event that will follow suit at 8:15 p.m. ET on FS1. The All-Star Open is scheduled to occur on Sunday, May 21, at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1 while the All-Star Race will follow suit at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, all at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

  • Buescher conquers a wild Bristol Night Race; Playoff’s Round of 12 field set

    Buescher conquers a wild Bristol Night Race; Playoff’s Round of 12 field set

    On a night where multiple Playoff contenders encountered on-track issues from start to finish, another non-Playoff contender captured the spotlight as Chris Buescher made a triumphant return to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 17.

    The 29-year-old Buescher from Prosper, Texas, led twice for a race-high 169 of 500-scheduled laps, including the final 61, as he prevailed through a two-tire pit strategy and in a 57-lap dash to the finish by holding off Playoff contender Chase Elliott to score his second career win in NASCAR’s premier series and snap a 222-race winless drought under the lights at Thunder Valley.

    Buescher’s victory served as one of two major storylines to Saturday night’s event at Bristol. The second was the Playoff battle as the Round of 16 concluded with four big names, including Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick, being eliminated from the Playoffs.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Aric Almirola claimed his first pole position of the 2022 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 127.826 mph in 14.946 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Chase Briscoe, the highest-starting Playoff contender who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 127.503 mph in 14.968 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Almirola jumped ahead with the advantage on the outside lane followed by teammate Briscoe and Denny Hamlin as the field jostled early between two lanes for positions. When the field made their way back to the frontstretch, Almirola managed to lead the first lap ahead of Hamlin and Briscoe while Ryan Blaney was in fourth ahead of Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Almirola remained as the leader ahead of Hamlin followed by Blaney, Briscoe and Bell while Bowman, Larson, Keselowski, Ross Chastain and Kevin Harvick were in the top 10. Bubba Wallace, the winner of last weekend’s event at Kansas Speedway, was in 11th ahead of William Byron, rookie Austin Cindric, Cole Custer and AJ Allmendinger while Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr. and Justin Haley occupied the top 20. By then, Playoff contenders Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez were mired in 21st, 24th, 26th, 30th and 32nd, respectively.

    Fifteen laps later on Lap 25, Almirola, who approached lapped traffic, stabilized his advantage to nearly half a second over a side-by-side battle between Hamlin and Blaney while Briscoe and Bell remained in the top five. By then, half of the 16 Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10 while Kyle Busch, Reddick, Elliott, Austin Dillon and Suarez were among five Playoff contenders still mired outside of the top 20 on the track.

    Another 11 laps later, Blaney muscled his No. 12 Pennzoil/Menards Ford Mustang into the lead after he overtook Almirola as Hamlin started to challenge Almirola for the runner-up spot. 

    On Lap 42, the first caution of the event flew due to debris on the backstretch and following two right-front incidents affecting two competitors. The first was when JJ Yeley smacked the outside wall in Turn 2 and fell off the pace after losing a right-front tire. The incident occurred as Yeley, who was multiple laps down, was battling the top-five front-runners on the track. By then, rookie Harrison Burton got into the outside wall in Turn 3 after he lost a right-front tire to his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang.

    During the caution period, a majority of the field led by race leader Blaney pitted wile the rest led by Keselowski remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 49, Keselowski rocketed his No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford Mustang with the lead while teammate Chris Buescher and Wallace battled for the runner-up spot, with the former prevailing over the latter. Behind, Tyler Reddick was in fourth followed by Corey LaJoie and Almirola, the first competitor on four fresh tires, while Hamlin was in seventh as he was trying to navigate his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry back to the front.

    By Lap 60, Keselowski was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Buescher followed by Wallace, Reddick and Almirola while Hamlin, Bell, Blaney, LaJoie and Suarez occupied the top-10 spots on the track. Briscoe was in 11th followed by teammate Harvick, Larson, Byron and Kyle Busch while Bowman, Chastain, Logano, McDowell and Truex were in the top 20. By then, Cindric was in 22nd ahead of Austin Dillon and Elliott was mired back in 25th ahead of Ty Gibbs and Ty Dillon.

    Fifteen laps later and at the Lap 75 mark, Keselowski continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Buescher while Wallace, Hamlin and Reddick were running in the top five. Blaney, meanwhile, was in sixth while Almirola, Bell, Briscoe and Harvick were in the top 10 ahead of Larson, Kyle Busch, Bowman, Byron, Suarez and Chastain. While Logano and Austin Dillon were in 18th and 20th, Elliott was mired back in 22nd and Cindric was back in 24th.

    Nine laps later, early disaster struck for Cindric, who pitted under green after he lost a right-side tire to his No. 2 Freightliner Ford Mustang and scrubbed the outside wall entering Turn 2. By the time he returned to the track, his hopes of advancing to the Playoffs were jeopardized as he was mired back in 36th place on the track, dead last, and five laps down to the leaders.

    Then on Lap 91, the caution returned when Blaney smacked the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4 after losing a right-front tire to his No. 12 Ford. In the process to avoid hitting Blaney, Almirola spun his No. 10 Ford BlueOval City Ford Mustang in Turn 4 as he brushed the outside wall. Then as Blaney pitted for four fresh tires, the situation for him from bad to worse. In an effort to remain on the lead lap, he left his pit stall, but was unaware that his pit crew had removed the center lug nut from the left-rear wheel. This caused the left-rear wheel to roll off of Blaney’s car as Blaney came to a stop before spinning his car back to his pit stall for fresh left-side tires. In the process, he lost a lap to the leaders.

    During the caution period, some led by Buescher pitted while the rest led by Keselowski remained on the track. 

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 99, Keselowski retained the lead on the outside lane for a second time while Bell quickly challenged and overtook Reddick for the runner-up spot in his No. 20 Yahoo! Toyota TRD Camry. Behind, Kyle Busch, who restarted seventh, used the outside lane to his advantage as he bolted his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry past a bevy of names, including Larson, Briscoe and Reddick, in one lap before settling in third place behind teammate Bell. 

    By Lap 115, Keselowski retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Bell and nine-tenths of a second over third-place Kyle Busch while Briscoe and Larson battled for fourth. Meanwhile, Blaney, who had a part dragging to the rear end of his car following his pit road incident, had returned to the track following a lengthy pit stop as he was mired back in 36th place, dead last, and five laps behind the leaders. He would eventually be posted by NASCAR for not meeting minimum speed and pitted again to address a flat right-rear tire.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 125, Keselowski, who came into the event with an average-finishing result of 19.2, captured his first stage victory of the 2022 season. Bell settled in second followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Briscoe, Larson, Bowman, Buescher, Reddick, Byron and Truex. By then, Elliott was in 12th, Harvick and Hamlin were mired in 14th and 15th, Austin Dillon was in 17th, Chastain was in 19th ahead of Logano, Suarez was in 23rd, Cindric was five laps down in 35th and Blaney was 15 laps down in 36th, dead last.

    Under the stage break, some led by Keselowski, who pitted for the first time, pitted while the rest led by Buescher remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 133 as Buescher and Harvick occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher retained the lead ahead of Harvick while Chastain and Hamlin duked for third in front of Wallace, Custer and Justin Haley. 

    Following another caution period on Lap 139 when Harrison Burton got hit by Cindric and spun on the frontstretch and during the following restart on Lap 145, Buescher retained the top spot in his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang over Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang and the rest of the field.

    At the Lap 150 mark, Buescher continued to lead by half a second over Harvick followed by Hamlin, Wallace and Custer while Chastain, Haley, Suarez, Briscoe and Logano were in the top 10.

    Twenty-five laps later on Lap 175, Buescher stabilized his advantage to a tenth of a second over Harvick while Hamlin, Wallace and Chastain were scored in the top five. Shortly after, however, Wallace, who had smoke coming out of his No. 45 MoneyLion Toyota TRD Camry, pitted under green. The situation, which was deemed a right-front brake line failure, cost Wallace multiple laps as he remained in his pit stall while his pit crew diagnosed the issue.

    Back on the track on Lap 190 and while Buescher continued to lead by a tenth of a second, seven of 16 Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10, with Harvick in second ahead of Hamlin and Chastain while Briscoe was in sixth, two spots ahead of Bowman, Larson and Bell. Kyle Busch was in 11th while Elliott was up in 12th place. Suarez was in 14th, Byron was in 16th, Logano was in 18th, Reddick was back in 23rd, Cindric was four laps down while mired in 34th and Blaney was 78 laps down in 36th as he continued to lose more laps to the leaders while he remained in the garage to have his car repaired. By then, Wallace’s 23XI Racing teammate Ty Gibbs took his No. 23 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry to the garage due to a power steering issue.

    Six laps later, the caution flew when Erik Jones, who just went a lap down to the leader Buescher, spun his No. 43 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the backstretch after making contact with teammate Ty Dillon. The incident occurred as both Petty GMS Motorsports competitors were trying to avoid Harrison Burton, who encountered his third right-front tire issue of the night. During the caution period, names like Bell, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Suarez, Keselowski, Byron, Logano, McDowell, Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Todd Gilliland Reddick and the Dillon brothers pitted while the rest led by Buescher and Harvick remained on the track. By then, Truex took his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry to the garage and retired due to a power steering issue.

    With 45 laps remaining in the second stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Buescher retained the lead over Harvick while Harvick was being challenged by Hamlin and teammate Custer. Behind, Chastain battled for fifth over Briscoe as both Haley and Larson joined the battle. 

    Twenty laps later and with 25 laps remaining in the second stage, Buescher stabilized his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Harvick followed by Hamlin, Custer and Larson while Chastain was locked in a side-by-side battle with Bell for sixth. Behind, Briscoe was left battling Kyle Busch for eighth while Keselowski was back in 10th ahead of Elliott, Bowman, Byron, Almirola, Haley and Logano. By then, Austin Dillon and Suarez were back in 20th and 21st while Cindric was in 31st, five laps down. 

    With 16 laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew when Hamlin, who was in third, fell off the pace after blowing a right-front tire to his No. 11 Toyota as he just managed to keep his car off the outside wall. During the caution period, some led by Buescher pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.

    When the second stage proceeded with 10 laps remaining, Bell took off with the lead followed by a side-by-side battle involving Chastain and Briscoe while Elliott and Kyle Busch battled for fourth in front of Bowman and Byron. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 250, which marked the halfway point of the event, Bell, who is already guaranteed a spot in the Round of 12, captured his fourth stage victory of the 2022 season. Chastain settled in second followed by Briscoe, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Bowman, Byron, Austin Dillon, Larson and Harvick. By then, Suarez was in 11th, Logano was in 18th, Reddick was back in 23rd ahead of Hamlin, Cindric was five laps down in 31st and Blaney was still in the garage and mired in 36th place, 138 laps down.

    Under the stage break, names like Chastain, Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Bowman, Harrison Burton and Almirola pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.

    With 241 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Bell and Elliott occupied the front row. At the start, Bell retained the lead while Byron made his way into the runner-up spot over teammates Larson and Elliott. Behind, Harvick battled McDowell for fifth while Keselowski was in seventh over Custer.

    Eleven laps later, the caution returned when Kyle Busch, who came into the event two points below the top-12 cutline, fell off the pace entering the frontstretch and steered his car, which was billowing smoke, below the apron and to the garage, where he retired from contention due to an engine failure.

    “I don’t even know what to say,” Busch said on USA Network. “I’m flabbergasted. I just feel so bad for my guys. They don’t deserve to be in this spot. They worked too hard, were too good of a group to be this low, down on the bottom and fighting for our lives just to make it through. Two engine failures in three weeks. That’ll do to you…This is not our normal.”

    When the race restarted with 224 laps remaining, Bell cleared Byron to retain the lead as Larson went to work on teammate Byron for the runner-up spot followed by teammate Elliott and Harvick. Just as the front-runners were approaching Turns 3 and 4, the caution quickly returned for a multi-car wreck that started when Suarez got loose entering the backstretch as he clipped Stenhouse and spun, thus igniting carnage that collected teammate Chastain, Austin Dillon, Gilliland, Cindric, Elliott, Cassill, Burton, Briscoe, Reddick and Bowman, who retired after busting the radiator from his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, while Blaney, who returned to the track and was more than 150 laps down, was able to dodge the carnage.

    When the race restarted with 214 laps remaining, Bell outdueled Byron to remain as the leader as Larson and Keselowski overtook Byron for second and third. Behind, Harvick, faced in a “must-win” situation to advance to the Playoffs, was in fifth and Elliott made his way up to sixth in front of Buescher, McDowell and Logano.

    With 200 laps remaining, Bell was leading by six-tenths of a second over Larson followed by Keselowski, Byron and Harvick while Elliott, Buescher, Logano, McDowell and AJ Allmendinger were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Hamlin, Chastain and Briscoe were running 12th through 14th while Reddick was mired back in 28th place and still undergoing repairs to his No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Meanwhile, Austin Dillon, who was involved in the latest multi-car wreck, took his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the garage as he retired and failed to advance past the Round of 12.

    Fifty-two laps later, the caution flew when Erik Jones fell off the pace through the backstretch after he cut a right-rear tire to his No. 43 Chevrolet. By then, Bell continued to lead by by half a second over Larson followed by Keselowski, Elliott and Buescher while Harvick, Logano, Byron, McDowell and Allmendinger were in the top 10. In addition, Reddick, who found himself five points outside of the top-12 cutline to advance to the Playoffs, made another pit stop as his No. 8 pit crew went under the hood. 

    Under caution, the leaders led by Bell pitted and Larson emerged with the lead after beating Bell off of pit road in first place.

    During the following restart with 140 laps remaining, Larson retained the lead over Bell while Keselowski launched a challenge on Bell for second place as the field scattered and jostled for positions. By then, Reddick, who was in 28th and 29 laps down, was scored four points behind Kyle Busch for the 12th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs.

    With less than 120 laps remaining, Larson was leading ahead of Keselowski, Bell, Harvick and Buescher while Logano, Byron, Elliott, Allmendinger and Custer occupied the top 10. By then, Hamlin was in 11th, Chastain and Briscoe were in 14th and 15th, Suarez was back in 22nd, Cindric was in 25th and Reddick was in 28th. Blaney, meanwhile, was in 35th after he overtook a retired Truex.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Keselowski, who overtook Larson for the lead following a slide job 12 laps earlier, was leading by six-tenths of a second over Larson while Bell, Harvick and Buescher remained in the top five. By then, six of 16 Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10.

    Not long after, Logano, who is guaranteed a spot in the Round of 12, made an unscheduled pit stop to address a flat right-front tire to his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang. 

    Then wit 87 laps remaining, disaster struck for Keselowski, who lost a right-front tire entering Turn 3 after he popped a right-front tire to his No. 6 Ford Mustang. With Keselowski limping his car back to pit road, the race remained under green as Bell returned to the lead followed by Larson, Harvick, Buescher and Elliott.

    With less than 70 laps remaining, Bell remained as the leader by three-tenths of a second over Larson and more than a second over third-place Harvick while Buescher and Elliott remained in the top five. By then, pole-sitter Almirola took his car to the garage due to a power steering issue.

    Down to the final 64 laps, however, the caution flew when Bell cut a right-rear tire as he lost the lead to Larson and fell off the pace through the backstretch, though he remained in second place in front of Harvick. During the caution period, the leaders led by Larson and including Bell pitted. Following the pit stops, Buescher emerged with the lead following a two-tire pit stop followed by Elliott, Byron, Larson and Allmendinger, all of whom elected for four fresh tires. During the pit stops, disaster struck for both Harvick and Hamlin after both encountered loose wheels that stalled their progress towards the front. For Harvick, he had fallen back to 10th after he backed his car back to his pit stall due to his left-front tire not being secured. For Hamlin, he was back in 11th after he had a loose left-rear wheel that needed to be tightened while trying to exit his pit stall. 

    With 57 laps remaining and with the field restarting under green, Buescher retained the lead while teammates Byron and Elliott battled for second in front of Larson, Bell and Allmendinger.

    Sixteen laps later and with 40 laps remaining, Buescher stabilized his advantage to nearly nine-tenths of a second over Elliott while Byron, Larson and Bell battled for third. By then, Cindric, who took the wave around and was up in 21st while six laps behind, drew himself into a one-point advantage over Kyle Busch for the 12th and final transfer spot to the Round of 12. In addition, Logano retired due to a suspension issue.

    Another 20 laps later, Buescher, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic, continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Elliott. Behind, Byron and Bell trailed by more than a second while fifth-place Larson trailed by more than two seconds. Meanwhile, Chastain was in sixth while Hamlin and Harvick were mired back in ninth and 10th.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Buescher was ahead by eight-tenths of a second over Elliott while Byron continued to fend off Bell for third place.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Buescher remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Elliott’s No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Despite encountering more lapped traffic for a final circuit, Buescher was able to maintain a reasonable gap to Elliott as he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his first checkered flag in six years.

    The Bristol victory was Buescher’s second in the Cup Series and first since he claimed his first career win in the rain-shortened event at Pocono Raceway in August 2016. He also became the 19th different winner through 29 scheduled events of the 2022 Cup season and the 139th different competitor to achieve multiple victories in NASCAR’s premier series. In addition, Buescher recorded the first NASCAR victory for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing since the organization last won at Daytona International Speedway in July 2017, their first since the team was rebranded to RFK Racing and the first Cup victory for crew chief Scott Graves.

    With Buescher’s victory, this marked the first time since the Playoff-elimination format debuted in 2014 where a Playoff round’s three events were swept by non-title contenders after Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace won the previous two Round of 16 events.

    Photo by Jim Barnes for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Man, this is just so special,” Buescher said on the frontstretch. “This team did such a great job. First Cup win for [sponsor] Fastenal for a points-paying race. That’s awesome. Glad to have Fastenal onboard tonight. Just so special here at Bristol. I love this racetrack. I love the fans. I love every time we come here. It’s so special. [I] Lost one [at Bristol] that really broke our heart back in 2015 on the Xfinity side with [Scott] Graves atop the pit box. This makes up for that. That’s pretty awesome. Pretty special.”

    “It was up to me at that point [during the final restart],” Buescher added. “Just hold on and make it work. We really had a fast Fastenal Mustang. Just so proud of everybody. We knew we had a good race car after practice. [I] Didn’t quite get the job done in qualifying, but what a race car. It’s special. Get [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing] in Victory Lane for the first time. We had great race cars. Brad [Keselowski] had really good speed, too. I don’t know what else to say. I’m out of breath. This place will wear you flat out and I love that about it, but such a special night. This [race] is number one on the list right here. This is it.”

    Meanwhile, Elliott rallied from qualifying 23rd to finish in second place for his 11th top-five result of the season while Byron, Bell and Larson completed the top five on the track. All four are among 12 competitors to advance to the Playoff’s Round of 12.

    “I wasn’t close enough to do anything with [Buescher],” Elliott said. “We had a long day yesterday. [I] Was able to battle back for a bad qualifying effort to get a top two [finish. Proud of that. Glad to be moving on [in the Playoffs]. Looking forward to some more opportunities in these coming weeks.”

    Playoff contender Chastain came home in sixth while Allmendinger, Custer, Hamlin and Harvick completed the top 10 on the track.

    When all was said and done on the track, drivers Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez and rookie Austin Cindric transferred to the Round of 12 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick were eliminated from title contention for the 2022 season.

    For Cindric, good fortune was on the rookie’s side in spite of the early unscheduled pit stop for a flat right-front tire. With a multitude of Playoff contenders also running into on-track issues throughout the night, Cindric’s 20th-place result was enough for him to claim the 12th and final transfer spot to the Round of 12 by two points over both Kyle Busch and Reddick.

    “That was easy, right?” Cindric said. “[I] Came in plus two [points] and leave plus two. Just how we drew it up. What a night. We had right-front tires going down left and right from the beginning of the race. To get all of us into the Round of 12 after a very scary night for Team Penske, proud to do my job and hang in there. Got that one out.”

    For Harvick, the final pit stop prior to the final restart was the endgame of his hopes of transferring to the Round of 16 as he left Bristol mired in 16th place in the standings and without an opportunity to contend for a second championship despite rallying for a 10th-place result.

    “It was pretty tough,” Harvick said. “We pitted in front of [Buescher], so just kind of the way the year has gone. [I] Just went from having a chance to lead the parade to being a part of the parade. Just difficult to pass.”

    The night was also adventurous for both Blaney and Reddick, both of whom encountered on-track issues of their own from start to finish. In the end, Blaney managed to work his way to 30th place in the final leaderboard and transfer to the Round of 12 while Reddick failed to transfer to the Round of 12 by two points for a second consecutive season.

    “Lucky to get in, I guess,” Blaney said. “We were really fast early and just had a right front [tire] go down like almost everybody else in the race. We just hit the wall a little bit harder than some other guys. Spent a long time fixing [the car], but was able to get back out. We built a good enough gap the first two [Playoff] races to give ourselves a bit of a cushion and then, some guys had their issues tonight. Pretty crazy turn of events, for sure. Good perseverance by this No. 12 group. Looking forward to getting into Texas.”

    “Frustrating, for sure,” Reddick said. “We unloaded in the race and just quite didn’t have the pace or the balance to make our car better. Unfortunately, with the balance issues we were fighting, we were pretty much limited. We couldn’t really adjust on it without hurting the downforce of the car, overall. We were kind of boxed in. Then, we just got collected in that accident back there. I checked up in time, but yeah, I got absolutely ran over from there. Caught the right front and broke the upper control arm for the second week in a row.”

    There were 12 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 80 laps.

    Results.

    1. Chris Buescher, 169 laps led

    2. Chase Elliott

    3. William Byron

    4. Christopher Bell, 143 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    5. Kyle Larson, 34 laps led

    6. Ross Chastain

    7. AJ Allmendinger

    8. Cole Custer

    9. Denny Hamlin 

    10. Kevin Harvick

    11. Michael McDowell

    12. Justin Haley

    13. Brad Keselowski, one lap down, 109 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    14. Chase Briscoe, two laps down

    15. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

    16. Harrison Burton, three laps down

    17. Cody Ware, three laps down

    18. Todd Gilliland, four laps down

    19. Daniel Suarez, six laps down

    20. Austin Cindric, seven laps down

    21. Erik Jones, eight laps down

    22. Landon Cassill, eight laps down

    23. JJ Yeley, nine laps down

    24. BJ McLeod, nine laps down

    25. Tyler Reddick, 31 laps down

    26. Ty Dillon – OUT, Steering

    27. Joey Logano – OUT, Suspension

    28. Aric Almirola – OUT, Steering, 36 laps led

    29. Bubba Wallace, 92 laps down

    30. Ryan Blaney, 162 laps down, nine laps led

    31. Austin Dillon – OUT, Dvp

    32. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

    33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

    34. Kyle Busch – OUT, Engine

    35. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Steering

    36. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Steering

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Chase Elliott – Advanced

    2. Joey Logano – Advanced

    3. Ross Chastain – Advanced

    4. Kyle Larson – Advanced

    5. William Byron – Advanced

    6. Denny Hamlin – Advanced

    7. Christopher Bell – Advanced

    8. Ryan Blaney – Advanced

    9. Chase Briscoe – Advanced

    10. Alex Bowman – Advanced

    11. Daniel Suarez – Advanced 

    12. Austin Cindric – Advanced

    13. Kyle Busch – Eliminated

    14. Tyler Reddick – Eliminated

    15. Austin Dillon – Eliminated

    16. Kevin Harvick – Eliminated

    The Round of 12 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will commence next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway for a 500-mile feature on Sunday, September 25. The event is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Buescher avoids final lap calamity to win second Bluegreen Vacations Duel; Biffle transfers to the Daytona 500

    Buescher avoids final lap calamity to win second Bluegreen Vacations Duel; Biffle transfers to the Daytona 500

    Chris Buescher capped off a perfect day for the newly named Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing by winning the second Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, February 17, despite being involved in a last lap incident with Joey Logano that sent Logano hard into the wall and with a wrecked race car leading up to this year’s 64th running of the Daytona 500.

    The second Duel victory awarded Buescher a starting spot on the second row alongside teammate Brad Keselowski in fourth place as he will contend for his first victory in his seventh career start in the Great American Race.

    Prior to the event, Alex Bowman, who claimed a front row starting spot for the 64th running of the Daytona 500, started on the pole and was joined on the front row with Aric Almirola. In addition, Jacques Villeneuve, who locked himself into the 500 based on qualifying speed, fell out of lead lap contention after enduring a throttle cable issue before he could roll his car out on the track for the pace laps.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Bowman assumed an early command with the lead while Almirola challenged Martin Truex Jr. for the runner-up spot on the outside lane.

    By the first lap, Bowman was leading ahead of Truex, who had Joey Logano challenge him on the outside lane with drafting help from rookie Harrison Burton while Almirola lost the draft and drifted towards the rear of the field.

    During the following lap, Logano led by a hair through the tri-oval before Bowman stormed back to the lead on the inside lane in Turn 3 with drafting help from Truex and the competitors lined up on the inside lane.

    By the fifth lap, Bowman was leading ahead of Logano and Truex, both of whom were locked in a side-by-side battle in front of Burton, Denny Hamlin and the field. 

    Three laps later, Logano peaked his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang ahead with the lead. Another two laps later, however, Bowman fought back to lead another lap for himself before Logano assumed full command, beginning on Lap 11.

    By Lap 15, the Dillon brothers moved to the front as Austin Dillon assumed the lead followed by brother Ty. Another two laps later, however, Chris Buescher moved his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang into the lead before Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led a lap for himself on Lap 18.

    Through the first 20 laps of the event, Buescher was leading ahead of Stenhouse, Kevin Harvick, Michael McDowell Logano while Burton, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch were in the top 10. 

    On Lap 26, some competitors that included Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin pitted under green. In the midst of the pit stops, Hamlin locked up the front tires of his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry while trying to enter pit road and spun just past the pit road entrance. Despite continuing, he lost the draft with his Toyota teammates and was mired back in 19th place.

    Back on the track, Buescher continued to lead followed by Stenhouse, Harvick, McDowell and Logano. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 30, Buescher retained the lead ahead of Stenhouse, Harvick, McDowell and Logano. Burton, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Biffle and Kyle Busch were in the top 10. By then, Biffle was in a transfer spot and 12 spots ahead of Timmy Hill, who was also vying for a transfer spot but mired back in 21st place, dead last.

    Two laps later, the next wave of competitors led by Stenhouse pitted under green. Then coming to Lap 34, Buescher pitted as Logano cycled to the lead. In the midst of the pit stops, Biffle endured a long pit stop after his pit crew had issues while trying to get fuel in his car, but he retained a transfer spot for the 500 ahead of Hill and Villeneuve.

    With 20 laps remaining, Logano was leading ahead of Buescher, McDowell and Harrison Burton, all of whom were separated by less three-tenths of a second while fifth-place Stenhouse trailed by less than nine seconds. Harvick, Kyle Busch, Bell, Truex and Bubba Wallace were in the top 10 while Biffle retained a transfer spot in 14th place, six spots ahead of Timmy Hill and seven ahead of Villeneuve.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Logano continued to lead by a narrow margin over Buescher, McDowell, Harrison Burton and Kyle Busch while Bell, Truex, Wallace, Stenhouse and Harvick were in the top 10. Behind, Biffle was in 14th ahead of Bowman, but in a transfer spot while Hill and Villeneueve were mired back in 20th and 21st.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano continued to lead ahead of Buescher, McDowell and Burton as Harvick was lapped. Then entering the backstraightaway, Buescher, who tried to make a move beneath Logano, made contact with Logano as Logano tried to block Buescher’s run, which sent Logano head-on into the outside wall. While Buescher and McDowell bolted to the left to avoid the carnage, Burton made contact with Logano’s damaged No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang, which sent his car spinning while Burton continued. 

    Logano’s wreck ended the event under caution as Buescher crossed the finish line in first place ahead of McDowell and Burton. Shortly after, Buescher was declared the winner of the event following an official review.

    The victory marked Buescher’s first victory in the NASCAR Cup Series since claiming his first career victory at Pocono Raceway during a rain-shortened event and his first career Daytona Speedweeks win.

    “What a way to start Speedweeks out here,” Buescher said on FS1. “To put both [Roush Fenway Keselowski] Ford Mustangs to Victory Lane. To get Fastenal their first win on a Cup car. I know it’s not the big show, but we got a really good hot rod here. Just hats off to everybody back at the shop. I know it’s been a heck of an off-season for everybody at our sport, but we’ve had a lot of changes going on and that’s cool to see it play out…We’re in a good spot here. That’s exciting.”

    Following his wreck, Logano ended the night in ninth place, the first competitor a lap down.

    “I just made a mistake,” Logano, who emerged from the infield care center uninjured, said. “I didn’t think the run would come that quick. It just seemed like it happened really quick. Even watching the replay, it happened quicker than I thought it would. I knew a run was gonna happen at some point on the last lap. I thought that was pretty early…Thought I was still clear and I wasn’t. I apologize to my race team…Just blew it. ”

    McDowell and Burton were scored in second and third while Kyle Busch and teammate Bell finished in the top five. Truex, Wallace and Stenhouse finished sixth, seventh and eighth while Harvick settled in 10th, a lap behind.

    Meanwhile, Greg Biffle finished 13th and raced his way into this year’s 64th running of the Daytona 500 while driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for NY Racing. With the accomplishment, Biffle will be making his 511th career start in NASCAR’s premier series and contend for his first victory in the Great American Race, which will mark his 15th career start in the 500.

    “It was a tough go,” Biffle said. “I gotta thank Chevy, [Richard Childress Racing], Hendrick engines and [crew chief] Jay Guy. The car drove so good. This was a last minute deal. These team guys thrown together. We had trouble getting fuel in the car. I ran out of gas with two laps to go…Everything happened tonight, but we finished 14th. I’m glad maybe that fuel stop wasn’t perfect because I might’ve been in that wreck [on the final lap]. ”

    Timmy Hill, who finished 20th, failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 while Jacques Villeneuve, who retired in 21st place, dead last, secured the final transfer spot to the 500 based on his qualifying speed. 

    There were 11 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured one caution for one lap.

    Results.

    1. Chris Buescher, 17 laps led

    2. Michael McDowell

    3. Harrison Burton

    4. Kyle Busch

    5. Christopher Bell

    6. Martin Truex Jr.

    7. Bubba Wallace

    8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap led

    9. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 33 laps led

    10. Kevin Harvick, one lap down

    11. Corey LaJoie, one lap down

    12. Ty Dillon, one lap down

    13. Greg Biffle, one lap down

    14. Alex Bowman, one lap down, seven laps led

    15. Denny Hamlin, one lap down

    16. Cody Ware, one lap down

    17. David Ragan, two laps down

    18. Austin Dillon, two laps led

    19. Aric Almirola, two laps down

    20. Timmy Hill, four laps down

    21. Jacques Villeneuve – OUT, Electrical

    With the starting lineup for the 2022 Daytona 500 established, the main event is set to commence on Sunday, February 20, which will also mark the start of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. Coverage for the event is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Keselowski wins first Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona; Grala transfers to the Daytona 500

    Keselowski wins first Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona; Grala transfers to the Daytona 500

    Brad Keselowski commenced a new beginning to his racing career as a driver and co-owner of the newly named Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing on a high note by winning the first Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, February 17, following a late battle against his fellow Ford and ex-teammates from Team Penske that included rookie Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe.

    The first Duel victory awarded Keselowski the third-place starting spot for this year’s 64th running of the Daytona 500 as he will contend for his first victory in the Great American Race in his 13th career start in the 500.

    Prior to the event, Kyle Larson, who claimed the pole position for the 64th running of the Daytona 500, started on the pole for the first Duel event and was joined on the front row with teammate William Byron. Kaz Grala, competing for the non-chartered Money Team Racing that needed to race their way into the Daytona 500, started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to have his digital dash fixed in his car.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Larson moved in front of teammate Byron to retain the lead ahead of the field. With the field fanning out to double lanes and in close quarters racing, Larson led the first lap.  

    Behind Larson on the inside lane were his Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates Byron and Chase Elliott while Ross Chastain, who had drafting help from Tyler Reddick, started to mount a challenge for the lead on the outside lane. 

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, the field settled in a long single file line as Larson continued to lead ahead of teammates Byron and Elliott followed by Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney. Brad Keselowski, rookie Austin Cindric, Kurt Busch and Cole Custer were running sixth through ninth while Chastain, who made several attempts to take the lead on the outside lane early, slipped back to 10th place ahead of Reddick, Erik Jones, Chase Briscoe and Kaz Grala. By then, Grala was five positions ahead of J.J. Yeley, who needed to race his way into the Daytona 500, and seven ahead of Noah Gragson, who was guaranteed a starting spot for the 500 based on his qualifying speed.

    Ten laps later on Lap 20, the field continued to run in a long single file line as Larson remained as the leader ahead of teammates Byron and Elliott followed by Suarez, Blaney, Keselowski, Cindric, Kurt Busch, Chastain and Reddick. Grala was back in 18th place ahead of Yeley, B.J. McLeod and Gragson.

    When the field Duel event reached the halfway mark on Lap 30, the 21-car field was broken apart in certain segments with a majority running closely at the front while the rest settled far back at the rear of the field. At the front, Larson retained the lead ahead of teammates Byron and Elliott while Suarez, Blaney, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Cindric, Erik Jones and Chastain were in the top 10.

    Five laps later, all three non-chartered competitors were scored a lap behind as Grala lost a lap to the leaders while running ahead of Yeley and Gragson.

    Just then, a wave of competitors led by Larson pitted under green while Blaney assumed the lead. Soon after, Blaney, Keselowski, Briscoe and Cindric pitted for two fresh tires as they emerged ahead of the pack. In the midst of the pit stops, Grala was forced to serve a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road during his service.

    With 20 laps remaining, Blaney was leading ahead of ex-teammate Keselowski, Briscoe and teammate Cindric while Reddick and Kurt Busch were in fifth and sixth. Elliott was in seventh ahead of Erik Jones while Larson was back in ninth ahead of teammate Byron, Chastain, Suarez, rookie Todd Gilliland, Justin Haley, Landon Cassill, Daniel Hemric and Cole Custer. By then, Yeley was in a transfer spot in 18th while Gragson and Grala were mired back in 20th and 21st.

    Five laps later, the top-five competitors led by Blaney were more than five seconds ahead of sixth-place Elliott as Blaney remained as the leader ahead of Keselowski, Briscoe, Cindric and Reddick.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Blaney continued to lead by a narrow margin over Keselowski while Briscoe, Cindric and Reddick remained in the top five. Elliott continued to trail by less than five seconds in sixth place ahead of Erik Jones, Larson, Kurt Busch and Byron. By then, Yeley was in 18th but in a transfer spot ahead of Grala and Gragson.

    With five laps remaining, the top-four Ford competitors distanced themselves from the rest of the field by less than five seconds as Blaney led Keselowski, Briscoe and Cindric across the start/finish line.

    Then during the following lap, Keselowski made a bold move on the outside lane past the tri-oval to take the lead followed by Briscoe while Blaney and Cindric fell back to third and fourth. Blaney and Cindric, however, returned the favor by overtaking Briscoe to move back to second and third during the following lap as Keselowski made his way past three lapped competitors. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Keselowski continued to lead despite being pressured by Blaney, who was drafting Keselowski through the first two turns. Then through the backstraightaway, Cindric and Briscoe made their move to pass Blaney and close in on Keselowski for the lead entering Turns 3 and 4. Entering Turn 4, however, Briscoe made a move on Cindric for the runner-up spot, which allowed Keselowski to pull away from his fellow Ford competitors as he crossed the finish line to win by more than two-tenths of a second.

    The victory was Keselowski’s first in a Daytona Duel event and his first as a co-owner and competitor of the newly named No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang team as he will occupy the inside line on the second row for this year’s Daytona 500. 

    “I felt pretty good about our car on practice on Tuesday,” Keselowski said on FS1. “I gotta give credit to the other Fords. We worked really well together. Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Austin [Cindric]. We had a great strategy. We stuck together and we drove away. Got ourselves in position where we could control the finish of this race. I’m happy to see all those Fords upfront. Good job to all those guys. Great start for our Kohler Generators Ford team! This is special.”

    Behind, Cindric edged Blaney and Briscoe in a photo finish to finish second while Elliott settled in fifth place, trailing by more than two seconds. Erik Jones, Larson, Reddick, Kurt Busch and Chastain rounded out the top 10 on the track.

    Meanwhile, Kaz Grala managed to track down Yeley and overtake him on the final lap while two laps behind to finish 18th and earn a transfer spot in this year’s Daytona 500, which will mark the first NASCAR Cup Series start for the Money Team Racing co-owned by former boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. The accomplishment will allow Grala to make his fifth career start in NASCAR’s premier series and his second in a row in the Daytona 500.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “I made it happen not the way I wanted to,” Grala said. “I made a mistake. I sped on pit road and I thought we were out of it, but I wasn’t gonna give up no matter what. We got into a little line in there with Kurt Busch pushing us and we were running fast lap times, and I was hoping the timing was gonna work out. It wasn’t by much, but it did. We caught them in [Turns] 1 and 2 on the very last lap and was able to get by [Yeley] for it. [I] Pulled a couple years off my life, but it doesn’t matter because we’re gonna be out there on Sunday and we got a shot to win the Daytona 500. I’m really grateful, I’m excited for the Money Team Racing. Floyd Mayweather’s car is gonna be out there, making its debut, and I’m really, really grateful to be the one holding the wheel. We’re gonna have fun. This is gonna be a fun ride together all year with them and I can’t wait to get it started.”

    Yeley, who ended up in 19th place, failed to qualify for this year’s Daytona 500 while Gragson, who settled in 21st place, dead last, made the 500 based on his qualifying speed.

    There were two lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured no cautions.

    Results.

    1. Brad Keselowski, four laps led

    2. Austin Cindric

    3. Ryan Blaney, 22 laps led

    4. Chase Briscoe

    5. Chase Elliott

    6. Erik Jones

    7. Kyle Larson, 34 laps led

    8. Tyler Reddick

    9. Kurt Busch

    10. Ross Chastain

    11. Daniel Suarez 

    12. William Byron

    13. Justin Haley

    14. Landon Cassill

    15. Todd Gilliland

    16. Cole Custer, one lap down

    17. Daniel Hemric, one lap down

    18. Kaz Grala, two laps down

    19. J.J. Yeley, two laps down

    20. B.J. McLeod, two laps down

    21. Noah Gragson, three laps down

    The second Bluegreen Vacations Duel is underway at Daytona International Speedway, which will complete the starting lineup for the 64th annual running of the Daytona 500 scheduled for Sunday, February 20, at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.