Chris Buescher was battling for third with less than 25 laps remaining at Bristol. It seemed like he was be on his way to earning his third career top five on an unrestricted track. He had reason to be hopeful, as one of his other top fives came in the 2016 edition of Bristol’s August race under the lights.
Buescher was caught in the middle of a three-wide battle with Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch when the trio ran out of room. All three sustained damage in that incident. Buescher finished one lap off the pace in 19th, which was a far cry from the result he should have earned.
“When I was watching him race the other night, he did everything right,” Dale Jarrett said on Tuesday’s edition of NASCAR America. “It reminds me of how he gets good finishes at the plate races because he does such a good job of staying out of trouble and not putting himself in bad positions. But he got put in the wrong spot a couple of times late in this race and didn’t get … the finish that he deserved.”
Kasey Kahne announced his retirement from full-time Cup racing last week and then hit the track to score his second-best finish of the season. Finishing as the last driver on the lead lap, he secured a 15th-place finish.
“(Bristol) is a hard enough place when you have 100 percent focus, but when it starts getting away a little bit … Kasey Kahne, being the professional he is, went and did his job and they had a very solid night,” Jarrett said.
Trevor Bayne was the third driver showcased in this week’s Running in the Pack.
“His average running position this season in the 15 races he’s done prior to Bristol was 22.7,” Parker Kligerman said. “His average running position at Bristol? 12.5 and he finished 11th – 10 spots better. This was an incredible run for Trevor Bayne.”
For more, watch the video above.
Be the first to comment