BUESCHER BLASTS BY VAN GISBERGEN TO WIN AT THE GLEN

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - In a wild dash to the finish in NASCAR Overtime, Chris Buescher outfoxed the road course ace Shane van Gisbergen to win at Watkins Glen International.

Buescher charged early in the race from the 24th starting position as polesitter Ross Chastain dominated Stage One. However, things went differently for several Playoff contenders. A massive wreck on lap 1 spelled disaster for Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, and Denny Hamlin.

Contact from Spire Motorsports driver Corey Lajoe sent two-time series champion Kyle Busch around on the exit of the Bus Stop Chicane. Busch slid across the track in front of a dozen cars, and Blaney suffered race-ending damage.

Hamlin's team repaired their number 11 FedEx machine, but their woes continued later in the event. Bell was able to rebound for a 14th-place finish and salvage a respectable points day for his Joe Gibbs Racing entry.

As the field clicked off laps in Stage One following the restart, A.J. Allmendinger fell off the pace with an axle issue. Meanwhile, Chastain and van Gisbergen controlled the pace and decided to pit before the end of the stage.

This handed the all-important stage victory to Martin Truex Jr., who found himself below the cutline entering the weekend. He picked up his third stage win of the season and ended the race with the third-most stage points on the day.

When the field reset after the caution period, Chastain and his future Trackhouse teammate van Gisbergen restarted up front. In the same fashion as the previous stage, the duo pulled away from the competition and raced for the lead amongst themselves.

The leaders began to make their pit stops with under five laps remaining in the second Stage. However, moments before Chastain and van Gisbergen could make the right-hand turn into the pit lane, Daniel Suárez spun out in turn six. His left rear wheel snapped after not being properly attached, causing the spin.

This trapped Chastain and van Gisbergen on an alternate strategy in which they would have to hold off the majority of the pack with worn tires. As the pack roared to life and funneled into turn one, Chastain was once again able to fend off van Gisbergen.

The next caution fell on lap 47 when Hamlin’s day went from bad to worse. He was collected in a stack-up, entering the esses while racing three wide with Brad Keselowksi and Kyle Larson. He clobbered the guard rail, finishing the race with a wounded car and a 6-point Playoff deficit.

The field fired off into the first set of turns with 40 laps remaining and no changes up front. As the laps wound down, Buescher began methodically working his way from fifth position on the restart to third by lap 56.

He hunted down van Gisbergen for a second before making quick work of Chastain for the lead. Less than a lap later, both Chastain and van Gisbergen made their way into the pits. This set up a nearly 10-lap-long pit stop cycle that ultimately saw van Gisbergen get past Chastain.

As the round of stops reached its completion, Buescher held a five-second lead over the Auckland, New Zealand, native of van Gisbergen. Slowly but surely, the three-time Australian Supercars champion closed in on Buescher.

Unfortunately, that sequence would not play out, as another yellow flag was waved for debris left by a flat tire on Harrison Burton’s car. This allowed a number of drivers, including Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Alex Bowman, to hit the pits.

Buescher and rookie Carson Hocevar lined up side by side while van Gisbergen elected to restart behind the leader. With only seven laps remaining on the 2.45-mile road course, the pack rolled into the first turn and found trouble in the esses.

Keselowski got turned by Atlanta race winner Joey Logano and got into Byron. The contact shot Byron’s number 24 car up and nearly over the protective guard rail before finding rest atop the Keselowski machine.

The field attempted another restart with three laps left but quickly found trouble once again. This time, contact from Todd Gilliland sent Elliott up the track and into Truex Jr. This cost them any chance at a top ten and caused the regular season champion Tyler Reddick to spin out while trying to avoid it.

This series of yellows set up a record 12th Overtime finish for a single season in the Cups Series. As the leaders climbed through the gears, van Gisbergen ducked low from the third position and gave Buescher a tap.

He sneaked by on the exit of turn one and held the lead coming to the white flag. As they weaved their way up the 80-foot climb in the esses and headed down the backstretch, Buescher sat two car lengths behind the leader.

Entering the Bus Stop Chicane for the final time, van Gisbergen made a rare mistake and brushed the wall. It sent his car off the line just enough for Buescher to get up to his bumper on the exit and upset the car. Buescher took his Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing machine around the bottom of the fifth turn and cleared the New Zealander for the race lead.

They charged into the final two corners with van Gisbergen hot in pursuit and only one more shot at the win. He gave it everything his car could handle and drifted sideways, exiting turn six. Buescher rolled out of the final turn to claim his first-ever road course victory and the fourth straight win for Ford as a manufacturer.

“The long run speed was just phenomenal,” Buecher told NBC. “Just such an awesome finish. Just to be that good for some much at the end of the race, all race, to get a win it’s good. We came here to be a spoiler, and we’re gonna do that.” 

“The WeatherTech Camaro was really good. The race was awesome with Ross and Chris and the others at the end,” van Gisbergen stated after the exciting last-lap battle. Despite not winning, he maintained composure through his disappointment, explaining, “I’m gutted we couldn’t get it. We had a lot of fun, but I’m pretty angry at myself.”

With all of the wrecks and restarts, the Playoff field is quite chaotic as it enters the final race in the Round of Sixteen. Hamlin, Keselowski, Truex Jr, and Burton. Those four will have to fight an uphill battle if they hope to surpass Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe to advance into the next round. 

The Cup Series takes a six-day break before heading to Tennessee. They will tackle the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. Saturday night will feature 500 laps of side-by-side short track action from the region dubbed Thunder Valley. Catch the race at 7:30 PM Eastern Time on the USA network.