If there’s anything to be learned from the last two NASCAR Cup Series races, it’s that Chris Buescher and RFK Racing are firing on all cylinders.
After winning at Richmond (Va.) Raceway last week, Buescher wheeled his No. 17 Ford Mustang to a second consecutive triumph eight days later in the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan Int’l Speedway.
“I am so proud of everyone at RFK and what we have been able to accomplish these last few years,” Buescher said. “To get it here at Ford’s home track, this one is always big. It is Jack’s (Roush, co-owner) home track and Brad’s (Keselowski, teammate & co-owner) home track and this is where we needed one.
“To fight for it and have such a clean race there with Truex at the end, he was really close to getting us at one point. We had to keep digging on it. I am really proud of everybody. That was awesome to put our Castrol Edge Mustang in victory lane here at Michigan and we have road courses coming up, I am really excited for those.”
While rain halted the event after 74 laps on Sunday, the fans who stuck around on Monday afternoon were treated to a show between Buescher and Martin Truex Jr. in the final 39 laps.
The Winning Move
Truex, who scored both the Stage One and Stage Two victories, looked to have the car to beat. Though after blending back out after his final green flag pit stop with 39 laps to go, it was Buescher who surged ahead of the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
Over the final handful of laps, Buescher and Truex raced around the two-mile oval nearly nose-to-tail with Truex searching for an advantage.
With 13 laps to go, Truex darted low on Buescher on the fronstretch, with both cars dead even heading into turn one.
While Truex attempted to edge ahead, Buescher’s No. 17 held strong above the No. 19, getting Truex loose and forcing him to lose all momentum.
Despite late charges from Truex, Buescher would hang on to give RFK Racing a record 14th victory at Michigan, the most all-time.
“We talked alot yesterday about the 19 being very fast and probably being the class of the field,” Buescher said. “We also talked about dirty air and how bad it was for us so the only thing I could think was to make it as dirty behind us as possible to make it difficult. He was so good on the bottom.
“I just couldn’t quite pull the car down that low but I was able to dirty up the air enough to hold him off and get away with some traffic. It was a tough race.”
Truex believes he just needed a few more laps to mount another run on Buescher.
“I felt like we were a little better, but it is just really hard to pass the leader on equal tires,” Truex said. “We had an unbelievable Auto Owners Toyota Camry. Hats off to everybody that puts the work in these things, Toyota, TRD, Bass Pro, Resers – everybody that supports us.
“It was a rocket – just the leader in clean air is really, really hard to pass. We just didn’t quite have enough, but all-in-all a good day.”
Buescher’s teammate and co-owner Brad Keselowski finished a strong fourth after leading 15 laps.
“Chris (Buescher) nailed it there at the end. We got really fast right at the end of the race with both cars and hadn’t shown that speed all weekend,” Keselowski said. “Credit to both teams working together and making good adjustments and learned from each other applied them to get the speed out of our cars. We drove from 21st or 22nd there the last run up to fourth. I wish the race was like 30 or 40 laps longer because I was coming.
“We were running 37.80’s and the leaders were running 38.0. We just ran out of laps. If we can’t win it, I am so glad Chris did.”
The race featured 16 different leaders, the most all-time at Michigan. Buescher led the most laps with 52.
It was a monumental day for RFK, with Buescher notching the team their first back-to-back performance in the Cup Series in 13 years. Carl Edwards won the final two races of the 2010 season at Phoenix Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway aboard the No. 99 Ford.
With Buescher’s win, it gave Ford their ninth consecutive victory at Michigan dating back to 2018 when Clint Bowyer started the streak.
Behind The Front Two
It was another strong showing for Truex’s teammate Denny Hamlin, who finished third for his third consecutive top-three result since winning at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in July.
Despite stalling his car on pit road late in the race, Hamlin managed to rebound.
“Yeah, I just stalled it and couldn’t get it refired. Something with the ECU – just had to get it refired and cycled it there,” Hamlin said. “I thought we were really close with the 19 (Truex). I thought he got through traffic better than I did all day, and it looks like the 17 (Buescher) was pretty good too.
“That’s no shock – he showed some speed yesterday. Showed some things on the track that I felt like – caught my eye. Track position was king, we just never got to be up towards the front enough until the very end. Proud of the whole Mavis Toyota team – we will go onto the next one.”
Kyle Larson gave Hendrick Motorsports a much-needed fifth-place run after HMS’ other three entries of William Byron, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott’s day ended in the garage area.
Trackhouse Racing scored sixth and seventh with Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain. In his final run at Michigan, Kevin Harvick earned an eighth-place finish, his fourth consecutive top-10 result.
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney wound up ninth, while Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones rounded out the top-10.
Updated Playoff Standings
With his wreck before the rain came on Sunday, Elliott finished 36th, severely damaging his hopes of making the NASCAR Playoffs. Elliott dropped from 40 points below the cutline to 55 markers behind.
The 2020 Cup Series champion only has three races left to lock himself into the postseason.
Elliott’s teammate Bowman endured another rough race after wrecking out on lap 127. Bowman came into the race 42 points below the cutline, though after a 33rd-place finish finds himself in a must-win situation, 44 points behind 16th.
Prior to the race, Michael McDowell held an 18-point advantage over Ty Gibbs. Though after having to make repairs to the front splitter early on, McDowell could only salvage a 24th place finish.
The Front Row Motorsports driver now finds himself outside the playoffs in 17th, three points behind Gibbs. A solid 11th-place finish vaulted Gibbs to the 16th and final playoff spot.
“Yeah, I feel like we had a great Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD. I just didn’t do my job. I didn’t execute,” Gibbs said. “I need to do a better job – be smarter, better race craft. I don’t know if that’s more studying or what. Just didn’t do a good job today. I appreciate all of the team effort. We had a great car – I just didn’t do my job.”
A loose left rear on the final pit stop derailed A.J. Allmendinger’s chances of a top-10 finish, as he had to pit a second time under 30 laps to go. Allmendinger now sits 24 points below the cutline in 19th.