On a day that saw RFK teammates leading a combined 190 laps, Chris Buescher kept the field at bay as he won at Richmond and solidified his playoff hopes. Teammate and owner Brad Keselowski showed what strength the team had by leading a race high 102 laps and winning Stage 2.
But for Keselowksi the race was lost on pit road as Buescher, who was arguably faster that Keselowski, grabbed the lead and stayed in front of Denny Hamlin on the final, and only, race caution when Daniel Suarez spun with just a handful of laps to go.
The race was effectively green from start to finish and that had teams jockeying strategies to find the winning combination. In the end, the fastest car all day won and had others wondering what happened.
Tyler Reddick started on the pole and easily won Stage 1 leading 81 laps overall. The team feels they have had the speed they need to win races but they have just not executed well enough to win more. That surely came to light once again as Reddick messed up entering the pits and cost himself the lead and he ultimately finished P16.
Bubba Wallace led an impressive 80 laps, his career best, but a tire issue on pit road cost him the lead as well and he finished P12.
Michael McDowell led just 9 laps as he struggled to stay in front of some really strong cars with his off strategy race on older tires. He ultimately fell to P22.
Daniel Suarez came into Richmond needing a strong finish but he qualified poorly, struggled on the hot, slick track and the late race spin didn’t help his final position, P33.
Things of note: Richmond was a strong day for several teams
In addition to RFK, RCR saw Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon in the Top 10.
While Christopher Bell struggled, Joe Gibbs drivers Denny Hamlin led 20 laps, finished P2 and Martin Truex, Jr. led 18 laps and finished P7.
Stewart Haas showed a lot of power with Ryan Preece finishing a strong P5, Aric Almirola P8, Kevin Harvick P10 and Chase Briscoe P11. Now how’s that for a good showing?
It was NOT a good race for Team Chevy and Hendrick in particular. Aside from RCR, there were no other bowties in the Top 10. Hendrick saw Chase Elliott finish P13, Alex Bowman P18, Kyle Larson P19 and William Byron P21. Elliott is still 40 points below the playoff cut line and Bowman 42. It’s gonna be a real dogfight the next few races.
Next up: Michigan
This might be Kevin Harvick’s best chance to close out his career with a regular season win. He has 3 wins since Feb 2020, he’s the defending race winner and is the lap leader by a wide margin.
Michigan is a big, wide fast track so anyone that shows up with some speed and can keep their wheels underneath of them, they stand a good chance at competing for the win.
Kyle Larson is second in laps led since 2020 and Chase Elliott third, but Elliott has just 3 Top 10 finishes in the last 4 races.
Bubba Wallace has shown better speed this year and he finished 2nd to Harvick last year. If he can avoid pit issues and make smart decisions like he has been, then he could be a real threat. And you can’t overlook Denny Hamlin, he has speed and has the best average finish at Michigan as well as being the 2nd ranked driver on intermediate 2-mile tracks in the last 7 races.
Ryan Blaney is another driver to watch if they can bring a car he likes. Joey Logano is almost always fast and after the race at Richmond, you have to keep an eye out for RFK.
Good luck to your driver this week. Keep the shiny side up, folks.
(Photo: RFK Press Release)
