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

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MANUF	BEHIND	LAPS
1	17	Chris Buescher		—	400
2	11	Denny Hamlin		0.549	400
3	8	Kyle Busch		0.817	400
4	22	Joey Logano		1.007	400
5	41	Ryan Preece		1.427	400
6	6	Brad Keselowski		1.599	400
7	19	Martin Truex Jr.		1.749	400
8	10	Aric Almirola		1.875	400
9	3	Austin Dillon		2.104	400
10	4	Kevin Harvick		2.291	400
11	14	Chase Briscoe		2.303	400
12	23	Bubba Wallace		2.486	400
13	9	Chase Elliott		2.743	400
14	12	Ryan Blaney		2.761	400
15	54	Ty Gibbs #		6.094	400
16	45	Tyler Reddick		6.436	400
17	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		7.445	400
18	48	Alex Bowman		7.621	400
19	5	Kyle Larson		7.750	400
20	20	Christopher Bell		-1	399
21	24	William Byron		-1	399
22	34	Michael McDowell		-1	399
23	43	Erik Jones		-1	399
24	1	Ross Chastain		-1	399
25	38	Todd Gilliland		-1	399
26	2	Austin Cindric		-1	399
27	16	AJ Allmendinger		-1	399
28	42	Noah Gragson #		-2	398
29	51	Ryan Newman		-2	398
30	31	Justin Haley		-2	398
31	21	Harrison Burton		-3	397
32	7	Corey LaJoie		-3	397
33	99	Daniel Suarez		-4	396
34	77	Ty Dillon		-4	396
35	15	JJ Yeley(i)		-4	396
36	78	BJ McLeod		-5	395

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