Christopher Buescher completes Round of 16 spoiler sweep

The first round of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs came to a close Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway, but none of the sixteen playoff drivers sniffed in it. After Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace played spoiler at Darlington and Kansas, Chris Buescher added to the chaos theory in a banner day for him and RFK Racing team-mate Brad Keselowski at Bristol.

Keselowski won Stage #1 before fading back, while Buescher ascended from his midfield starting position to take the lead when Christopher Bell spun with sixty laps remaining. Despite facing pressure from playoff contenders Chase Elliott and William Byron, Buescher kept them at bay to secure his second career win and first since the fog-shortened 2016 Pocono 400 2,238 days prior. The victory was also the first for RFK Racing under their current identity, with co-owner Jack Roush‘s last Cup win being 1,904 days ago with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at the 2017 Coke Zero 400.

“This has been number one on my list for a really long time,” said Buescher. “I actually love this race track. It’s my favorite place, we come on concrete. […] This is one I’ve had circled for a really long time and if there was gonna be one this year to get, this is it.

“I don’t even know what that count is for the year now. I think that we knew we’ve had a ton of different winners this year and we’ve been really close and fighting hard to get here. We’ve had a great summer. A little bad luck, but we didn’t have any of that tonight. We had some good fortune and some good execution and a fast race car and got to park in Victory Lane.”

While RFK celebrated, many were reeling, especially after suffering power steering failures that resulted in retirements like pole winner Aric Almirola and his Stewart-Haas Racing ally Chase Briscoe. The Toyota camp was especially affected by the issue with Martin Truex Jr. finishing last due to power steering fluid being blown over his right-front tyre, and both of his 23XI Racing technical allies Wallace and Ty Gibbs also suffered the same fate. The Next Gen car has drawn increasing driver scrutiny as mechanical failures seem to follow trends, and Truex added to the chorus of negative comments by recalling Kevin Harvick‘s mention of “crappy parts.”

“Bass Pro Shops Night Race and we have the Bass Pro Shops Toyota here and we’re sitting in the garage,” stated Truex. “It’s been a horrible string of luck for us, and we had another strong car tonight. We were working our way forward, every run going forward. Ready for this year to be over and start over.”

Although not a steering problem, Truex’s Joe Gibbs Racing peer Kyle Busch was one of four eliminated from the playoffs after his engine expired for the second time in the round. Also eliminated were Harvick and Richard Childress Racing‘s Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon. Interestingly, all four drivers have RCR ties as Harvick previously drove for them while Busch joins the stable in 2023.

“It just goes with our year. I don’t even know what to say. I’m flabbergasted,” commented Busch. “I just feel so bad for my guys. They don’t deserve to be in this spot. They work too hard. We are too good of a group to be this low, down on the bottom, fighting for our lives just to make it through. Two engine failures in three weeks, that will do it to you.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	20	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	500	Running
2	23	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	500	Running
3	16	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	500	Running
4	8	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	500	Running
5	5	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	500	Running
6	12	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	500	Running
7	13	16	A.J. Allmendinger*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	500	Running
8	11	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	500	Running
9	4	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	500	Running
10	7	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	500	Running
11	18	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	500	Running
12	19	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	500	Running
13	10	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	499	Running
14	2	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	498	Running
15	31	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	497	Running
16	27	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	497	Running
17	32	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	497	Running
18	30	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	496	Running
19	29	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	494	Running
20	9	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	493	Running
21	24	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	492	Running
22	35	77	Landon Cassill*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	492	Running
23	36	15	J.J. Yeley*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	491	Running
24	33	78	B.J. McLeod*	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	491	Running
25	17	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	469	Running
26	34	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	457	Steering
27	15	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	437	Suspension
28	1	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	418	Steering
29	14	45	Bubba Wallace^	23XI Racing	Toyota	408	Running
30	6	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	338	Running
31	28	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	279	DVP
32	3	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	277	Accident
33	26	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	276	Accident
34	21	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	269	Engine
35	25	23	Ty Gibbs*	23XI Racing	Toyota	265	Steering
36	22	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	198	Steering

Bold – Currently in playoffs
^ – Currently in owner playoffs
Underline – Eliminated from playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points