Posted on by Staff Report

Winchester Fair presented by USNE Power

Monadnock Speedway

  • Entry list
Car No. Driver Organization Crew Chief Chassis Sponsor
1 Patrick Emerling RGM AZ, LLC Dale Hedquist LFR Fleetworks, Inc
3 Tyler Rypkema Boehler’s Racing Equipment Greg Fournier Boehler Racing USNE; Northeast Drilling
15 Joey Cipriano III Fueled Up Motorsports Ryan Plourde FURY Race Cars Dependable Energy
16 Ron Silk Haydt Yannone Racing Phil Moran FURY Race Cars Blue Mountain Machine; Future Homes
17 Anthony Nocella Michele Davini Chris McTaggart LFR Xtreme Racing; Nocella Paving, Bells Septic
18 Kenneth Heagy Robert Pollifrone Greg Gorman FURY Race Cars Buoy One Restaurant & Seafood Market
19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Motorsports LLC James Archibald Troyer Franzosa Trucking Company; Karchner Logistics
21 Stephen Kopcik Wanick Motorsports LLC TBA Troyer Newtown Pools; Karchner Warehousing
22 Kyle Bonsignore Kyle Bonsignore Cam McDermott FURY Race Cars Chalew Performance; MTT; Munns Auto
43 Matt Kimball William Kimball Jr. William Kimball Jr. LFR J&M Towing and Recovery; Poodiack Wealth Management; Central Mass Tree
46 Craig Lutz Goodie Racing Douglas Ogiejko FURY Race Cars Riverhead Building Supply
51 Justin Bonsignore Kenneth Massa Motorsports, LLC Ryan Stone FURY Race Cars Phoenix Communications, Inc.
54 Tommy Catalano Catalano Motorsports Rick Kluth Troyer Catalano Motorsports
56 Trevor Catalano Catalano Motorsports David Catalano Troyer Catalano Motorsports
60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports LLC Mike Stein LFR Elite
64 Austin Beers KLM Motorsports Ron Yuhas Troyer G&G Electrical Supply, Dell Electric. Lumiere Electrical, Andrew James Interiors, AP Marquadt & Sons, Hughes Motors
79 Jonathan McKennedy Jonathan McKennedy John Lowinski FURY Race Cars Jon McKennedy Racing
82 Woody Pitkat DWR Racing Corp. Nick Walsh LFR Gunsmoke Stables Racing , Horton Avenue Materials
84 Tyler Catalano Catalano Motorsports JJ Vece Troyer Catalano Motorsports
110 Bob Reis Reis Racing Gary Nye Troyer Ironlisting.com; B.R. Machineworks; Sterling Lubricants; Simpson Safety; Kluth
181 Nathan Wenzel Keri-Ann Wenzel Edward Kennedy Troyer 1812 Paint & Auto Body; Gene’s Ford & Chevrolet Service

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Bubba Wallace signed a multiyear extension with 23XI Racing, the team announced Wednesday.

Wallace, a two-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series, will continue to drive the No. 23 Toyota for the organization. The Alabama native is in the midst of his seventh full-time season at the Cup level and fourth with 23XI.

Wallace, 30, was the first driver signed by team co-owners Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, the basketball legend who expanded to motorsports in an ownership role after years of fandom from afar. Wallace brought the program its first victory at Talladega Superspeedway in the fall of 2021, then won again the following year at Kansas Speedway.

Ahead of this week’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Wallace sits 19th in the series standings with five top fives and 10 top 10s in 28 races. His 2024 numbers reflect a 14.3 average start and 16.3 average finish.

Last season marked Wallace’s first winless campaign since 2020, but 2023 also brought Wallace his best overall numbers, improving his averages significantly while advancing to the NASCAR Playoffs for the first time in his career, ultimately ranking 10th in the final rundown.

In addition to his Cup success, Wallace has six career victories in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and six wins in ARCA East competition, finishing runner-up in the 2011 championship standings.

Posted on by Staff Report

Big Machine Racing announced Wednesday that Nick Sanchez will drive the team’s No. 48 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series next season.

The 23-year-old driver will make the jump from the Craftsman Truck Series, where he is in his second season of competition with Rev Racing. The Miami native has won twice in the Truck Series this year and is the 2022 ARCA Menards Series champion.

Sanchez will replace Parker Kligerman, who announced last week that he would not return to the No. 48 Chevy next year. Kligerman has driven full-time for Big Machine since 2023 and has virtually clinched his second straight berth in the Xfinity Series Playoffs.

“This is a huge opportunity for me,” Sanchez said Wednesday in a virtual conference. “When I look at the [Xfinity] schedule and when I look at the places I need to improve as a driver, I think it just offers more for me. I’m excited to get to the race track next year and try to collect trophies for Scott and the whole team. This team has everything to be successful. I look forward to plugging into the team and chasing trophies.”

It will mark a reunion for Sanchez with the Scott Borchetta-owned organization, which tapped him for six races in the No. 48 ride during the 2022 campaign. That stint yielded a best finish of seventh in the next-to-last race of the season at Martinsville Speedway that fall.

Big Machine also indicated that Patrick Donahue would return as the team’s crew chief, and that Gainbridge would join the organization’s group of partners as an associate sponsor.

“In 2022 we put Nick in our car for a handful of races and he was fast right out of the gate,” Borchetta said in a team release. “At Martinsville in particular, I watched him go full-on, elbows-out, putting the car right where it needed to be, with no fear against the best-of-the-best in the series. Since then, he’s done a fantastic job in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and I know that he and crew chief Patrick Donahue and the entire Big Machine Racing Team are going to be a force to be reckoned with in 2025.”

Both Sanchez and Big Machine have postseason aspirations to fulfill this year before their new partnerships begin. Sanchez is currently fourth in the Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs, heading to Thursday’s UNOH 200 (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Bristol Motor Speedway with a 34-point margin above the provisional elimination line with two races left in the Round of 10. Kligerman sits plus-85 above elimination ahead of Friday’s Food City 300 (7:30 p.m. ET, CW, PRN, SiriusXM), the regular-season finale at the 0.533-mile Bristol track.

The Big Machine organization has been in operation since the 2021 season. Cup Series regular Tyler Reddick secured the No. 48 team’s lone victory the following season, prevailing at Texas Motor Speedway.

Posted on by Brandon White

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will make its third and final stop at Monadnock Speedway this season with Saturday night’s running of the Winchester Fair presented by USNE.

Having been a part of the Modified Tour schedule for different stretches in the 1980s and 2010s, Monadnock became a staple of the series during the 2020s. The 2024 season marks the first time the facility has three races on the calendar after previously hosting two in 2023.

As part of the track’s increased number of events, JDV Productions founder and Monadnock track promoter Josh Vanada moved the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup to the facility. More than $20,000 in bonus money has been available to Modified Tour drivers at Monadnock this year, with $6,000 being distributed to the top three in points.

With one race remaining, the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup championship is still up for grabs. The top seven in the point standings are separated by single digits, which primarily consists of seasoned Modified competitors looking for crucial momentum to close out 2024.

Tickets for the Winchester Fair presented by USNE can be purchased here. Below is everything to know ahead of the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup finale.

Patrick Emerling
Patrick Emerling enters Saturday’s Winchester Fair at Monadnock Speedway with a three-point lead in the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup. (Photo: Jaiden Tripi/NASCAR)

Winchester Fair presented by USNE

Although he trails Justin Bonsignore and Ron Silk in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship standings, Patrick Emerling sits atop the Whelen Granite State Short Track cup points by a narrow margin.

A two-time winner on the Modified Tour this year, consecutive third-place finishes at the prior Monadnock Speedway events enabled Emerling to secure the points lead in the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup. Those performances are Emerling’s best across 10 career starts at Monadnock.

Emerling will have to fend off several other talented drivers to close out the Whelen Granite State Short Track cup title. This includes Matt Hirschman, who only trails Emerling by three points and is still searching for his first Modified Tour victory at Monadnock despite never finishing outside the top 10 at the New Hampshire track.

Silk (-4) and Bonsignore (-8) also remain within striking distance of Emerling’s advantage. Silk himself has never visited Monadnock’s Victory Lane, but Bonsignore boasts the best track record of any Modified Tour competitor at the complex with five victories on his resume.

A potential underdog contender for the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup is Trevor Catalano, who picked up his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory during the most recent trip to Monadnock. The triumph put Catalano nine points back from Emerling, but he has not recorded another top-five since then.

Austin Beers (-6) and Craig Lutz (-8) are also in contention for the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup title. They will be joined in the field by Jon McKennedy, Woody Pitkat, Stephen Kopcik, Anthony Nocella and Matt Kimball, among others.

The complete entry list for the Winchester Fair presented by USNE can be viewed here.

Monadnock Speedway
Jake Johnson (3) and Trevor Catalano (56) won the other two events at Monadnock Speedway that comprised the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup. (Photo: Jaiden Tripi/NASCAR)

RACING REFERENCE:

RACE FACTS

Race Winchester Fair presented by USNE
Date Saturday, September 21, 2024
Track Monadnock Speedway
Layout 0.25-mile asphalt oval
Location Winchester, New Hampshire
Start time 6 p.m. ET
Laps 200
Posted Awards $85,234
Tickets Here
How To Watch FloRacing

SCHEDULE: Saturday, September 21… Final practice from 1:15 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET … Qualifying at 4:15 p.m. ET … Winchester Fair presented by USNE at 6 p.m. ET (FloRacing).

RE-DRAW PROCEDURE: The fastest qualifier will draw a pill to determine the number of drivers that will re-draw for their starting positions: 4, 6, 8 or 10 positions will re-draw. Once the fastest qualifier draws the initial pill, NASCAR will have the various buckets ready to immediately start the re-draw procedure. Drivers will re-draw in their qualifying order after qualifying has been completed (1 through 10, or however many are applicable). The pole position and/or any bonus point(s), if applicable, will be awarded to the fastest qualifier and will be the pole of record.

QUALIFYING: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the 2nd Annual Winchester Fair presented by USNE Power is limited to 28 starters including Provisional Positions.

TIRE ALLOTMENT: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eight (8) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. The tire change rule is one (1) tire per caution.

Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Xfinity Series will each feature fun names behind the wheel at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Rising sprint-car star Corey Day will make his NASCAR national series debut in the Truck Series’ Thursday night feature at the 0.533-mile high-banked short track driving the No. 81 Chevrolet for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, his first of four races scheduled for 2024. Joining him will be Connor Zilisch, the 18-year-old sensation who won last weekend’s Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International in his debut start. Zilisch will drive the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports Thursday night in his third series start.

RELATED: Full Truck Series entry list | Xfinity Series entry list

William Sawalich, the 17-year-old defending ARCA Menards Series East champion and a seven-time ARCA winner in 2024, will make his fifth start of the year in Tricon Garage’s No. 1 Toyota on Thursday night, eyeing his first top-10 finish of 2024. Marco Andretti, a two-time winner in IndyCar competition, will make his seventh career start in the Truck Series Thursday in the No. 04 Chevrolet for Roper Racing in his fourth appearance of the season.

The UNOH 200 Presented by Ohio Logistics is set for Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

The Xfinity Series features a return for two-time champion Dale Earnhardt Jr., a Class of 2021 inductee of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Friday’s 300-lapper marks Earnhardt’s lone race of the 2024 campaign. The 15-time most popular driver and 26-time winner in Cup competition returned to Bristol in 2023 and led 47 laps in a stellar showing before a mechanical issue ended his day in flames. Earnhardt will compete in the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.

MORE: Dale Jr. through the years

Also racing in Friday’s Xfinity event will be Jeffrey Earnhardt, Dale Jr.’s nephew, who will drive the No. 26 Toyota for Sam Hunt Racing in his fifth start of 2024.

The Food City 300 will fire off Friday at 7 p.m. ET on CW, PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

MORE: Full Bristol weekend schedule

Posted on by John Crane

When the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule was announced in October 2023, it didn’t take long for the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs docket — and in particular, the Round of 16 — to quickly draw attention.

Assumptions popped up almost immediately. Atlanta Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International and Bristol Motor Speedway — a drafting-style track, road course and short track, respectively — were bound to keep 2024 title hopefuls on their toes and create a bounty of scenarios that could jumble the postseason in as many ways as could be imagined.

RELATED: Recap Watkins Glen playoff thriller | Race results

“The first round is the scariest it’s been in a long time,” Christopher Bell said during Cup Series Playoffs Media Day. “You know, with Atlanta, a superspeedway starting us off, we all know how that can go. And then we go to Watkins Glen, which should be a normal race track, but with the expected tire degradation with the tire change that we’ve had, I mean, it could be a Bristol-style race where people are wearing tires out really early and struggling to make laps and having to pit all the time. So that could be another wild-card race. And then Bristol, I think everybody’s expecting it to be more of the same as what we had in the spring. So, the first round could be very different than what we’ve seen in the past.”

Atlanta’s overtime fireworks, not to mention the unknowns of The Glen’s playoff debut, contributed to the fright. And in Watkins Glen’s case, a new tire compound prioritizing fall-off, combined with freshly recessed rumble strips, gave the entirety of the Cup field a different flavor than the road course had typically put forth during the circuit’s annual visit there. And with postseason implications now on the line, the tension was much more magnified.

And those tensions came to fruition, indeed. After the checkered flag waved in overtime, only two playoff drivers (Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric) finished inside the top 10. High-profile names, including Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, William Byron and 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, finished outside the top 25. The rest of the postseason field finished anywhere from 12th (Kyle Larson) to 24th (Harrison Burton).

So, what happened?

Cautions, for one. An opening-lap wreck involving Blaney, Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell — all playoff drivers — was the first of seven yellows during Sunday’s 92-lap affair. The crash proved terminal for Blaney, and the No. 12 Team Penske Ford finished last in the field. Hamlin and Keselowski, meanwhile, were caught up in additional incidents, with the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota spinning out through the esses during the race’s final stage; Keselowski tangled with William Byron (another playoff driver) in Turn 2 during the race’s waning moments. Hamlin and Keselowski finished 23rd and 26th, respectively.

Next was strategy … and miscues on pit road. The decision whether to pit before the stage end and restart at the front of the field to retain track position — known as “flipping” the stages — versus staying out to collect valuable stage points and trading away track position was more than apparent in conjunction with the race yellows. For playoff drivers, the goal was clear: collect points. Stage 1’s conclusion saw eight playoff drivers collect stage points, while seven postseason pilots tallied points following Stage 2’s end under caution.

But issues on pit road could flip everything on its side, and such was the case for Larson and Keselowski after penalties forced them to the rear, thus opening them up to the possibility of being caught up in traffic … and perhaps trouble.

WATKINS GLEN: Blaney out after Lap 1 damage | Hamlin below elimination line following wrecks

When combining yellows, strategy shifts and pit-road blunders, Watkins Glen’s chaos can be quantified in numerics. Twelve of the 16 playoff drivers were “involved” in at least one of the two problem areas in question, with only Briscoe, Cindric, Alex Bowman and Ty Gibbs coming out of The Glen’s contest cleanly.

Ultimately, the effect on the playoff standings was stark, indeed. Of the 12 drivers currently above the elimination line, Cindric (plus-43) was the biggest gainer, vaulting from seventh in the playoff standings to just three points behind Bell (plus-46) for first among postseason drivers yet to clinch. Following him is Bowman (plus-41), two points behind the No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Daniel Suárez (despite getting stuck in the gravel in Stage 2) is up next in the playoff table (plus-36), and while he might not be inside the top five, Briscoe’s 27-point gain saw the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford leap from last in the playoff standings to 11th, six points clear of the elimination line with one Round of 16 race to go.

With the shift up top, two former Cup Series champions and a perennial title contender now find themselves underneath the elimination line, with Hamlin (minus-6), Keselowski (minus-12), Martin Truex Jr. (minus-14) and Burton (minus-20) on the outside looking in. And while anything can go in the playoffs, needing to perform extremely well to the point of finding Victory Lane might be the only course of action for these drivers to survive the Round of 16’s onslaught.

Chaos was the expectation for this year’s playoffs, and as a track new to the postseason, Watkins Glen didn’t fail to shift this year’s playoff grid tremendously. With different tires and configuration changes to boot, the New York road course proved that no driver is safe.

MORE: Cup Series standings | Cup Series schedule 

Saturday’s Round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, USA, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) is sure to deliver after its spring running saw unique tire situations dictate the race’s outcome.

There’s no question how much the Round of 16 has already delivered in the playoff-shaking department. After what we’ve already seen at Atlanta and Watkins Glen, when looking ahead to the upcoming Bristol contest — expecting the unexpected should be a given.

Posted on by Dustin Albino

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — For the first time in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, no championship-eligible driver cracked the top five in the finishing order in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International. Best in class was Chase Briscoe, managing a sixth-place finish.

With an early departure from the playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Briscoe needed a stellar performance at The Glen to give him a fighting chance going into the Round of 16 elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Buescher shakes up playoff field with Watkins Glen win | Race results from Sunday

In a chaotic 92-lap overtime contest, few playoff drivers didn’t have some semblance of an issue. Briscoe was the lead playoff car for much of the race, though, finishing third to Martin Truex Jr. and Alex Bowman in the opening stage. After starting deep in the field for Stage 2, he hustled the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to seventh, tallying 12 stage points for the afternoon.

Playing a two-stop strategy, Briscoe hit pit road for the final time on Lap 57, along with race leaders Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen. When the race cycled out, the No. 14 remained inside the top 10.

Multiple late cautions didn’t harm Briscoe. With a sixth-place finish, he tallied 43 points for his day of work, outscoring the other 15 playoff drivers by at least 10 points. (Austin Cindric scored the second-most points among playoff drivers with 33.) He leaped five positions in the standings, moving from 16th to a tie for 11th, with a 27-point swing from where he started the race.

“We did everything we needed to do,” Briscoe told NASCAR.com after the race. “We probably only gave up two or three points that we could have got. Really good day. To get the most points scored is what we needed to do out of all the playoff drivers. It was everything we needed.

“We just have to go on to Bristol and hopefully survive the chaos. If we can go and do what we did today, get stage points, qualify well, it makes your way of getting through to the next round much easier. Stage points are going to be the name of the game — always are — and we need to qualify really well. It’s going to be a big difference maker for Bristol, so we need to do that.”

Bristol has been hit or miss for Briscoe in four Cup attempts. He often qualifies well, which bodes well for scoring stage points. But he will likely need to better his average finishing position of 16.8 if he wants to advance to the next round.

Stewart-Haas Racing has had recent success at the track with Kevin Harvick. Aric Almirola won the pole in 2022, the same race Briscoe qualified on the front row.

MORE: Cup Series standings | Cup Series schedule

That leaves Briscoe confident heading to Thunder Valley on Saturday, where the postseason field will officially be trimmed from 16 to 12 playoff drivers (7:30 p.m. ET, USA, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

Briscoe expects chaos, similar to Watkins Glen. Only two playoff drivers managed top-10 finishes on Sunday, with half of the 16 drivers finishing 20th or worse.

“I feel like that’s one of our best tracks as a company,” Briscoe said. “It’s hard to know what Bristol race we’re going to have. Are we going to have one like the spring, or are we going to have one like we typically do? I feel good about it either way.”

Posted on by Dustin Albino

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – The famed seven-turn Watkins Glen International has had numerous thrilling finishes over the years. Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen was added to the list thanks to an epic battle to the finish between Chris Buescher and Shane van Gisbergen.

After executing the strategy right, Buescher sailed to a lead north of four seconds. Then, a caution flew for Harrison Burton, blowing a tire and having the carcass cover the track. All that hard work was erased.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Buescher cleared the field, with rookie Carson Hocevar lining up to his outside during the next two restarts. Ultimately, the race was sent to overtime for a multi-car incident in the esses.

“I sure did like it being four seconds out front and cruising to victory, that sure seemed a lot easier,” Buescher said. “A little bit wilder at the end to have caution after caution was certainly frustrating.”

On the overtime restart, van Gisbergen lined up inside the second row and, while entering Turn 1, moved Buescher up the track to take the lead. The race for the win was on.

Van Gisbergen scooted away from Buescher for the next lap, but Buescher noticed he was reeling the No. 16 Chevrolet back in coming to the white flag. He knew passing a road course ace would be a tall order.

“We went up through the esses and I saw him hanging on to it, really loose,” Buescher said. “I went to a point where I wasn’t really comfortable at my entry marker into the Bus Stop, and I think he was still going. I had a feeling something big was going to happen and sure enough, he had that big slide.”

The No. 16 car went wide in the inner loop, clipping the grass. That allowed Buescher to cross over to the inside of van Gisbergen entering the carousel where the two collided. Buescher escaped with the lead, snapping a 37-race winless streak dating back to the 2023 regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.

“I knew when he got that spot on us on that last restart that it was going to be tricky to get back by him,” Buescher explained. “Wanted to make sure we stayed in the hunt and drove the thing hard and kept the pressure on him and made him realize that we were still there and it wasn’t going to be a cruise away. I think that was the ticket to make sure that you get other drivers looking up in their mirror instead of looking forward and it’s a good old-fashioned hard battle at the end.

“There have been so many fantastic last one or two laps here at The Glen and I certainly feel like I’m going to go back and watch that one, and it’s going to feel like it’s going to add up with some of the old school Ambrose, Keselowski battles or a handful of others.”

Van Gisbergen expected the contact after giving it to Buescher on the restart. He considered the contact from Buescher fair.

“I did, because I gave [a bump],” van Gisbergen told NASCAR.com, walking up pit road. “Just a little tap to get position on him. I knew there was a chance he would try to get me back. I was pushing really hard on the entries, and I had a little wobble into the Bus Stop and it put me in too early and just clipped the grass.”

Compared to the overtime finish of Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, van Gisbergen thought it was clean.

“There’s a scale of it where it’s like that and then another scale where it’s like the Xfinity race yesterday which was just crap,” he added. “I think it can work well sometimes.”

Had van Gisbergen not made a mistake in the inner loop, Buescher wasn’t going to go as far as wrecking him for the victory. That would have been unnecessary in his book.

MORE: Buescher details last-lap pass | SVG ‘gutted’ by loss

But after scoring a pair of runner-up finishes this season, including being on the wrong side of the closest finish in NASCAR history at Kansas Speedway in May, Buescher was content with how it played out.

“I didn’t like losing the lead there, but I didn’t think it was dirty; it was very aggressive racing,” Buescher stated. “I’m not out here to flat out wreck somebody. He didn’t do anything to me that deserved something like that, but we were going to race hard for it and have a battle all the way to the finish.”

After the race, van Gisbergen congratulated Buescher on the hard-fought win in Victory Lane. There was zero bad blood between the two drivers.

“I didn’t feel like there was anything that was dirty about it,” Buescher noted of his pass. “I didn’t expect him coming over to be mad about anything.

“On that note, I think that’s the one guy out here that’s bigger than me. So if there’s that moment where I feel like he is mad coming over, I better take note, right? Just on the flip side, I’m sure some others don’t like seeing me.”

A good pat on the back was all that was needed.

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

Most of the 16-driver playoff field will be limping into Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday for the Round of 16 elimination race as only two drivers scored top 10s at Watkins Glen International on Sunday. It wasn’t who you would expect either, as Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric kept their Fords clean through a chaotic 92-lap affair in the Finger Lakes to finish sixth and 10th, respectively.

WINNER

He had his heart broken multiple times in the regular season and ultimately came up short, unable to return to the postseason. Still, Chris Buescher shedded some of that misfortune at Watkins Glen as he moved Shane van Gisbergen in the carousel on the final lap to snag his first victory of 2024 and first of his career on a road course. It marks the fourth win in a row for Ford in the Cup Series.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Watkins Glen

WHO’S HOT?

Chase Briscoe. The driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was easily the big winner of the day among the playoff field as Briscoe’s sixth-place finish was highest of the championship-eligible 16 drivers. Sunday was the first time dating back to the postseason’s introduction in 2004 that zero playoff drivers grabbed a top-five result. Briscoe capitalized on 12 stage points by the halfway point and kept his car out of the trouble in the final stage to bring home his second top 10 in the last three races. Going from minus-21 to the elimination line to plus-6, Briscoe will have a lot of momentum heading to Bristol where he can advance to the Round of 12.

Austin Cindric. A big day last weekend at Atlanta was doubled at Watkins Glen as Cindric’s 10th-place finish put him in third in the playoff standings and a whopping 43 points above the elimination line. Much like Briscoe, Cindric stayed out for the Stage 1 finish and snagged six points. The driver of the No. 2 Ford also stayed out of harm’s way throughout the final stage. Barring a bad outcome early at Bristol, Cindric is in exceptional position to advance to the Round of 12 and will just need to stay out of trouble, which is easier said than done at Bristol.

WHO’S NOT?

Everyone else. It’s hard to pinpoint just a handful of playoff drivers who aren’t hot because the remaining 14 drivers all struggled or were caught up in incidents at Watkins Glen.

Kyle Larson was the best of those to finish outside the top 10 with a 12th-place result. It was a good recovery for the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team after a vehicle interference penalty sent Larson to the rear of the field during the final stage. He also grabbed three points in Stage 1 that salvaged an otherwise so-so day for the 2021 Cup champion. Daniel Suárez and Christopher Bell also recovered for top-15 results after both spun in Sunday’s race. The No. 99 Trackhouse Racing driver could not capitalize on everyone’s misfortunes but scored seven key points in Stage 1 and leaves The Glen 36 points above the elimination line despite his Stage 2 spin. Bell is the highest in the playoff standings without a win at plus-46.

bell spins at watkins glen
Sean Gardner | Getty Images

Joey Logano (15th), Alex Bowman (18th), Chase Elliott (19th) and Martin Truex Jr. (20th) rounded out the top 20 for playoff drivers. Elliott and Truex were caught up in late-race incidents that caused heavy damage to the likes of Brad Keselowski (26th) and William Byron (34th).

Ty Gibbs (22nd) and Tyler Reddick (27th) could not find their way to the front of the field after poor qualifying efforts Saturday and Reddick was spun in the closing laps, leading the race into NASCAR Overtime. Harrison Burton, who finished 24th, blew a tire with 11 laps to go and is now 20 points below the elimination line entering Bristol and last of the 16-driver standings.

The playoff-driver woes Sunday began with Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney from the get-go on Lap 1 as Corey LaJoie spun Kyle Busch in the Bus Stop, culminating in a chain-reaction wreck. Hamlin hit Busch and had another setback later in the race as Keselowski spun Hamlin as the No. 11, Keselowski and Larson tried going three-wide through the esses.

Blaney’s day ended after left-rear contact with Keselowski brought the No. 12 Ford to a halt on the track and Blaney couldn’t drive his vehicle back to pit road.

HAMLIN INCIDENTS: Lap 1 wreck | Final stage spin

Despite two separate incidents, Hamlin recovered for a 23rd-place result and sits just six points below the elimination race heading to Bristol where he’s won the last two concrete races.

BUBBLE WATCH

RANKDRIVERCUTOFF
9Kyle Larson26
10William Byron25
11Chase Briscoe6
12Ty Gibbs6
ELIMINATION LINE
13Denny Hamlin-6
14Brad Keselowski-12
15Martin Truex Jr.-14
16Harrison Burton-20
Posted on by Holly Cain

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — In a largely chaotic race — action-packed literally from the drop of the green flag — it was RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher who prevailed in NASCAR Overtime in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen, passing road-course ace Shane van Gisbergen in a bumper-to-bumper last-lap duel to claim his first career road-course victory at the famed Watkins Glen International.

Van Gisbergen took the lead from the second row in a daring three-wide move on an overtime restart, but Buescher chased him down. Buescher’s No. 17 RFK Racing Ford and van Gisbergen’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet made contact in the course’s famous Bus Stop, then Buescher slid his Mustang inside van Gisbergen’s Camaro in the esses and motored off to a 0.979-second win over the New Zealand superstar in the second NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race of the season.

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Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain and Spire’s Zane Smith rounded out the top five. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe placed sixth as the highest-finishing playoff driver, followed by Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell, Spire’s Corey LaJoie, SHR’s Ryan Preece and Team Penske’s Austin Cindric.

Briscoe and Cindric were the only two playoff drivers to finish among the top 10 in what was a perpetually dramatic day for the 16 playoff drivers racing for the NASCAR Cup Series championship.

“Oh man, it was such a good Ford Mustang, speed was so great and long-run speed phenomenal,” said the 31-year-old Texan Buescher, who just missed qualifying for the playoffs when Chase Briscoe won the regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway three weeks ago.

“I thought we lost it there on the last one, but, man, to stay right there with him. It was a spot he was better than us, but he just missed it, so I tried to cross over and just hard racing. What an awesome finish. To be that good for so much at the end of the race — all race — to get a win is good.

“We came here to be spoilers, and we’re going to do that.”

Van Gisbergen, who won the Chicago Street Race last season in his NASCAR Cup Series debut, was a factor all day, as expected for the former Australian Supercars champion, who will compete full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series next year in the No. 88 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing.

“Driver error, yeah,” van Gisbergen said of his slip in the Bus Stop. “I knew Chris was really going to send it and push me if he could get there, and as I turned back, I was a bit loose and clipped the inside wall. Just driver error, and I’m gutted.

“The race was really awesome there with Ross [Chastain] and Chris [Buescher] and the others at the end, I’m gutted we couldn’t get it. We had a lot of fun, but I’m pretty angry at myself.”

It was a fitting dramatic ending to a day that shook up the playoff standings from the opening lap to the final lap (92). Twelve of the 16 Playoff drivers suffered some sort of “challenge” on the day.

RELATED: Latest NASCAR Playoffs standings

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney — who led the points standings entering the race — was eliminated from the race on Lap 1 after being innocently caught up in a collision that included half a dozen cars, including fellow playoff competitors Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Christopher Bell.

It was just the beginning of a long, challenging day for Hamlin, who was involved in another accident mid-race. He was part of a three-wide line of playoff drivers – also including Kyle Larson and Keselowski – trying to make it through the track’s famous series of turns called the esses. Unfortunately for Hamlin, there wasn’t enough room for the wide challenges, and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota again suffered damage.

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Larson and fellow playoff drivers Regular Season Champion Tyler Reddick, Bell, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and William Byron were involved in multiple incidents throughout the day.

The high-speed, high-action day ended a streak of five consecutive Hendrick Motorsports wins at the historic 2.45-mile Watkins Glen track. Among the playoff drivers, Larson finished 12th, followed by Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez, Bell and Logano rounding out the top 15.

Hendrick’s Alex Bowman was 18th, followed — in order — by teammate Elliott and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr.

JGR’s Ty Gibbs was 22nd, followed immediately by his teammate Hamlin and Wood Brothers’ Harrison Burton. Keselowski was 26th and Reddick 27th. Byron ended up 34th, and Blaney was 38th, the first car out.

Those results mean that with one race left in this opening three-race playoff round, Bell holds a three-point edge on Cindric atop the standings, with Bowman five points back. Logano’s win at Atlanta two weeks ago scored him an automatic bid into the next round.

Heading into next Saturday night’s first-round elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Hamlin is now ranked 13th, six points below his JGR teammate Gibbs on the elimination line. Keselowski is 12 points back, Truex 14 points back and Burton is 20 points off the transfer position.

“I thought our Camry was solid, needed to be better on long runs for sure, but worked hard and persevered and had a decent day, but as always, you get the cautions at the end, and guys just run through you,” said a frustrated but determined Truex, who ran up front early and was — at one point — more than a dozen points above the elimination line.

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“It’s just crazy all these races always come down to this and I don’t really understand how guys can call themselves the best in the world when they just drive through everyone on restarts at the end of these races,” Truex added. “It’s very frustrating, but it is what it is these days.”

The NASCAR Cup Series will conclude a triple-header race weekend at the famed Bristol high-banks with Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7 p.m. ET, USA, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Denny Hamlin is the defending winner.

NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Cup Series garage at Watkins Glen concluded without issue, confirming Buescher as the race winner.