Buescher Doubles-Up With Michigan Win

Chris Buescher, driver of the #17 Castrol Edge Ford, (R) celebrates with RFK Racing co-owner Brad Keselowski (L) and crew chief Scott Graves in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 07, 2023 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

(BROOKLYN, MI – AUG 7, 2023 – RIS) Chris Buescher captured his second-consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory, out-racing the charging Martin Truex Jr to win the rain-interrupted Firekeepers 400. The win moves Buescher up two spots in points to eleventh place.

The restart of Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 had the pack circulating behind the pace car with scattered sprinkles on the track causing a couple of wave-offs before the second stage of the race continued with Martin Truex Jr, Austin Cindric, Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace leading. On the first green flag lap, Wallace got around into the lead, zooming out to a lead of about eight lengths.

Christopher Bell’s crew spent the early caution laps taping up the damaged body of his Toyota, allowing him to remain on the lead lap.

Ryan Preece suffered a flat right-rear tire, bringing out a caution, saving fuel for the teams on the edge of running out before the end of the stage. Some teams elected to stay on the track to race to the end of the stage and earn points, while others stopped for service. Denny Hamlin’s car stalled exiting the pits and took the No. 11 out of the top five before he managed to get it restarted and on the track.

Daniel Suarez grabbed the lead from Wallace at the restart, with Brad Keselowski third and Alex Bowman fourth. Austin Dillon lost a lap when he had to stop to change a flat right-side tire at the restart.

Martin Truex Jr drove from 18th after pitting for fuel and tires in the caution for Preece to take the stage, echoing his ‘win’ in the first stage before the race halted Sunday. Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman founded out the top five.

After the cycle of pit stops, last week’s winner, Chris Buescher, led Tyler Reddic, Ryan Blaney, Harrison Burton and Kevin Harvick to the green flag, but Alex Bowman made contact with Todd Gilliland after Gilliland got pushed into the wall in a three-wide incident and Bowman was tapped in the resulting accordion by Chase Briscoe, turning the No. 48 Chevy into the side of Gilliland’s No. 38 Ford.

On the restart, the leaders remained in order while the rest of the pack raced for position as Truex began a march back through the pack, getting into third position but his lap speed edge over the field has disappeared with Buescher and Reddick opening the gap over him.

Buescher and Reddick pitted together on lap 157, giving them enough fuel to finish the race scheduled distance. Reddick’s right rear wheel apparently didn’t get secured properly and he returned to the pits immediately, dropping four laps down to the leaders before getting back on the track.

Following this round of stops, Keselowski took the lead, nearly five seconds ahead of Daniel Suarez. When Keselowski pitted for the final tire and fuel service, Austin and Ty Dillon inherited the lead with Chris Buescher moving around Ty in pursuit of the lead again with Truex narrowing the gap in third.

Truex made a challenge for the lead but got loose when Buescher used a side draft and fell back to nearly a half second behind the leader, then closed the gap to less than three-tenths of a second again with fewer than five laps to go.

The final pair of laps had no traffic that might affect the leaders with Truex unable to close the gap before the white flag and Buescher went on to win back-to-back, ahead of Truex by 0.152 second at the checkered flag. The victory is Ford’s ninth-straight at Michigan and 

“I think we just needed a little longer run. I felt like we were a little better, but it is just really hard to pass the leader on equal tires,” Truex commented. “It was a rocket – just the leader in clean air is really, really hard to pass. We just didn’t quite have enough, but all-in-all a good day,” added Truex. “The leader in clean air is really hard to pass.”

Unofficial Results: FireKeepers Casino 400, August 6-7, 2023 - Michigan International Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 4, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford, 200, , 10, 3, 52, 5, 41, Running
2) 5, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, 200, 1, 1, 6, 47, 2, 55, Running
3) 13, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota, 200, 8, , 1, 1, , 37, Running
4) 12, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Nexlizet Ford, 200, 4, 3, 1, 15, , 48, Running
5) 17, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 200, 5, 6, 1, 2, , 43, Running
6) 14, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Worldwide Express Chevrolet, 200, 6, 2, 1, 12, , 45, Running
7) 2, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet, 200, , , 1, 16, , 30, Running
8) 22, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Light Peach Ford, 200, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 9, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Knauf Ford, 200, , , 1, 1, , 28, Running
10) 25, Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet, 200, 9, , , , , 29, Running
11) 3, Ty Gibbs #, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 200, 3, , 1, 1, , 34, Running
12) 20, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford, 200, , 9, , , , 27, Running
13) 1, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem Toyota, 200, , , 1, 1, , 24, Running
14) 6, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 200, , 7, , , , 27, Running
15) 31, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Garner Trucking Chevrolet, 200, 10, , , , , 23, Running
16) 18, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 200, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 29, Harrison Burton, No. 21 Ford 20 Year Sr Master Techs Ford, 200, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 11, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 DoorDash Toyota, 200, 2, 4, 2, 21, , 35, Running
19) 15, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow Mobility Science Chevrolet, 200, , , 1, 2, , 18, Running
20) 34, Ty Dillon, No. 77 Ferris Commercial Mowers Chevrolet, 200, , , 1, 2, , 17, Running
21) 27, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/Minute Rice Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 28, Ryan Preece, No. 41 United Rentals Ford, 199, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 26, Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 23, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's/MTS Ford, 199, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 33, Cole Custer(i), No. 51 Biohaven/Jacob Co. Ford, 199, , , , , , 0, Running
26) 24, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Farmsmart Chevrolet, 199, , 8, , , , 14, Running
27) 36, JJ Yeley(i), No. 15 Grill Blazers Ford, 199, , , , , , 0, Running
28) 30, * Austin Hill(i), No. 62 Bennett Transportation/Beard Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 0, Running
29) 32, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Chicago Pneumatic Compressors Ford, 197, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 16, Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Rocket League Toyota, 197, , , 1, 7, , 7, Running
31) 21, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford, 197, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 37, Josh Bilicki(i), No. 78 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet, 196, , , 1, 1, , 0, Running
33) 19, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally x Detroit Pistons Chevrolet, 134, 7, 5, 3, 19, , 14, Steering
34) 35, Josh Berry(i), No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet, 50, , , , , , 0, Accident
35) 7, William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet, 46, , , , , , 2, DVP
36) 10, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 34, , , , , , 1, Accident
37) 8, Kyle Busch, No. 8 Kwik Trip/Kwik Star Chevrolet, 14, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Total Race Length: 200 Laps - 400. Miles
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 2 Mins, 59 Secs.
Average Speed: 131.159 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.152 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 19, 23, 54, 6, 5, 99, 48, 11, 43, 7
Stage 2 Top 10: 19, 99, 6, 23, 48, 5, 22, 16, 2, 17

Comments: Chris Buescher won the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, his fourth NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Prior to the start, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: Nos. 7, 15, 42, 62 (unapproved adjustments).

Cautions: 9 for 43 laps;
Laps: 16-19 (No. 8 Spin Turn 2 / Competition [None]);
36-39 (No. 9 Incident Turn 2 [None]);
47-50 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]);
52-55 (No. 42 Spin Turn 4 [None]);
66-69 (No. 20 Spin Turn 2 [15]);
75-82 (Precipitation [Red Flag: Lap 76, 19:05:18] [15]);
104-107 (Debris Turn 2 [15]);
122-126 (Stage 2 Conclusion [3]);
128-133 (No. 34, 38, 48 Incident Backstretch [None]).

Lead Changes: 26 among 16 drivers;
R. Chastain 1-16;
M. Truex Jr. 17-46;
T. Gibbs # 47;
A. Bowman 48-63;
C. Bell 64;
A. Bowman 65;
D. Hamlin 66;
J. Bilicki(i) 67;
A. Bowman 68-69;
T. Reddick 70-76;
M. Truex Jr. 77-82;
B. Wallace 83-99;
M. Truex Jr. 100-103;
B. Wallace 104-107;
D. Suarez 108-119;
M. Truex Jr. 120-122;
C. Buescher 123-156;
M. Truex Jr. 157-159;
R. Blaney 160;
B. Keselowski 161-175;
K. Larson 176-177;
T. Dillon 178-179;
A. Dillon 180-181;
C. Buescher 182-187;
M. Truex Jr. 188;
C. Buescher 189-200.