Buescher Outduels SVG In A Watkins Glen Classic

Chris Buescher celebrates his NASCAR Cup Series win Sunday at Watkins Glen International. (HHP/Chris Owens photo)

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Chris Buescher may have been on the best strategy at the end of Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen, but it took a last-lap bump-and-run pass on one of the all-time greats in road racing to finish the job.

After three-time Australian Supercars champion and road-course savant Shane van Gisbergen took the lead at the start of overtime at Watkins Glen International, Buescher remained patient and right on the rear decklid of van Gisbergen’s Chevrolet, just a car length back at the white flag and ready to pounce.

His chance came leaving the bus stop chicane on the backstretch, after van Gisbergen just clipped the right-side guardrail on entry to the complex and got out of shape under acceleration toward turn five.

From there, Buescher fought to get the nose of his No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com to van Gisbergen’s inside at the entrance to the carousel, which he did to perfection in moving the New Zealander off the preferred line.

Buescher completed the pass on corner exit, then drove away just far enough that van Gisbergen couldn’t get back to him in turns six and seven.

It all added up to a .979-second victory for Buescher, the sixth of his NASCAR Cup Series career, first on a road course, and first since Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway in August of 2023.

“Oh, man, we had such a good Build Submarines Ford Mustang all day. The long-run speed was phenomenal,” said Buescher after a smoky burnout and raucous celebration with his crew. “I thought we lost it there on that last [restart], though, I really did!

“But man, to stay right there with Shane … [the bus stop] was the spot that he was better than us all day and he missed it. He missed it, so I tried to cross him over,” Buescher continued. “I went to cut [right] and it was just hard racing there after that. What an awesome finish.”

It was the cherry on top of a day where Buescher averaged a top-10 running position and led three times for 19 laps, second only to polesitter Ross Chastain’s 51 circuits out front.

Chris Buescher takes the checkered flag Sunday at Watkins Glen International. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images for NASCAR photo)

“To be that good for so long at the end of the race – all race, really – and get a win, it’s great,” noted Buescher, who becomes the first non-playoff driver this year to win in the Cup Series postseason.

“We came here to be a [playoff] spoiler. We’re going to do that wherever we can now.”

After first taking the lead on lap 57 and then cycling back out to the top spot with 17 to go as the final round of pit stops wrapped up, Buescher had to fend off van Gisbergen multiple times down the stretch before he could collect the trophy.

A shredded left-rear tire for Harrison Burton coming to 10 laps left in regulation set up a spate of chaos at the 2.45-mile, natural-terrain road course. Two multi-car accidents after that point, both in the run up the hill to the esses, led to back-to-back yellows that ultimately sent the race into overtime.

Buescher and rookie Carson Hocevar lined on the front row for the extra-distance restart, with van Gisbergen on Buescher’s bumper in third. When the front pair ran wide at the exit of turn one, van Gisbergen bullied his way to the lead and appeared to be on his way to his second Cup Series win.

He took the white flag in front, but later referenced his slight mistake going into the inner loop as the defining moment where he “gave the race away” to Buescher.

“That was all driver error,” van Gisbergen lamented. “I knew Chris was really going to send it and push me if he could get there. As I turned in and got a bit loose, I barely clipped the inside wall. I’m gutted.

“The race was awesome with Ross [Chastain] and Chris and the others at the end,” he added. “I’m gutted we couldn’t get [the win], but I had a lot of fun. Just pretty angry at myself for that one.”

Hocevar led a stunning day for the three-car Spire Motorsports team, earning his career-best Cup Series result in third, while teammates Zane Smith and Corey LaJoie finished fifth and eighth, respectively.

Chastain came home fourth from the pole after winning stage two, followed by Smith, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe, Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell, and LaJoie.

Briscoe’s teammate Ryan Preece and Team Penske’s Austin Cindric closed the top 10.

In Watkins Glen’s debut in the postseason, a wild day broke out where Briscoe and Cindric ended up as the only two of the 16 playoff drivers to earn top-10 finishes.

Twelve of the 16 had issues during the 92-lap race – extended two beyond the scheduled distance – and those issues spanned from the initial green flag all the way to the checkers.

Collected in a lap-one incident was defending series champion Ryan Blaney, along with perennial title contender Denny Hamlin, who went on to have further contact later in the race that bounced him from any type of contention. Hamlin finished 23rd, while Blaney ended in the garage area in last (38th) place.

Perhaps the scariest incident of the day was the penultimate yellow on a lap-84 restart, when William Byron’s Chevrolet ramped over the left rear of Brad Keselowski’s Ford entering the esses, sending both into the left-side guardrail and Byron’s right front tire into Keselowski’s window net.

Thankfully, both drivers were uninjured and drove away from the accident scene. Keselowski finished 26th and Byron took the checkers two laps down in 34th.

Just 20 points separate 11th from 16th in the playoffs entering the Round of 16 cutoff race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, where Hamlin won in March in a wild tire-conservation race.

Broadcast coverage of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at The Last Great Colosseum is slated for Saturday night, Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m. ET, live on USA, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.