Buescher plays spoiler at Watkins Glen in chaotic NASCAR playoff race

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) — William Byron's Chevy skidded down the track and came to rest tilted against the wall with a tire jammed into Brad Keselowski's driver-side window in a late fight for position between two NASCAR playoff drivers.

Ryan Blaney never got so lucky as to remain in the second playoff race long enough to gobble playoff points. The 2023 NASCAR champion was knocked out at Watkins Glen International on Sunday's opening lap, and his Ford was towed to the garage against his wishes.

Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Harrison Burton. The list of playoff drivers that took a beating on the track — and in the standings — dwarfed the ones that escaped the road course unscathed.

Already set to retire from full-time racing at the end of the season, Truex had seen enough of the demolition derby that sabotaged his championship push.

“I just don't understand how guys can call themselves the best in the world when they just drive through everyone on restarts at the end of the races,” Truex said. “It is what it is these days. I'm out of here.”

With championship contenders succumbing to late wrecks, shredded tires, and aggressive driving, Chris Buescher played spoiler and won Sunday at Watkins Glen International, leading a string of five non-playoff drivers to the finish.

“We would have liked to have won a couple of weeks ago, but this is huge,” Buescher said.

The chaos on the 2.45-mile course at The Glen — in the playoffs for the first time before it returns to an August date next year — shook up the playoff standings heading into the cutoff race.

Buescher held off Shane van Gisbergen in the thrilling two final overtime laps and won for the first time this season for RFK Racing. The 31-year-old Texan, who started 24th, has six career victories.

Chase Briscoe, who entered 16th in the playoff standings and 21 points behind the cutline, was sixth and the highest-finishing playoff driver in the field in the second race in NASCAR’s postseason. Four drivers will be cut from the field Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“I did what we needed to do,” Briscoe said. “Just need to go do that same thing next week. Just hit singles and doubles. Don't do anything crazy.”

Briscoe shot to 11th in the standings, six points above the cutline. Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Truex, and Burton are the bottom four drivers.

Austin Cindric was 10th, only the second playoff driver in the top 10. Want to find the contenders? Look all the way to the bottom of the race results. Ten playoff drivers were dumped in the bottom 21 finishers.

The race was bedlam for the contenders from the start, when a wreck on the opening lap that knocked out Blaney also slowed fellow playoff drivers and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Hamlin and Christopher Bell.

At least 11 playoff drivers ran into some sort of issue, including a rough scene late in the race where Keselowski and Byron crashed battling for position. Byron’s Chevrolet landed on top of Keselowski’s Ford with six laps left in the scheduled 90-lap race.

There was no way this thriller wasn't going to end in regulation.

One by one, playoff drivers took a beating on the track — and in the standings.

Joey Logano raced his way into the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs by winning the opener last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He finished 15th There was no automatic qualifier at The Glen into the second round.

Standings
Bell finished 14th and holds a 46-point lead in the standings.

Kyle Larson, Byron, Briscoe and Ty Gibbs are the final four drivers above the cutline. Hamlin is six points out, Keselowski 12, Truex 14 and Burton is 20 points out of the final spot.

Blaney crashes early
Blaney, the 2023 Cup champion, had his race ended on the opening lap after he was collected in a wreck that also involved playoff drivers Hamlin and Bell.

Blaney went from 45 points above the cutline to 29.

NASCAR rules dictated the No. 12 Ford must be towed to the garage, while Blaney argued his team should have been allowed to try and repair the car on pit road, giving him a shot at staying in the race.

“They didn’t give us a chance to fix it,” Blaney said. “How are they going to dictate if we are done or not? They have no idea of the damage. They said we were done because I couldn’t drive it back to the pit box, but if you have four flats, you get towed back to the pit box. You can’t drive that back. I don’t know what is going on or why they won’t give us a shot to work on it but I don’t agree with.”

NASCAR rules say cars can remain in the race for mechanical issues, not for damage.

Montoya's return
Juan Pablo Montoya finished 32nd driving for 23XI Racing in his first Cup race in 10 years.

A two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, Montoya never quite reached the heights in NASCAR that he did in his IndyCar, sports cars and Formula 1 careers. He won the Cup race at The Glen in 2010.

Up next
NASCAR heads to its playoff cutoff race at Bristol where Hamlin is the defending race winner.

“I feel like we can go there and win," Hamlin said. "We are going to an oval, back to a normal track. We can control our own destiny there.”