NASCAR
Keselowski Pushes Buescher to Daytona Win, Wallace Takes Final Playoff Spot
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – An action-packed 400 miles in Daytona ended with an overtime thriller. After surviving both major crashes unscathed, RFK Racing’s two Fords lined up nose-to-tail on the outside lane for the final restart. Brad Keselowski gave Chris Buescher the push he needed to park the 17 in victory lane. Thanks to Buescher being a repeat winner, the final Playoff berth went to Bubba Wallace.
Both Stages flew by relatively quickly, but each got hair-raising intense on their final laps. The end of Stage 1 saw Martin Truex Jr. outmaneuver Denny Hamlin for that Playoff point.
Stage 2 concluded with the night’s first major accident, taking out several Playoff bubble drivers. Christopher Bell was pushing Ty Gibbs in turns three and four, sending the No. 54 sideways into Ryan Blaney and others. Despite a strong season, the rookie phenom will miss out on his maiden Playoffs. This incident also secured the Regular Season Championship for Truex. Brad Keselowski was able to avoid the chaos and snag the Stage 2 victory.
Following extensive wall repair, Stage 3 was controlled early by the Ford contingency. Polesitter Chase Briscoe held the top spot over two of his teammates, all of whom needed to win for a Playoff ticket. The race quickly went from a high to a low for Stewart-Haas Racing, with Briscoe and Ryan Preece having a major incident late.
Getting into turn three, Preece’s No. 41 went sliding down across the track and Briscoe’s path. Upon hitting the grass, Preece’s car proceeded to make over 11 barrel rolls, taking several huge impacts with the earth. Preece did get out of the destroyed car with assistance, but has been taken to a local hospital.
Keselowski gave Buescher the push of a lifetime to get both Mustangs clear of the 4. No other caution flew, meaning RFK Racing took home an impressive 1-2 finish. Buescher now has an improbable three wins over the last five races.
“It’s so awesome,” Buescher said. “So proud to get Fifth Third Bank in victory lane here with this Ford Mustang. What a heck of a push from Brad in those closing laps for that entire restart. We lined up and worked to get connected. We hardly came disconnected those last couple of laps and it was a little squirrely at times, but that’s what we work so hard to execute superspeedway racing for two years now. We’ve been so close. We’ve been within the last five laps of so many of these things to finally get it done here tonight is special.”
“We certainly have the momentum on our side right now. Shoot, for Playoff points that’s a huge step in the right direction. That puts us in a great spot here to head through the first round and all the way to Phoenix, but there are so many races along the way that I feel like we have such a good shot at. To get this done here today, oh man, this is so cool. That’s an RFK win right there. That was as much Brad driving or maybe even more than me down here tonight, but so cool to be right here in victory lane.”
“It’s amazing here to finally get one of these things. Superspeedway racing is slowly growing on me. It’s not always been my favorite, but I’m sure enjoying it the last several years. I just want a road course win. It’s time for a road course win somewhere here along the way.”
Behind Buescher and Keselowski, the Daytona top-10 were: Aric Almirola, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Kevin Harvick and Corey Lajoie. Hear from some of these drivers below.
Thanks to his trio of wins, Buescher vaults himself up to the fourth Playoff seed. See the remainder of the Playoff standings below heading into next week’s first race.
After 26 weeks of racing, the postseason is finally here for the NASCAR Cup Series. Next week’s Playoff opener is the Cook Out Southern 500 from the gritty Darlington Raceway. The Labor Day Classic’s green flag will fly in South Carolina Sunday at 6:00 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. A Playoff contender winning at Darlington is a major step forward towards the 2023 championship. Which driver will add their name to the list of Southern 500 champions?
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Peter Stratta/TSJSports
