Chris Buescher wins at Daytona, finalizes playoff field

Chris Buescher won two laps at Daytona International Speedway, and he won his third race of the season. He scored his first career superspeedway win, and he set himself up for the playoffs.

Buescher entered this season with only two career wins — Pocono in 2016 and Bristol last season. He has since scored three more while stacking playoff points.

Brad Keselowski finished second after pushing his teammate to the win. He remains winless at RFK Racing, but he will get to pursue his second Cup Series championship after a consistent season.

Daytona race results | Driver points after Daytona

Aric Almirola finished third in what was his best finish of the season. Chase Elliott finished fourth as he missed the playoffs for the first time in his Cup Series career. Joey Logano rounded out the top five after scoring six points in the first two stages.

Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Kevin Harvick and Corey LaJoie all scored top-10 finishes. LaJoie matched his single-season mark of two top-10 finishes.

Just outside of the top 10 were two drivers that delivered under the lights. Ty Dillon finished 11th in what was his best performance with Spire Motorsports.

Austin Hill finished 14th in the Beard Motorsports Chevrolet and set a new career-best mark. His previous best was 18th at Michigan last season.

Here are some takeaways from a summer night race at Daytona International Speedway.

Daytona has found its role

There used to be a July tradition in NASCAR. The Cup Series drivers would spend Fourth of July weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

The situation changed in 2020, a season altered by COVID. The regular-season finale took place at Daytona as William Byron scored his first career win and punched his ticket to the playoffs.

The Cup Series has since spent the final week of the regular season at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. This track has been the place where more than a dozen winless drivers have made aggressive moves in pursuit of the all-important win.

Austin Dillon won his way into the playoffs last season after avoiding a massive wreck caused by rain. He shook up the playoff field and eliminated Martin Truex Jr. from contention.

A new winner did not take Saturday night’s race. Instead, Chris Buescher won for the third time this season. However, the regular-season finale still delivered nonstop intrigue as Dillon, Ty Gibbs and Austin Cindric all crashed at the end of stage 2. This eliminated them from contention.

The issues continued with Todd Gilliland failing to finish the race due to a mechanical issue. Chase Briscoe was involved in an incident with six laps remaining in the race.

Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Aric Almirola, Erik Jones, Justin Haley, Daniel Suarez, Corey LaJoie and Ty Dillon were all running at the end of the race. They just weren’t able to challenge Buescher for the win at the end of the superspeedway race.

NASCAR has not released the 2024 schedule yet, but there is little doubt that Daytona will host the regular-season finale. The track just continues to deliver storylines that set up the playoffs.

Ford Performance has hit its stride

The story early this season was the dominance of Chevrolet. The manufacturer’s drivers won the first four races and five of the first seven. Joey Logano’s win at Atlanta and Tyler Reddick’s win at Circuit of the Americas were the only exceptions.

Toyota won seven times in the first 21 races of the season. Chevrolet won 12 times. The only other Ford win was Ryan Blaney’s victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The situation has completely changed as the playoffs approached. Chris Buescher went back-to-back at Richmond and Michigan and then Michael McDowell won at Indianapolis.

William Byron snapped the Ford winning streak at Watkins Glen, but Buescher put the blue oval back in victory lane at Daytona to cap off the regular season.

The playoffs will now begin with Ford having the most representatives in the 16-driver field. Buescher, Blaney, Logano and McDowell all have wins. Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick secured their spots on points.

Toyota and Chevrolet each have five drivers competing for a championship. William Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain won for Chevy.

Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell won their way into the playoffs for Toyota. Bubba Wallace secured his spot on points.

Despite the slow start, Ford Performance now has the most drivers in the playoffs. This gives the manufacturer better odds to move its drivers through the first three rounds.

Ryan Preece crashed with six laps remaining in regulation at Daytona International Speedway.

He was able to climb from the No. 41 after the car barrel rolled through the grass, but he headed to the infield care center on a stretcher.

NASCAR has provided an update about the Stewart-Haas Racing driver. He has been transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.

With Bubba Wallace securing his first playoff appearance at Daytona, he has eliminated two Hendrick Motorsports drivers. Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman will both miss the playoffs after each missing multiple races due to injury.

The last time that Hendrick Motorsports only had two drivers in the playoffs was the 2016 season. Dale Earnhardt Jr. missed 18 races with a concussion while Kasey Kahne finished 17th in the standings.

Elliott, a rookie at the time, ended the season 10th in the championship standings. Jimmie Johnson won his seventh Cup Series championship.

For the first time in his Cup Series career, Bubba Wallace is eligible to pursue a championship.

The driver of the No. 23 Toyota secured his spot by delivering a clean race at Daytona International Speedway. He avoided wrecks, scored points when he needed and then he crossed the finish line 12th.

Wallace received help from Chris Buescher, who won his third race of the season. The RFK Racing driver eliminated all of the winless drivers and locked Wallace in to the 16th and final spot.

Both 23XI Racing cars are now in the playoffs. Tyler Reddick secured his spot with a win at Circuit of the Americas earlier this season while Wallace secured his spot at Daytona. Now they will both try to deliver a title to team owners Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan.

Chris Buescher has won his third race of the Cup Series season.

The driver of the No. 17 started on the front row for overtime, and he took the green flag next to Kevin Harvick.

He and teammate Brad Keselowski then worked together over the final two laps, and they used the outside line to keep ahead of Harvick, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and the rest of the field.

Buescher took the checkered flag and secured his first superspeedway win. Keselowski finished second while adding more points to his total ahead of the playoffs.

Buescher now has the fourth-most wins in the Cup Series. The only drivers ahead of him are William Byron with five and Martin Truex Jr. with three. He is in a tie with Kyle Busch.

The regular-season finale at Daytona has come to a halt with six laps to go.

The cause was Ryan Preece’s No. 41 Ford flipping multiple times through the infield grass.

The incident occurred after a push from Erik Jones. Preece spun sideways into Chase Briscoe and then he began barrel rolling through the grass. The car ultimately landed on its wheels.

Preece was able to climb from the destroyed Ford and talk to the safety crew. He was placed on a stretcher and taken to the infield care center.

There are less than 15 laps left at Daytona International Speedway, and the drivers have completed their green flag pit stops.

A mixed group of Toyota and Chevrolet drivers were first. This included Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, Chandler Smith, Bubba Wallace and Martin Truex Jr. among others. They all went fuel only before heading back out on the track.

The Ford drivers all headed down pit road with 14 laps to go. This included all four Stewart-Haas cars, both RFK Racing cars and the remaining Hendrick Motorsports cars. Like those drivers before them, they all went fuel only.

Martin Truex Jr. entered the Daytona race in need of 22 points to clinch the regular-season championship. He scored 10 by winning stage 1 and then he clinched after a crash on the final lap of stage 2.

Truex has now won the regular-season championship for the second time in his career. The last time he achieved this goal was in 2017, the same year that he won the Cup Series championship.

Truex joins Kyle Busch as the only drivers to achieve this goal. Busch went back-to-back in 2018 and 2019.

The first stage at Daytona took place without any issues, other than minor contact between Chase Elliott and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Most of stage 2 played out in the same manner, but it ended with a big crash.

The wreck unfolded on the final lap of the stage. Christopher Bell pushed Ty Gibbs from behind, but he was not squared up correctly. This contact turned Gibbs into Ryan Blaney, who then turned into the outside wall at full speed.

The wreck unfolded behind the leaders, and it collected numerous drivers.

The list of other drivers involved included AJ Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, Riley Herbst, Tyler Reddick, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson and Harrison Burton.

Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain, William Byron and Kyle Busch were some of the drivers that made it through the wreck. Brad Keselowski won the stage under caution.

The Cup drivers were able to complete the first stage of the Daytona race without making a pit stop. This was not the case in stage 2.

The drivers had to make pit stops under green near the end of the stage, and they chose to do so in three groups. The Toyota drivers were first, along with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ross Chastain, BJ McLeod, Josh Berry and Erik Jones.

Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney led a second group down pit road as they got enough fuel to reach the end of the stage. The third — and largest — group then headed down pit road to close out the first round of green flag stops.

The majority of stops took place without issue. Though Denny Hamlin, Riley Herbst and Brennan Poole all had to serve pass-through penalties after infractions on pit road. Herbst and Hamlin had crew members over the wall too soon. Poole was caught speeding.

Todd Gilliland entered the Daytona race as one of the many drivers that could potentially win and shake up the playoff picture. That is no longer an option.

NASCAR black flagged Gilliland midway through the second stage. The reason is that the No. 38 Ford was leaking fluid.

Gilliland headed down pit road on Lap 63. He ultimately headed to the garage for repairs. He fell several laps behind the leaders as the race remained green.

Gilliland was able to return to the track after repairs, but he was 15 laps behind the leaders.

Daniel Suarez entered the regular-season finale at Daytona only 43 points below the playoff cutline. He was still in position to point his way into the playoffs if he outperformed Bubba Wallace and Ty Gibbs.

The situation has now changed after Suarez finished stage 1 in the eighth position with two points. Wallace finished sixth and scored five stage points. Gibbs finished fifth and scored six points.

This opening stage made it so Suarez can no longer point his way into the playoffs. He can only secure his spot with a win.

One stage is down at Daytona. There are only two remaining.

Martin Truex Jr. won the first stage after Denny Hamlin took the white flag in the lead. He locked up one playoff point and 10 stage points. Now he only needs 12 more points to lock up the regular-season championship.

The final lap was hectic. Riley Herbst was behind Hamlin on the outside line, but he got shuffled back after Kevin Harvick dove to the inside and took the field three-wide. Hamlin tried to block, but he also lost several positions as the drivers around him made moves.

Truex was the one that capitalized. He jumped to the front and took the stage win. Christopher Bell, Harvick, Ty Gibbs and Joey Logano rounded out the top five.

Bubba Wallace, who needs to remain ahead of Gibbs to secure a spot in the playoffs, crossed the start-finish line sixth. He was just ahead of Austin Cindric, Hamlin, Daniel Suarez and pole-sitter Chase Briscoe.

Chase Elliott, who needs a win to reach the playoffs for the eighth time, crossed the line 12th.

The final race of the Cup Series regular season is officially underway.

Chase Briscoe led the field to the green flag and then he jumped ahead of teammate Aric Almirola on the inside line. Bubba Wallace, who started on the second row, led the way out on the outside line with Riley Herbst behind him.

There was one late change on the pace laps. Ryan Preece stopped on pit road due a power steering issue. His team made some unapproved adjustments, so he had to drop from the top 10 to the rear of the field for the start of the race.

After the first five laps of the race, the bottom row is the strongest. Briscoe continues to lead while Ty Gibbs has moved ahead of Wallace on the outside.

All of the conversations about the playoff bubble are over. It’s now time to go racing at Daytona International Speedway.

The drivers have climbed into their cars for the regular-season finale, and they have fired the engines. All that stands between them and the playoffs is a 400-mile race around one of NASCAR’s biggest tracks.

Will Chase Elliott win his way into the playoffs after missing seven races? Will Bubba Wallace make his first playoff appearance? Will Ty Gibbs stun the field and make the playoffs as a rookie? Will Daniel Suarez overcome a 43-point deficit and make his second appearance with Trackhouse Racing?

There is no clear answer, but the fans are ready to witness what will potentially be a chaotic race.

The focus at Daytona was on the battle for the final playoff spot, but there was an important press conference that took place earlier in the day.

2004 Cup Series champion Kurt Busch formally announced his retirement. He explained that he and his doctors have come to the conclusion that there are too many obstacles for him to overcome to get back to 100% and back to full-time racing.

There were several important figures at Busch’s press conference, such as
NASCAR executives Jim France, Ben Kennedy, Mike Helton, Steve O’Donnell, key figures from 23XI Racing, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick and Kyle Busch.

Following the press conference, Busch headed to the drivers meeting. He was honored with a tribute video and then he received a standing ovation from his fellow drivers and everyone else in attendance.

Busch did not get to ride off into the sunset on his terms due to a crash in qualifying at Pocono Raceway last season. He still had an opportunity to see how his fellow competitors view him before one of the biggest events on the Cup schedule.

The Cup Series is back at Daytona International Speedway for the final race of the regular season (7 p.m. ET, NBC and Peacock).

The 160-lap event at the 2.5-mile superspeedway is the last chance for winless drivers to punch their ticket to the playoffs.

Only one spot is open after Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski clinched on points at Watkins Glen last week. Bubba Wallace currently holds this spot with a 32-point advantage over rookie Ty Gibbs. Daniel Suarez is 43 points back.

These three drivers are the only ones that can mathematically point their way into the playoffs, and they will be the focus throughout the Saturday night race under the lights. Though the NBC Sports booth will also focus on past Daytona winners below the cutline.

This list includes 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric, who has never missed the playoffs in any of the three national series. He will face off against two-time Daytona winner Austin Dillon, Aric Almirola, Justin Haley and Erik Jones.

2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott and teammate Alex Bowman are both winless at Daytona, but they have each won several races with Hendrick Motorsports. They will aim to recreate this success and break through at the superspeedway.

Chevrolet drivers are currently on a two-race winning streak at Daytona thanks to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Dillon. Ford Performance won the three prior races with Cindric, Ryan Blaney and Michael McDowell. Toyota Racing has not celebrated at Daytona since Denny Hamlin won his third Daytona 500 in 2020.

Follow along for updates throughout Saturday night from the racetrack.