Chris Buescher locks into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at Richmond as the path to the final few positions gains clarity
With his third career NASCAR Cup Series win Chris Buescher locked himself into this year’s playoff field. The win came as a surprise although Buescher has quietly put together a very good season.
Sunday’s Cook Out 400 showed just how much he and his team have improved as Buescher and teammate Brad Keselowski led 190 of 400 laps.
Keselowski looked like he would be the one in victory lane, ending an 84-race winless streak until a slow pit stop handed the lead to his teammate.
Buescher was able to maintain his lead during the final run to the checkered. His pit crew helped maintain that lead when a late caution brought the field down pit road with seven laps remaining.
Buescher held off a hard-charging Denny Hamlin on the restart to pick up his first victory of the year.
Playoff Cutline
Following the NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire the point standings featured three drivers separated by one point at the playoff cutline. Two of those drivers, Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell, have gained control of the last two playoff positions.
The third driver, Daniel Suarez, has fallen 34 points below the cutline. While Wallace and McDowell have been running well and winning stage points, Suarez’s crash at Pocono has left him at a large deficit.
AJ Allmendinger, who is also fighting for a playoff position, missed practice and qualifying this weekend to race in the Xfinity Series at Road America. Per rules he started the Cup Series race at the back of the field and finished 27th, falling an additional five points below the cutline.
Richmond, We Have a Problem
The quality of racing at Richmond International Raceway has been under scrutiny recently and the Cook Out 400 was no exception. The track offers a style of racing that is an outlier on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule these days.
The old asphalt surface wears out tires quickly and makes the already difficult Next Gen car even tougher to control. This leads to racing that is spaced out and heavily influenced by tire strategy.
A style quite different from the side-by-side, door banging that fans have become used to.
Nicknamed “The Action Track,” Richmond was once the most popular track in the NASCAR Cup Series. It created as many iconic moments of drivers racing for wins as it did drivers arguing with each other afterward.
The cars in recent races at Richmond have been so spread out and difficult to drive that they rarely make contact. Sunday’s race only had a single caution flag that was not the end of a stage break.
Polls have shown that this isn’t the type of racing that NASCAR fans prefer, especially at a track with a reputation for close racing. The future of Richmond on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule could become tenuous if this trend continues.
Was Richmond a good race? 53.9% of you said Yes.
Of the 15 Richmond races in the poll, that ranks No. 11 (best: 2016 spring, 85% … worst: 2020, 44.3%).
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) August 1, 2023
