Gibbs, Buescher Gain Ground In Tight Cut Line Battle

BROOKLYN, Mich. – Strong performances by both Ty Gibbs and Chris Buescher during the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan Int’l Speedway allowed them to pad their margins over the playoff cut line with critical points Monday afternoon.

The 24th race of the NASCAR Cup Series season, which started Sunday but finished a day later due to an interruption by strong storms after 51 laps, saw the pair of postseason hopefuls rally from recent skids to give themselves a bit of breathing room with just two races before the end of the regular season.

Gibbs entered the weekend just 18 points ahead of the cutoff, after a dismal three-race stretch created a points landslide. The No. 54 team failed to finish inside the top 20 in all three events, with two DNFs along the way due to blown engines at both Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway and at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

However, he bounced back at Michigan, breaking his streak of bad luck by finishing third and gaining 21 points to 16th place, giving himself an extra cushion heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.

“I feel like we definitely were in contention for sure. I needed to get up sooner off of [turn] two to clear William Byron for second. Just missed it by a little bit,” said Gibbs about the race’s final restart, which came in double overtime.

“I appreciate my guys bringing me a great car, Interstate Batteries, Monster Energy, Toyota. Thank you to everybody that’s a part of this deal.”

In his sophomore season in the Cup Series, Gibbs has impressed with six top fives, 10 top 10s, and 351 laps led. He now sits 10th in the aggregate regular season standings.

Gibbs called his performance during the second overtime restart bittersweet.

“Definitely a little frustrating, but we’ll take it,” he said. “It was a good day. Thanks to everybody that helps my program out.”

Buescher, meanwhile, had a steep hole to dig out of after encountering a major setback early in the race’s second half.

The Prosper, Texas, native was involved in a wreck on a lap-116 restart, with five laps to go in stage two, after Kyle Larson spun in turn three in the middle of the top 10 and sparked a seven-car melee.

Luckily for Buescher, he sustained minimal damage in the exchange. His team, led by crew chief Scott Graves, then made the correct adjustments to allow him to rebound from near disaster.

The chance for Buescher to make up substantial ground came from a strategy call by Graves late in the race. He elected for right-side tires on the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang Dark Horse instead of a full set of four, which made for a shorter stop and allowed Buescher to leapfrog cars for track position.

“It was a good call to do something different and take the right side tires,” Buescher noted. “It was wild but a heck of a way to salvage a day that should have been better.

“Ultimately our chance at winning this thing had gone away,” he added. “I had been caught up in whatever happened in that early accident, and we had damage on all four corners of this Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang [at that point].”

After the wreck, Buescher noted his car still had speed, but struggled with overall balance.

“It was a lot of fun before that. We had a chance to win this race.”

The good news for both Gibbs and Buescher was that their closest rivals in the race to make the playoffs, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain, both encountered issues during the latter stages Monday.

Chastain spun on the first attempt at overtime, while Wallace picked up more significant damage earlier during the lap-116 crash. The pair limped home in 25th and 26th, respectively, both a lap down at the finish.

“I am adamant that we are not points racers, but when our chance to win was gone, ultimately that was some of the mentality, [was] to figure out how to make the best of our day,” admitted Buescher. “We had seen troubles from some of the other cars that were on the bubble.”

Even with a 38-point cushion, Gibbs knows he isn’t safe, with wild-card races at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway and Darlington (S.C.) Raceway remaining. However, he knows that positive momentum never hurts, with the prospect of his first playoff berth becoming clearer.

“It definitely is good to have a good points day. Definitely wish we could have won and locked ourselves in, though,” said Gibbs. “Winning usually takes care of everything. [But] thankful to be here and thankful to have a good day.”

As for Buescher, his margin for error heading to the World Center of Racing is much slimmer, with just a 16-point edge over 17th-place Wallace in the playoff rankings.

But Buescher won last year’s summer race at Daytona, and if not for a late run-in with Tyler Reddick, he had a shot to win earlier this year at Darlington as well.

That gives the RFK Racing driver confidence, even if he realizes there are a lot of variables still in play.

“We’ve got two wild races ahead of us,” Buescher said. “Nothing is certain until we get past them.”

The penultimate race of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season takes place Saturday night, Aug. 24 at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway.

Broadcast coverage of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.