WATKINS GLEN, NY – Two weeks ago, Chris Buescher dealt with the heartbreak of missing the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. On Sunday at Watkins Glen International, Buescher got some redemption.
Buescher won The Go Bowling at The Glen, the second race of the 10-race Cup Series playoffs, taking the checkered flag in an eventful race culminating in a thrilling overtime battle.
Buescher had surged to the lead during the closing laps of the final stage, but a series of caution flags forced him to try to keep his car out front on restart after restart. When the race headed to overtime after yet another multi-car incident with three laps to go, the RFK Racing driver needed to shoot to the lead one final time. Instead, he lost it when Shane Van Gisbergen gave his No. 17 Ford a shove after the green flag waved before the New Zealand native pulled his No. 16 Chevrolet alongside Buescher and Carson Hocevar, who had restarted first and second. Van Gisbergen, a three-time Australian Supercars champion who will jump to full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver in 2025, pulled away from Buescher and seemed to be heading for victory.
Buescher chased down Van Gisbergen before finally getting to his rear bumper on the white-flag lap. After getting bumped on the restart, Buescher gave Van Gisbergen a bump in the carousel, pulled alongside, retook the lead, and then held over the final few turns to earn his first road course win in 36 starts.
His margin of victory over second-place Shane Van Gisbergen was 0.979 of a second.
Buescher was the 15th different winner in the 28 NASCAR Cup Series races run this season.
This was Ford’s 737th all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory, its eighth of the season and its fourth straight. Ford driver Harrison Burton won Aug. 24 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Briscoe won Sept. 1 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and Joey Logano won last Sunday in Atlanta.
This was Ford’s ninth NASCAR Cup Series victory at Watkins Glen. The manufacturer won its first race at the track on July 18, 1965, with Marvin Panch.
There were seven caution periods for a total of 21 laps. Thirty-one of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Stage 1 Winner: Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Ross Chastain of Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet)
Stewart Haas Racing Finish:
- Chase Briscoe (Started 12th, Finished 6th / Running, completed 92 of 92 laps)
- Ryan Preece (Started 21st, Finished 9th / Running, completed 92 of 92 laps)
- Noah Gragson (Started 9th, Finished 11th / Running, completed 92 of 92 laps)
- Josh Berry (Started 31st, Finished 25th / Running, completed 92 of 92 laps)
Stewart Haas Points:
- Chase Briscoe (11th with 2,049 points, six points ahead of the top-12 cutoff)
- Josh Berry (24th with 481 points)
- Noah Gragson (25th with 460 points)
- Ryan Preece (27th with 442 points)
Playoff Standings (with one race to go before Round of 12):
- Joey Logano (2,084 points) 1 win
- Christopher Bell (2,089 points) +46 points
- Austin Cindric (2,086 points) +43 points
- Alex Bowman (2,084 points) +41 points
- Daniel Suarez (2,079 points) +36 points
- Tyler Reddick (2,073 points) +30 points
- Chase Elliott (2,073 points) +30 points
- Ryan Blaney (2,072 points) +29 points
- Kyle Larson (2,069 points) +26 points
- William Byron (2,068 points) +25 points
- Chase Briscoe (2,049 points) +6 points
- Ty Gibbs (2,049 points) +6 points
- Denny Hamlin (2,043 points) -6 points
- Brad Keselowski (2,037 points) -12 points
- Martin Truex Jr. (2,035 points) -14 points
- Harrison Burton (2,029 points) -20 points
Briscoe earned his eighth top-10 of the season and his second top-10 in four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Watkins Glen. This finish equaled Briscoe’s best road-course result in the NASCAR Cup Series. He finished sixth in 2021 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
“It was huge. It’s what we needed to do – score stage points and run well in the race, and we were able to do that,” said Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “It was a really good, solid day for our HighPoint.com Ford. I felt like I could’ve gotten a couple more points, but I didn’t want to risk it there at the end. I knew I was in a pretty good position compared to many in the field, so we did what we needed to do, and now we need to do that same thing next week. We need just to hit singles and doubles and don’t do anything crazy. As long as we execute all day long, it should be enough. We’ll go on to Bristol and see what we can do.”
Briscoe’s sixth-place result bettered his previous best finish at Watkins Glen – ninth, earned in his first NASCAR Cup Series start in 2021. He finished third in Stage 1 to earn eight bonus points and seventh in Stage 2 to earn four more bonus points.
Ryan Preece earned his third top-10 of the season and first top-10 in four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Watkins Glen. This was Preece’s third straight result of 18th or better. He finished 12th Sept. 1 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and 18th last Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. His ninth-place result bettered his previous best finish at Watkins Glen – 17th, earned last year and finished ninth in Stage 2 to earn two bonus points.
“The day didn’t start very well, but it got much better,” said Ryan Preece, the No. 41 Mohawk Northeast Ford Mustang Dark Horse driver. “It was pretty chaotic, and, ultimately, we had a pretty good car. Track position was everything today. Knowing where we were and never having it. Chad (Johnston, crew chief) was aggressive with the strategy and made the right calls to get us to track position, and we kept it. Ultimately, we got the race finish we deserved, even with those late-race cautions.”
Noah Gragson earned his 13th top-15 of the season and came in his first NASCAR Cup Series start at Watkins Glen.
“I just had a good practice and qualifying and tried to figure this place out,” said Noah Gragson, the No. 10 Bed Bath & Beyond Ford Mustang Dark Horse driver. “I’d never raced here, so I lost some spots early in the race. Then, we worked hard getting track positions. Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) and the rest of the Bed Bath & Beyond team called it a great race, strategy-wise. I need to clean some stuff up on my part. But I’m grateful for this team.”
This was Gragson’s best road-course finish in the NASCAR Cup Series. His previous best was 14th, earned in July in the Grant Park 165 on the streets of downtown Chicago.
This was Josh Berry’s milestone 40th career NASCAR Cup Series start. It was his best road-course finish in the NASCAR Cup Series. His previous best was 32nd, earned in June at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.
“We had, honestly, a really good day. I just hate that we didn’t finish where we should’ve,” said Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Bed Bath & Beyond Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “We were poised there to take an easy top-10, which would’ve been a great improvement for us, but unfortunately, it just didn’t pan out there at the end. Everybody did a great job, and we’ll prepare for the next one.”
Next Up:
The next NASCAR Cup Series schedule event is the Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Saturday, Sept. 21 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The third race in the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
