In a largely chaotic race – action-packed literally from the drop of the green flag, it was Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher who prevailed in overtime in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen – passing road course ace, Shane Van Gisbergen in a bumper-to-bumper last lap duel to claim his career first road course victory at the famed Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
Van Gisbergen took the lead from the second row in a daring three-wide move on an overtime restart, but Buescher chased him down. Buescher’s No. 17 RFK Racing Ford and Van Gisbergen’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet made contact in the course’s famous bus stop then Buescher slid his Mustang inside Van Gisbergen’s Camaro in the esses and motored off to a .979-second win over the New Zealand superstar in the second Playoff race of the season.
Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain and Spire’s Zane Smith rounded out the top-five. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe finished sixth, followed by Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell, Spire’s Corey LaJoie, SHR’s Ryan Preece and Team Penske’s Austin Cindric.
Briscoe and Cindric were the only two Playoff drivers to finish among the top-10 in what was a perpetually dramatic day for the 16 Playoff drivers racing for the NASCAR Cup Series championship.
“Oh man, it was such a good Ford Mustang, speed was so great and long run speed phenomenal,” said the 31-year-old Texan Buescher, who just missed qualifying for the Playoffs when Chase Briscoe won the regular season finale at Darlington three weeks ago.
“I thought we lost it there on the last one but, man, to stay right there with him. It was a spot he was better than us, but he just missed it so I tried to cross over and just hard racing. What an awesome finish. To be that good for so much at the end of the race – all race – to get a win is good.
“We came here to be spoilers and we’re going to do that.”
Van Gisbergen, who won the Chicago Street Race last season in his first ever NASCAR Cup Series start, was a factor all day as expected for the former Australian Supercars champion, who will compete fulltime in the NASCAR Cup Series next year in the No. 88 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing.
“Driver error, yeah,” Van Gisbergen said of his slip in the bus stop. “I knew Chris was really going to send it and push me if he could get there and as I turned back I was a bit loose and clipped the inside wall. Just driver error and I’m gutted.
“The race was really awesome there with Ross [Chastain] and Chris [Buescher] and the others at the end, I’m gutted we couldn’t get it. We had a lot of fun, but I’m pretty angry at myself.”
It was a fitting dramatic ending to a day that shook up the Playoff standings from the opening lap to the final lap (92). Twelve of the 16 Playoff drivers suffered some sort of “challenge” on the day.
Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney – who led the points standings entering the race – was eliminated from the race on Lap 1 after being innocently caught up in collision that included half a dozen cars, including fellow Playoff competitors Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Christopher Bell.
It was just the beginning of a long, challenging day for Hamlin who was involved in another accident mid-race. He was part of a three-wide line of Playoff drivers – also including Kyle Larson and Keselowski – trying to make it through the track’s famous series of turns called, the esses. Unfortunately for Hamlin there wasn’t enough room for the wide challenges and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota again suffered damage.
Larson and fellow Playoff drivers, Regular Season Champion Tyler Reddick, Bell, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and William Byron were involved in multiple incidents throughout the day.
The high-speed, high-action day ended a streak of five consecutive Hendrick Motorsports wins at the historic 2.45-mile Watkins Glen track. Among the Playoff drivers, Larson finished 12th, followed by Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez, Bell and Logano rounding out the top-15.
Hendrick’s Alex Bowman was 18th, followed – in order – by teammate Elliott and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr.
JGR’s Ty Gibbs was 22nd, followed immediately by his teammate Hamlin and Wood Brothers’ Harrison Burton. Keselowski was 26th and Reddick 27th. Byron ended up 34th and Blaney was 38th, the first car out.
Those results mean that with one race left in this opening three-race Playoff round, Bell holds a three-point edge on Cindric atop the standings with Bowman five points back. Logano’s win at Atlanta two weeks ago scored him an automatic bid into the next round.
Heading into next Saturday night’s first round elimination race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Hamlin is now ranked 13th, six points below his JGR teammate Gibbs on the cutoff line. Keselowski is 12 points back, Truex is now 14 points back and Burton is 20 points off the transfer position.
“I thought our Camry was solid, needed to be better on long runs for sure, but worked hard and persevered and had a decent day but as always you get the cautions at the end and guys just run through you,” said a frustrated but determined Truex, who ran up front early and was – at one point – more than a dozen points above the cutoff line.
“It’s just crazy all these races always come down to this and I don’t really understand how guys can call themselves the best in the world when they just drive through everyone on restarts at the end of these races,” Truex added. “It’s very frustrating, but it is what it is these days.”
The NASCAR Cup Series will conclude a triple-header race weekend at the famed Bristol high-banks with Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Denny Hamlin is the defending winner.
