Christopher Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Nascar Ford Mustang, held off championship threat Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Chevy Camaro ZL1 on his way to victory at Bristol on Saturday night. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Mustang team were eliminated from the Playoffs at the conclusion of the first round of championship races.
Buescher claimed the lead after a risky two-tire pit stop for his No. 17 Mustang and showed the way for the final 61 laps as Elliott’s No. 9 Camaro tried to reel him in. Buescher said he wasn’t worried about only having two fresh tires on his No. 17 Nascar Ford while everyone behind him had taken four.
“It was up to me at that point. I made it work, and we had a really fast (car),” he said. “We knew we had a really fast race car in practice and didn’t quite get the job done in qualifying (20th), but what a race car.”
His victory marks the first for his race team, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing (RFK), since 2017, and the first since Brad Keselowski assumed an ownership role in 2022. In fact, Keselowski, who drives the No. 6 Mustang, led 109 laps at Bristol and was a threat to win before his run was felled by a blown tire while leading.
“We had two cars that were really good today and one that was unlucky and one that executed, and everything came the right way for them,” Keselowski said.
Meanwhile, several Nascar Ford Playoffs drivers suffered incidents on track. Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Mustang suffered a blown tire, finishing over 150 laps down in 30th place. Joey Logano’s No. 22 Mustang also blew a tire, relegating him to 27th, as did the No. 2 Mustang of Austin Cindric. However, all three drivers clinched spots in the Playoffs Round of 12.
Harvick’s No. 4 Mustang suffered quite a bit on Saturday night. After wrecking out at Darlington and again at Kansas, Harvick was in a must-win situation if he wanted to avoid Playoffs elimination. Unfortunately, the left rear tire in his No. 4 Ford came off after a botched pit stop, effectively ending his Playoffs bid.
The 12 drivers now eligible for the 2022 Playoffs are as follows:
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford Mustang
- Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- William Byron, No. 24 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota TRD Camry
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford Mustang
- Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota TRD Camry
- Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Ford Mustang
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Camaro ZL1
- Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford Mustang
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevy Camaro ZL1
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | 17 | Christopher Buescher | Fastenal Ford | 500 | 169 | Ford Mustang |
| 2 | 23 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | Hooters Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 3 | 16 | 24 | William Byron (P) | Acronis Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 4 | 8 | 20 | Christopher Bell (P) | Yahoo! Toyota | 500 | 143 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | Kyle Larson (P) | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 500 | 34 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 6 | 12 | 1 | Ross Chastain (P) | Worldwide Express Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 7 | 13 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger(i) | Action Industries Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 8 | 11 | 41 | Cole Custer | Autodesk/HaasTooling.com Ford | 500 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 9 | 4 | 11 | Denny Hamlin (P) | FedEx Ground Toyota | 500 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 10 | 7 | 4 | Kevin Harvick (P) | Busch Light Ford | 500 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 11 | 18 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Love's Travel Stops Ford | 500 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 12 | 19 | 31 | Justin Haley | LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet | 500 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 13 | 10 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Kohler Generators Ford | 499 | 109 | Ford Mustang |
| 14 | 2 | 14 | Chase Briscoe (P) | Magical Vacation Planner Ford | 498 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 15 | 31 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Schluter Systems Chevrolet | 497 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 16 | 27 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford | 497 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 17 | 32 | 51 | Cody Ware | Nurtec ODT Ford | 497 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 18 | 30 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | Long John Silver's Ford | 496 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 19 | 29 | 99 | Daniel Suarez (P) | Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevrolet | 494 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 20 | 9 | 2 | Austin Cindric # (P) | Freightliner Ford | 493 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 21 | 24 | 43 | Erik Jones | U.S. Air Force Chevrolet | 492 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 22 | 35 | 77 | Landon Cassill(i) | Zeigler Auto/LoJack Chevrolet | 492 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 23 | 36 | 15 | JJ Yeley(i) | World Supercross Championship Ford | 491 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 24 | 33 | 78 | BJ McLeod(i) | Down N Dirty Ford | 491 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 25 | 17 | 8 | Tyler Reddick (P) | Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet | 469 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 26 | 34 | 42 | Ty Dillon | EG3 Technologies Chevrolet | 457 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 27 | 15 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 437 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 28 | 1 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford BlueOval City Ford | 418 | 36 | Ford Mustang |
| 29 | 14 | 45 | Bubba Wallace (P) | MoneyLion Toyota | 408 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 30 | 6 | 12 | Ryan Blaney (P) | Menards/Pennzoil Ford | 338 | 9 | Ford Mustang |
| 31 | 28 | 3 | Austin Dillon (P) | Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet | 279 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 32 | 3 | 48 | Alex Bowman (P) | Ally Chevrolet | 277 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 33 | 26 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger/Thomas' Chevrolet | 276 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 34 | 21 | 18 | Kyle Busch (P) | M&M's Toyota | 269 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 35 | 25 | 23 | Ty Gibbs(i) | Monster Energy Toyota | 265 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 36 | 22 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 198 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
P – Playoffs eligible
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Comment
The “Next Gen” car might better be named the “what will happen next car”. More than 6 mos. of racing and Nascar has done little to fix the repeated failures. This race had many teams with power steering failure, AGAIN. Kevin Harvick is out of the playoffs because……his car caught fire @ Darlington while running in 5th position having hit nothing? Totally absurd for what is supposed to be the top series in Nascar.