Chris Buescher won the NASCAR Cup Series’ Bristol night race Saturday (Sept. 17) to claim the second win of his Cup career.
It took a two-tire pit stop with about 60 laps left to go at Bristol Motor Speedway to get clean air for the No. 17 RFK Racing driver.
Buescher, who led 169 laps, became the 19th driver to win in 2022, a new Modern Era record.
“This is just so special, this team does such a great job,” Buescher told NBC Sports after the race. “Just so special here at Bristol. I love this racetrack. I love the fans. I love every time we come here, so special to me. Lost one that had really broke our heart back in 2015 on the Xfinity [Series] side with [Scott] Graves on top of the box so this makes up for that.”
When asked whether he was worried about the two-tire call on the last pit stop, Buescher replied, “Not one bit. It was up to me at that point. Just hold on, and make it work. We had a really fast Fastenal Mustang. Just so proud of everybody. We knew we had a good racecar after practice and didn’t quite get the job done in qualifying. But what a racecar. It’s special. To get RFK in victory lane for the first time. We had great racecars, Brad [Keselowski] had really good speed too.”
Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick ended up below the cut line after the race.
Chase Elliott placed second, while his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron was third. Christopher Bell was fourth after leading 143 circuits and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
Ross Chastain, AJ Allmendinger, Cole Custer, Denny Hamlin and Harvick took positions six through 10, respectively.
Multiple cars, including several playoff contenders, encountered issues throughout the night.
It started with the Fords, as several incurred flat right-front tires in stage one. First Harrison Burton and JJ Yeley had flats, while Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney suffered down right-front tires later on.
Blaney’s issues continued throughout the early portion of the race, which included a tire coming off on pit road, and he eventually went behind the wall for repairs on the rear end of the car. He came back out on the track on lap 266.
All these problems brought the caution out several times, allowing for differing pit strategies. The RFK Racing duo of Keselowski and Buescher were among those who had stayed out, and the clean air helped them stay up front. Keselowski ended up winning stage one.
Buescher stayed out, as did many others, and held…
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