(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
By Aaron Bearden
Main Takeaway
There’s a small trend emerging at RFK Racing.
The longtime Ford team has been on the resurgence in 2023, making steady gains in its second year with Brad Keselowski among the ownership ranks. Both Keselowski and Chris Buescher entered Richmond Raceway positioned to make this year’s Cup Series playoffs on points, something the team hasn’t done in nearly a decade.
It’s been an overall team success. But in the company’s two best weekends during Keselowski’s time amongst its ranks, there’s been one thing that’s separated Buescher’s No. 17 team from his No. 6.
Trips to victory lane.
Buescher earned the second Cup win of his RFK tenure on Sunday, surviving a late restart to claim the Cook Out 400 at Richmond. The track hasn’t traditionally been kind to the Texan – he’d never led at Richmond and earned just one top-10 in 14 starts before Sunday – but Buescher capitalized on a strong day to earn a win at the tricky .75-mile oval.
Keselowski was present in victory lane afterward, taking photos with the team as a winning co-owner.
It was a happy moment, but one that perhaps should have been his.
Prior to Buescher’s late magic, it was Keselowski that had led 102 laps and emerged as a lead contender. The 2012 Cup champion seemed poised to score his first win since the spring 2021 race at Talladega Superspeedway, but he went wide on the entry to his box during a final stage pit stop and lost track position he’d never recover.
Keselowski struggled to maintain pace and dropped to sixth over the final stint. That opened the door for Buescher, who went on to lead 88 laps – including the last one, which secured his spot in the 2023 playoffs with a win.
“Just kind of faded at the end,” Keselowski told NASCAR.com. “I didn’t have a clean pit road entry and lost a little bit of time there. Then I just couldn’t keep pace from there. Not sure why, we just lost a little bit.”
If this story sounds familiar, it’s because something similar happened at Bristol Motor Speedway last September.
On that night Keselowski had led 109 laps and positioned himself to bring home RFK’s first win since 2017. But a flat tire with 87 laps remaining took the Michigander out of contention.
Keselowski’s trouble that day also provided opportunity for Buescher, who brought RFK to victory lane at night’s end. Just like Sunday, Keselowski came to victory lane and participated in the festivities. But it was bittersweet.
Buescher winning is great for RFK Racing. Keselowski himself has advocated for Buescher as a winner and title contender, believing the 2015 Xfinity Series champion to be a key part of RFK Racing’s future.
“We’ve been building, haven’t always gotten the results we want … But I think we’ve had a lot of weeks where we’ve been right there and it just hasn’t come together,” Keselowski said. “It’s nice for us to show speed with both cars and to bring home a win.
“A super huge win for us because of what it means for the playoffs.”
Buescher was already likely to make the playoffs on points. But winning made a stronger case for his team’s potential.
“That’s our sport: winning fixes everything,” Buescher said. “It fixes the points talk. It fixes morale. It fixes bad weekends. Everything can be changed by winning.
“From that standpoint, it’s awesome that we are in the playoffs. That was part of our goal at the beginning of the season. At RFK we talked about winning races, making the playoffs, and being able to be a contender in the playoffs. We don’t want to be a placeholder by any means either.
“When I look at the races we have in the first half of the playoffs especially, I feel really confident that we can be a contender and we can move forward.”
Keselowski is likely to join Buescher in the title chase when the playoffs kick off in five weeks. Based on his pace, there’s a good chance he could be due for a trip to victory lane soon, too.
But for now the boss is 0-2 against Buescher in RFK’s battle for wins.
Good, Bad and Ugly
Good: Keeping Things Clean
Richmond Raceway is a challenging circuit. It pushes drivers to battle the track, manage their tires and fight to keep their cars clean with rapid closing rates on varying pit strategies.
That made it all the more impressive Sunday when all 36 drivers managed to avoid major trouble and stay in the race. The last-place finisher, B.J. McLeod, completed 395 of 400 laps.
Sunday marked the first race of the Next Gen era to be completed without a single DNF.
Bad: Chevrolet’s Rough Day
Less than four months ago Chevrolet was in victory lane at Richmond. Kyle Larson had led 93 laps to lead a 1-2-3 result for the Bowtie brand with Josh Berry and Ross Chastain.
But the Chevrolet contingent was nowhere to be seen on Sunday. Ford and Toyota drivers combined to lead the entirety of the race’s 400 laps. Only Richard Childress Racing (RCR) managed to put a driver inside of the top-10, with Kyle Busch taking third and Austin Dillon coming home ninth.
The only other Chevrolet driver in the top-15 was Chase Elliott, who helped his playoff hopes with a strong opening stage before fading to 13th. His Hendrick Motorsports teammates came home 18th (Alex Bowman), 19th (Larson) and 21st (William Byron), hurting the odds for Bowman to make the playoffs and Byron to claim the regular season championship.
Byron’s run was poor enough to cost him second in points. Denny Hamlin passed the 2023 season’s only four-time winner by four points. He now trails teammate Martin Truex Jr. by 39 points for the regular season championship.
Trackhouse Racing was a non-factor. Chastain finished 24th and Daniel Suarez brought out a late yellow with a spin before finishing 33rd, hurting his chances to make the playoffs on points.
Save perhaps for RCR, it was a bad day to drive a Chevrolet in NASCAR’s top flight.
Ugly: Denny’s Late Send
Seven days removed from a controversial move and win at Pocono Raceway, Denny Hamlin had an opportunity to follow it up with another victory in Richmond.
He restarted alongside Buescher on the front row with three laps to go, but the restart didn’t go well. Hamlin spun the tires, made a desperate send deep into Turn 1 and failed to execute it. He was left to battle for second as Buescher calmly marched toward the checkered flag.
“I was so close to (Buescher) into Turn 1 when I shipped it in there, I had no air on the nose and the left-front tires just locked all the way up,” he said. “Just bad driving on the initial restart and bad driving into Turn 1 took us out.
Good: A Strong Day for Stewart-Haas
This has been a challenging year for Stewart-Haas Racing. Kevin Harvick is sixth in points, but winless on the season. His teammates are 24th (Aric Almirola), 25th (Ryan Preece) and 31st (Chase Briscoe), their years essentially done unless they can find a way to victory lane.
The one-time Ford leader has been an afterthought, arguably overtaken by RFK Racing in the Blue Oval brand’s pecking order. But SHR was able to right the ship and enjoy a good day in RVA.
Preece led the charge for SHR, coming home with his first top-five and top-10 of the year in fifth. Almirola came home eighth in a day that could have been even better – he suffered a pit road penalty early on that left his No. 10 team battling to recover for the rest of the race.
Harvick was a quiet, but solid 10th. Even Briscoe, who’s had an abysmal year after making the Round of 8 last fall, came home 11th.
There’s still room to grow. The organization didn’t lead laps and it was ultimately overshadowed by the victory for RFK Racing. But it looked more like the SHR of old on Sunday.
Something to build on.
Bad: Days For Playoff Hopefuls
If you’re on or near the playoff bubble, you probably had a bad time in Richmond.
Michael McDowell never managed to rise into contention and finished 22nd. AJ Allmendinger started at the back after trying (and failing) to hunt an Xfinity Series trophy at Road America on Saturday and finished 27th. Bowman was nowhere to be seen in 18th. Suarez’s previously-documented struggles left him 33rd.
Bubba Wallace (12th) added to his advantage on McDowell should the cut line move up with a surprise winner. But only Ty Gibbs (15th) and Elliott (13th) did much to help their chances below the bubble. Gibbs now sits 18 points out of the playoff grid in 17th, with Elliott now within 40 points in 20th.
Notes:
- Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick combined to lead 249 of Sunday’s 400 laps. Coming into the weekend they’d led a combined 1 lap in 30 starts.
- The 161 combined laps led were a new personal best in a single event for 23XI Racing.
- With Sunday’s race complete, a handful of Cup Series drivers are sticking around Richmond Raceway for a couple days to test short-track package improvements. This is something to watch, as it could impact the sport on some of its key tracks next year.
- Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 team completed an 8.54-second stop on Sunday – the fastest four-tire stop in NASCAR history.
- Four of the past six winners at Richmond Raceway have come from outside of the top-10. Buescher took Sunday’s race from 26th. Hamlin and Harvick each won from 13th in 2022, while Bowman rose up from 26th in spring 2021.
Race Results
- Chris Buescher
- Denny Hamlin
- Kyle Busch
- Joey Logano
- Ryan Preece
- Brad Keselowski
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Aric Almirola
- Austin Dillon
- Kevin Harvick
- Chase Briscoe
- Bubba Wallace
- Chase Elliott
- Ryan Balney
- Ty Gibbs
- Tyler Reddick
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Alex Bowman
- Kyle Larson
- Christopher Bell
- William Byron
- Michael McDowell
- Erik Jones
- Ross Chastain
- Todd Gilliland
- Austin Cindric
- AJ Allmendinger
- Noah Gragson
- Ryan Newman
- Justin Haley
- Harrison Burton
- Corey LaJoie
- Daniel Suarez
- Ty Dillon
- JJ Yeley
- BJ McLeod
Stage 1
- Tyler Reddick
- Bubba Wallace
- Denny Hamlin
- Chase Elliott
- Kevin Harvick
- Ryan Preece
- William Byron
- Aric Almirola
- Brad Keselowski
- Ty Gibbs
Stage 2
- Brad Keselowski
- Chris Buescher
- Tyler Reddick
- Bubba Wallace
- Denny Hamlin
- Kyle Busch
- Ryan Preece
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Ty Gibbs
- Joey Logano
Playoff Picture
Bubba Wallace added to his point cushion and Chris Buescher locked himself in this week, while most drivers are or below the cutline lost ground. Only Ty Gibbs and Chase Elliott improved their chances to make the postseason on points.
In With A Win
- William Byron (4)
- Martin Truex Jr. (3)
- Kyle Busch (3)
- Denny Hamlin (2)
- Kyle Larson (2)
- Ross Chastain
- Christopher Bell
- Ryan Blaney
- Joey Logano
- Tyler Reddick
- Chris Buescher
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Above the Cut
- Kevin Harvick (+182)
- Brad Keselowski (+151)
- Bubba Wallace (+54)
- Michael McDowell (+18)
Within Reach
- Ty Gibbs (-18)
- AJ Allmendinger (-22)
- Daniel Suarez (-34)
- Chase Elliott (-40)
- Alex Bowman (-42)
- Chase Elliott (-56)
Need to Win
- Austin Cindric
- Justin Haley
- Aric Almirola
- Ryan Preece
- Todd Gilliland
- Corey LaJoie
- Erik Jones
- Austin Dillon
- Harrison Burton
- Chase Briscoe
- Ty Dillon
- Noah Gragson
Next Up: FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway (Aug. 6)
