Chris Buescher Wins at Bristol, 19th Winner of 2022

The Round of 16 is officially complete, the field of 12 is set for the next round, and for the third race in a row, we saw a playoff spoiler at Bristol. Chris Buescher was able to hold off Chase Elliott in the closing laps to score his second career win, his first since Pocono in 2016. Buescher becomes the 19th different winner in the 2022 Season, tying an all-time best that was set back in 2001. This also marks RFK Racing’s first points win since July 2017 when Ricky Stenhouse Jr drove the same car to victory lane at Daytona. This win was also the first for RFK Racing since Brad Keselowski joined the organization as an owner/driver after the 2021 season.

“It’s so special here,” said Buescher in his post-race interview. “I love this race track. I love the fans. I love every time we come here. It’s so special. It’s pretty awesome.”

A two-tire pit stop on lap 438 of 500 helped the No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford lead the final 61 laps and a race-high 169 overall.

“I wasn’t a bit,” he said when asked if he was worried about the call for two tires. “It was up to me at that point. I made it work, and we had a really fast car. 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.

“I don’t know what all to say right now. I’m out of breath. This place will wear you flat-out, and I love that about it. It’s just a special night.”

Runner-up Chase Elliott was .458 seconds behind Buescher at the finish, William Byron finished third, followed by Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson to sort out the top five. All being playoff drivers who advanced to the next round. Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and Alex Bowman also advance to the next round, despite most of those drivers running into issues throughout the race.

The four drivers eliminated were Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Busch’s two future teammates Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick. Busch had gained 14 points in the first two stages and was running above the elimination cut line until his engine failed on Lap 270, making it his second engine failure in three races.

“It just goes with our year,” Busch said. “I don’t even know what to say. I’m flabbergasted. I just feel so bad for my guys. They don’t deserve to be in this spot. They work too hard. We are too good of a group to be this low—down on the bottom, fighting for our lives just to make it through. Two engine failures in three weeks, that will do it to you.”

Brad Keselowski, Buescher’s teammate, had led 109 laps and had a really good opportunity to win the race until his right-front tire went flat on Lap 414 while he was leading. An occurring problem amongst the Fords during the race.

“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 after getting his first win as a Cup Series Team Owner.

The Round of 12 starts at Texas Motor Speedway on September 25 at 3:30 p.m. EST on the USA Network.