It was a strategy-filled race at Richmond Raceway for Sunday’s Cook Out 400 without any non-stage caution flags for the first 390 laps.
That was, until a Daniel Suarez spin off turn four with 10 laps to go changed everything. For race-leader Chris Buescher, it meant his nearly six-second lead was erased.
With the leaders all taking four tires and fuel to gear up for a sprint, strategy went to the wayside.
Though on the ensuing restart, Buescher surged ahead of front-runners Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, leading the final three laps to score his first win of the season.
“I don’t get too stirred up most of the time (laughing). I was sitting there and we had a nice easy lead going there,” Buescher said. “I was taking care of it and then shifting and about the time Scott (Graves, crew chief) came on the radio and said, ‘Let’s work it just like that. Keep it smooth.’
“I don’t think he even got off the button and, ‘caution.’ So, I knew it was gonna take some work to get back going, but our Fastenal Mustang was so good firing off today, so good in practice. I didn’t get the job done in qualifying,” Buescher continued.
“I had to pass a bunch of cars today and have some great strategy and some great pit stops. Everybody at RFK Racing who has worked so hard to get us to this point. This is awesome. I knew that last restart was gonna be tough, but I knew we had the speed in this thing.”
It was Buescher’s third career NASCAR Cup Series win, and his second consecutive short track victory after winning at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway last August.
“I love it when it gets hot and slick out here,” Buescher said. “I like searching for grip. I like that line moving around and it made it fun. I felt like the spring race we were pretty decent, but didn’t have everything go our way. That was just textbook execution from everybody.
“We had a clean day, good strategy, good pit stops, good choices and that got us here to victory lane with our Fastenal Mustang. I just feel that the hot, slick weather lets us move around and chase what we need to have that speed in our race cars.”
Aboard the No. 17 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing, Buescher led 88 of the 400-lap event on the three-quarter-mile D-shaped oval despite starting 26th on the grid.
While Buescher was solidly in the NASCAR Playoffs heading into Richmond (111 points above the cutline), Buescher’s victory all but secures his spot in the postseason.
After winning last week’s race at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway to earn his 50th career triumph, Hamlin ran runner-up, with Busch finishing third.
“The whole last couple laps were not good on my end,” Hamlin said. “I got a bad restart. I spun them coming to the green. Kyle (Busch) actually gave me a really good push down the front straightaway to get me going. I got great run through (turns) one and two. I just needed to be beside him.
“I had to recover too much ground from what I lost on the frontstretch. Almost got to the outside, and then on turn four, almost got to the outside again, and then in turn one, I was like, ‘I’m just going to ship it in there and try to get to the outside one more time,’ and I just carried way too much speed and locked up the left front tires,” Hamlin continued.
“Happy for Chris (Buescher) that team really deserved it too. It was going to be luck for us to get a caution to get a second chance to go at him there. They deserved it. RFK, hats off to them. I know how hard they’ve worked to get to this point. Proud of them, and proud of this whole Mavis Toyota team to get to this second-place finish.”
Reigning Cup Series champion Joey Logano surged to fourth in the closing laps, with Ryan Preece earning his first top-five finish of the season in fifth for Stewart-Haas Racing.
As Buescher triumphed, teammate and team owner Brad Keselowski brought his No. 6 Ford Mustang home in sixth after leading a race-high 102 laps. It was Keselowski’s third top 10 finish in the last four races.
Martin Truex Jr. rebounded from early issues in the race to finish seventh, while Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 10.
The Playoff Update
Buescher’s victory didn’t bump any driver out of the 16-driver playoff grid, though the fight for the 16th and final spot raged on. Despite finishing 22nd on Sunday, Michael McDowell maintained his position in 16th, 18 points ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing rookie Ty Gibbs.
A.J. Allmendinger dropped one spot from 17th to 18th after a 27th-place result. Allmendinger started last to begin the Cook Out 400 due to missing practice and qualifying on Saturday. Allmendinger chose to compete in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Road America in Wisconsin, therefor forfeiting the team’s qualifying effort by fill-in driver Derek Kraus.
Suarez’s late-race spin negated the Trackhouse Racing driver to 33rd. Suarez dropped one spot on the grid to 19th, 34 points behind McDowell. Suarez hasn’t finished inside the top 15 in the last three races.
Chase Elliott’s run to the NASCAR Playoffs continued to trend upwards with a 13th-place finish. Vaulting to 20th on the playoff grid, the 2020 Cup Series champion chopped off 16 points to now be within 40 of McDowell with four races remaining in the regular season.