DARLINGTON, S.C. — With a three-wide move to take the lead from Tyler Reddick and Brad Keselowski with 30 laps to go, Chris Buescher looked to be on his way to victory in Sunday’s (May 12) Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.
But Reddick had the dominant car of the day, winning the pole and leading 174 of the first 263 laps. He quickly made up that ground, and with 10 laps to go, he was right in the No. 17 car’s tire track.
In turns 3 and 4, Reddick dived to the inside in an attempt to draw even with Buescher, but the move didn’t work, and both of them ended up in the outside wall. Reddick had a flat, Buescher had a flat and Keselowski sailed on by to break a 110-race winless drought and score his first win as an owner of RFK Racing.
Buescher and Reddick went on to finish two laps off the pace in 30th and 32nd, respectively. Buescher was furious, and he stormed down pit road to give Reddick a piece of his mind after the race.
“I’m sorry. I f–ked up, I f–ked up,” Reddick said.
“It doesn’t work for me,” Buescher said. “… I don’t have that [winner’s] sticker on my door. This means more. I need you to be better. We’ve raced each other just fine for so long.”
“I know,” Reddick said. “I’m sorry.”
Reddick took full responsibility for the incident post-race.
“Too aggressive,” Reddick said. “[Buescher’s] still outside, and I tried to check up, but it was too little, too late and I slid right into him. Popped my tire, popped his tire. It sucks.”
“I completely understand [his frustration]. If I just would have took myself out of it and I had a flat, that’s a different story. …
“Just hate that it took him out of the race too, he should have won the race. If I take myself out going for it, I can live with that. But he didn’t deserve to get caught up in it too.”
With a frustrating result and a near-miss, Buescher just didn’t understand the thought process behind Reddick making the move that he did.
“Clean racing until it wasn’t,” Buescher said. “[Reddick and Keselowski] got side-by-side and got checked up, and we got by completely clean, and I was trying to take care of stuff but run hard.
“[Reddick] just went for a move that was never going to happen there. I just don’t get it. He wiped us both out. We…
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