NASCAR: Buescher wins Cup race at Richmond

Chris Buescher earned an impressive victory in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

The Texan driver had never led a lap at the 0.75-mile, D-shaped oval before Sunday’s Cook Out 400, but the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford paced the field for 88 of 400 laps en route to his third career win, locking him into the NASCAR Playoffs.

A spin by Daniel Suárez with 10 laps remaining set up a restart with just three to go. Buescher restarted on the inside with Denny Hamlin to his right, with Buescher getting the jump. Hamlin charged to Buescher’s door entering Turn 1 with two laps left but locked up his left-front tire under braking, ending his momentum. Hamlin finished second ahead of Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Ryan Preece.

Buescher’s teammate and team co-owner Brad Keselowski led the most laps, putting his No. 6 Ford out front for 102 circuits, but a slow pit stop at Lap 286 forfeited the lead to Buescher during green-flag stops, with the 2012 Cup champion unable to overcome the setback before finishing sixth. Martin Truex Jr., Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick completed the top 10.

Race Results

# DENOTES ROOKIE
(I) NOT ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
(*) REQUIRED TO QUALIFY ON TIME

 

LEADERS

CAR TIMES LAPS
17 3 88
11 4 20
6 2 102
19 3 18
23 2 80
12 1 2
45 3 82
34 1 9

 

LEAD CHANGES

CAUTIONS

# LAP BENEFICIARY REASON
1 70 51 Stage 1 Conclusion
2 230 48 Stage 2 Conclusion
3 390 12 #42 and 99 Incident in Turn 4