bristol, tennessee. – With Chase Elliott chasing him relentlessly for the final 50 laps, Chris Buescher held on to win Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops night race at Bristol Motor Speedway, becoming the 19th different NASCAR Cup Series winner this season. p>
after the event that set the stage for the round of 12 in the series playoffs, and eliminated superstars kyle busch and kevin harvick from the postseason, a dozen drivers breathed a sigh of relief and fervently awaited a return to the cars stock. sanity on the next round.
more: busch blows engine | harvick’s well problem
a two-wheeler pit stop under caution on lap 438 of 500 put reddick in the lead for a restart on lap 444. the driver of the no. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford led the final 61 laps and a total of 169 in the race to give the RFK organization its first victory since Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took the checkered flag at daytona on july 1, 2017 in daytona.
related: official results | photos on the track
The win was the first for rfk racing since brad keselowski joined the organization as owner/driver after the 2021 season.
buescher was the third consecutive non-playoff driver to win a race in the round of 16, an unprecedented feat.
“It’s so special here,” said Buescher, whose only other cup victory came in a rain-shortened race at Pocono in 2016. “I love this racetrack. I love the fans I love it every time we come here. it’s so special it’s quite impressive.”
buescher said he wasn’t worried about starting the final race with two new tires, even though everyone chasing him had four.
“I wasn’t a little”, he affirmed. “It was up to me at the time. I made it work and we had a very fast (car). we knew we had a really fast race car in practice and we didn’t get the job done in qualifying (20th), but what a race car.
“I don’t know what to say right now. I’m breathless. this place will wear you down, and I love that. it’s just a special night.”
elliott was .458 seconds behind buescher at the end. william byron came in third, followed by christopher bell, who posted his third consecutive top-five finish in the round of 16. kyle larson was fifth and ross chastain sixth, as all five drivers immediately behind buescher in the order of finish advanced to the round of 12.
denny hamlin, chase briscoe, daniel suarez, joey logano, ryan blaney and alex bowman also secured places in the next round, although they all had serious problems during the race.
elliott closed in on buescher in the last two laps, but ran out of time.
“I felt like we were winning, but it was… I wasn’t close enough to do anything with him,” Elliott said. “But I appreciate the effort. We had a long day yesterday. he was able to bounce back from a poor qualifying effort (23rd) to land in the top two, very proud of that.
“I’m glad to be moving forward (into the playoffs) and I’m looking forward to more opportunities here in the coming weeks.”
Harvick, needing a win to advance to the next round, stayed consistently in the top five after falling out late in stage 1 to gain track position. But Harvick’s chances evaporated in the pits on lap 438 when his team failed to secure the left rear on their no. 4 stewart-haas racing fords.
While the tire was rolling, Harvick had to back up to his pit stop. Lost time left him 10th for the final restart on lap 444. There he finished, exiting the playoffs in 16th place.
“It was pretty tough,” Harvick said. “We came in in front of 17 (buescher), so that’s how the year has gone. he just went from having the opportunity to lead the parade to being part of the parade. just hard to pass.”
busch’s ejection was a touch and go affair. He and Tyler Reddick both fell two points short of Austin Cindric, who finished seven laps down in 20th but gained enough positions by overtaking latecomers to move forward.
busch had racked up 14 points in the first two stages and was racing over the elimination line when his engine blew out on lap 270, busch’s second failure in three playoff races.
“It just goes with our year,” Busch said. “I don’t even know what to say. I am dumbfounded. I feel so bad for my boys. They don’t deserve to be in this place. they work too much. we’re too good a group to be so low, deep down, fighting for our lives just to get by. two engine failures in three weeks, that will affect you.”
reddick and richard childress, his racing teammate austin dillon, failed to make it to the round of 12 after both drivers’ chevrolets were damaged in a 12-car crash on the backstretch on lap 277. reddick finished 25th and dillon 31st.
keselowski led 109 laps and seemed to have a chance of winning races until his right front tire went flat on lap 414 while leading.
“We had two cars that were really good today, one that was unlucky and one that worked, and everything worked out for them,” Keselowski said.
round of 12 opens at texas motor speedway on september 1st. 25 (3:30 PM ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM Nascar Radio).
note: the post-race technical inspection concluded without issue and confirmed buescher as the race winner. the numbers Cars 4, 20 and 24 will return to the NASCAR Research and Development Center for additional teardown inspection.