RICHMOND, Va. – Chris Buescher, driving the #17 Fastenal Ford for RFK Racing, held off the field on a restart with three laps remaining to win the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 Sunday afternoon – his and the RFK team’s first victory of the season. His margin over second-place Denny Hamlin was .549 of a second.
Buescher and his teammate Brad Keselowski, a co-owner of RFK Racing, combined to lead a race-best 190-of-400 laps, with Buescher pacing the field for 88 circuits, the second-most he’s led in a race in his eight-year Cup career. And it all results in an important automatic bid into the 16-driver playoff field with only four races remaining in the regular season.
Buescher was the 13th different winner in the 22 NASCAR Cup Series races run this season. This was Ford’s 723rd all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory and its third of the season and Ford’s 35th all-time NASCAR Cup Series win at Richmond. Ford won its first race at the track on May 5, 1957, with Paul Goldsmith.
There were just three caution periods for a total of 21 laps. Nineteen of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Martin Truex Jr. remains the championship leader after Richmond with a 39-point advantage over second-place Denny Hamlin.
Stage 1 Winner: Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Brad Keselowski of RFK Racing (Ford)
SHR Race Finish:
- Ryan Preece (Started 11th, Finished 5th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)
- Aric Almirola (Started 24th, Finished 8th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)
- Kevin Harvick (Started 8th, Finished 10th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)
- Chase Briscoe (Started 20th, Finished 11th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)
SHR Points:
- Kevin Harvick (6th with 634 points, 110 out of first)
- Aric Almirola (24th with 384 points, 360 out of first)
- Ryan Preece (25th with 382 points, 362 out of first)
- Chase Briscoe (31st with 283 points, 461 out of first)
Preece earned his first top-five as well as his first top-10 of the season. This was his first top-five and second top-10 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Richmond.
“My confidence was I’ve seen what Chad (Johnston, crew chief) has given here in years past and we talked a lot about what we were gonna need and I said, ‘Man if you can get me to roll the center, I’ll deal with loose in,’ so that’s what he gave me today and this United Rentals Ford Mustang was pretty stout,” said Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang. “Fifth, we lined up in that second row at the end, but we run more like this, we’re gonna have more opportunities to challenge for wins.”
This was Preece’s best finish so far this season. His previous best was 12th March 12 at Phoenix Raceway. His fifth-place result bettered his previous best finish at Richmond – 18th, earned in the series’ prior visit to the track in April.
Preece finished sixth in Stage 1 to earn five bonus points and seventh in Stage 2 to earn four more bonus points.
Almirola earned his second top-10 of the season and his fifth top-10 in 21 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Richmond.
“It was a strong day,” said Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang.”I don’t know if we had anything for the 17 (Chris Buescher) or the 6 (Brad Keselowski). They were really good, but I could maintain and after about 55 laps, I think we were arguably the best car on the racetrack from that point on. The first run went 70 laps and from like lap 50 to 70 I passed a ton of cars and, unfortunately, in those next few stages, the runs aren’t as long. They’re only 45-50 laps when you break them up into three, and I didn’t have enough of a long run to pass a lot of cars like I did previously. I’m frustrated that I bottomed out getting onto the apron coming to pit road under the green flag there and kind of took off in a four-wheel slide and barely clipped the orange box there with my right side tires. I’m frustrated. That’s a silly mistake. You can’t make those mistakes, but, all in all, it was a great day. I had a great Smithfield Ford Mustang. I’m really proud of our guys. We’ve been bringing some really good racecars to the racetrack lately, so we’ll see. We’ve got a few more here to try and get one.”
This was Almirola’s second straight finish of 12th or better. He finished 12th last Sunday at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. This was his second straight finish of 13th or better at Richmond.
Almirola finished eighth in Stage 1 to earn three bonus points.
Harvick earned his 10th top-10 of the season and his 31st top-10 in 45 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Richmond.
This was Harvick’s third straight top-10. He earned back-to-back fourth-place finishes on July 17 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon and last Sunday at Pocono.
His fifth straight top-10 at Richmond. He finished eighth in September 2021, second in April 2022, first last August, and fifth in his prior start in April.
Harvick’s 31 top-10s at Richmond are the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers. Kyle Busch is next best with 28 top-10s.
Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has only one finish outside the top-15 at Richmond.
Harvick finished fifth in Stage 1 to earn six bonus points.
“Overall, it was a decent day,” said Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang. “Our qualifying effort hurt us more than I thought it was going to. I thought our car was really good on a long run, but just could never get the track position to go with it. It seemed like toward the end of the run we would be better than a lot of guys, but were never better enough to pass them. Overall, I thought our car was good, but just needed a little bit more speed to finish it off. With how our last couple of months have gone it’s definitely nice to have another solid run. It seems like all the short tracks we can always run good, it’s just the big tracks that we kind of struggle on so, hopefully, we can apply something we learned today for Michigan and move on.”
Chase Briscoe’s 11th-place result equaled his previous-best finish at Richmond. He finished 11th in April 2022.
This was Briscoe’s second straight finish of 12th or better at Richmond. He finished 12th in the series’ prior visit to the track in April.
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday, Aug. 6 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. The race begins at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
