The Goodyear 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway was shaping up to be another classic battle at The Track Too Tough To Tame.
RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher had just pulled off a daring three-wide pass underneath teammate Brad Keselowski and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick with 29 laps to go.
While Buescher checked out in front, Reddick roped the No. 17 Ford back in shortly after.
Then with 10 laps to go, Reddick saw his opportunity and dove low on Buescher into turn three. However, the No. 45 Toyota slapped the driver-side door of Buescher’s race car, promptly pinning Buescher into the outside wall.
Both drivers would continue momentarily until flat tires promptly ended their chances of victory.
After the race, Buescher confronted Reddick with a shove and some choice words.
To put it bluntly, Buescher felt Reddick simply wrecked him.
“Just went for a move there that was never gonna happen,” Buescher said. “I just don’t get it. It wiped us both out. He hit us hard enough where we wheel-hopped into the fence. It’s not just door-to-door contact and a little push and shove.
“Just ruined both of our days,” Buescher continued. “Really frustrated by that, really pissed off about it. I don’t get it.
“We’ve been able to race clean for how long, and to take our group, this Fifth Third Bank No. 17 team out of contention for a trophy.
“For another week, to miss out on it, it’s starting to hurt.”
Buescher still sits winless on the season while Reddick is safely locked into the NASCAR Playoffs after a win at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway last month.
Notably, Buescher was involved in another near-victory last week after he and Kyle Larson drag-raced to the checkered flag at Kansas Speedway. He lost the race by the closest margin in Cup Series history — 0.001 seconds.
One more look at what happened on pit road between @Chris_Buescher and @TylerReddick. pic.twitter.com/PBYHV62dgc
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 13, 2024
Reddick took the blame, stating he lost grip and couldn’t check up enough to stay off Buescher’s No. 17.
“I completely understand where he is coming from,” Reddick said. “He was running the top, running his own race, running his own line to keep me at bay. I made a really aggressive move and was hoping I was going to clear him, when I realized, I wasn’t going to, I tried to check up to not slide up into him, but yeah, I wish I wouldn’t have done that.”
It was an unfortunate end to both driver’s races as Reddick earned the pole and led a race-high 174 laps. Buescher led 21 circuits and looked to be in position to win.
“I completely understand why he is that mad. He did nothing wrong,” Reddick said. “Just trying to win the race, and to take myself out – that’s one thing – I can live with that, but just disappointed it played out the way that it did, and I took him out of the race as well. That was not the goal there. If I was going to go for it, I was hoping I was going to clear him.
“If I hit the wall, pop a tire – I take myself out, I can live with that – it’s tough to walk away knowing I used someone up, and took away their chance of winning the race, that has raced me really cleanly since he came in the Cup Series. Just have to work on that and try to make some better decisions going forward.”