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The Big 6: Questions Answered After Chris Buescher Wins Overtime Battle at Watkins Glen

Who… should you be talking about after the race?

After falling just short of the playoffs and winless in 2024, Chris Buescher went to Watkins Glen International with just one goal: to win the Go Bowling at the Glen.

Starting 24th, Buescher used pit strategy to put himself in a group of drivers who stayed out at the end of the second stage, gambling on tires to last a long fuel run. After the final round of green flag stops, that group had to pit before drivers who had pitted in stage two, but Buescher was able to move through the slower drivers on old tires in front of him and hold his track position.

Once at the front of the field, Buescher showed his hand, holding the lead through a series of late cautions and overtime restarts. He was passed on the white-flag lap by Shane van Gisbergen after a daring move on the final overtime restart, but charged back by when van Gisbergen got into the Bus Stop too hot and overshot the exit by a fraction. On the final lap, Buescher opened his lead back to just under a second before taking the checkers for the sixth time in his career.

And don’t forget Spire Motorsports. Rookie Carson Hocevar finished third after mistakenly entering the unused “boot” portion of the track during the Xfinity race on Saturday, the best Cup finish to date for the 21-year-old.

See also
Spire Motorsports Gets All 3 Cars in Top 10 at Watkins Glen

But that wasn’t all for the organization. Zane Smith finished fifth and Corey LaJoie eighth, putting all three Spire cars in the top 10 on Sunday, the only organization to put all of its cars in the top eight.

What… is the big question leaving this race in the rearview?

Following a lap 1 dustup, Ryan Blaney was left in a bind. His car didn’t look heavily damaged, but the steering on the No. 12 wasn’t working after the incident and it had to be towed back to the garage. Because of that, the crew wasn’t allowed to make repairs under the Damaged Vehicle Policy.

The DVP was contrived in order to keep teams from making hasty repairs and sending cars back onto the racetrack only to shed parts or crash again. Under the policy, teams have limited time and crewmen to attempt repairs; they must meet the scrutiny of a watchful official, get back onto the track and reach minimum speed before the clock runs out. If they do, the clock resets and they’re free to race. If they can’t make minimum speed and/or run out the clock, they must pack up and go home.

Is it time for the DVP to go the way of the dinosaur?

Absolutely. NASCAR did just fine without it for more than 60 years. As long as cars could make minimum speed, they could take as long as they wanted to make repairs. Teams would take full advantage, sometimes spending an hour or more fixing cars to pick up one position and the points that came with it.

If anything, the seven-minute clock under the DVP encourages teams to work too quickly, which could be a safety issue. Trying to make a 15-minute repair in seven seems like it would be less safe, not more. What NASCAR is aiming for is to keep those teams from getting back on track at all, and that’s against the spirit of competition.

If they want to deter teams putting cars back on track that shouldn’t be, instead of penalizing the whole field with a demoralizing rule, NASCAR should penalize teams who go out and shed parts or hold up race leaders individually for that. Points are too valuable for a team not to control their own destiny after a crash, especially when they were just a bystander.

Where… did the other key players wind up? 

Pole winner Ross Chastain led a race-high 51 laps on Sunday running the same strategy that Buescher employed. He didn’t have quite enough left in his tires to battle for the win but finished fourth.

Defending Cup champion Blaney was a victim of a LaJoie mistake on lap 1 after getting towed back to the garage, and his team was denied the opportunity to work on the car by NASCAR’s policy. He finished 38th but just needs to be solid at Bristol Motor Speedway next week to stay in contention.

Coming off a terrible opening race in Atlanta, Denny Hamlin needed a good points day to avoid a must-win at Bristol.

He didn’t get it.

Hamlin also suffered damage in the lap 1 incident. While he was able to continue and got back onto the lead lap, and might have strategized his way to a mid-pack finish, a second incident on lap 47 caused more damage to the No. 11. Hamlin finished 23rd and on the lead lap thanks to late cautions and a free pass, but he still exited below the cut line in 13th. He doesn’t have to win at Bristol, but he has to perform.

Defending Watkins Glen winner William Byron hasn’t made much noise in recent weeks and is coming out of an inconsistent summer stretch. In his last six races, Byron has a runner-up finish and another top 10 but also three finishes of 27th or worse.

On Sunday (Sept. 15), Byron was quietly solid, showing top-10 strength but not winning speed or strategy. A scary late crash in which he climbed the ARMCO barrier and lodged his right-front wheel almost into the driver’s side window of Brad Keselowski left Byron 34th.

When… was the moment of truth?

NASCAR and Goodyear brought a brand new, softer tire compound to the Glen this weekend, and while it helped the racing, it wasn’t enough. It was still too hard to pass with new tires, and they didn’t wear out significantly before the end of a fuel run. They did allow Buescher and van Gisbergen to move quickly through the field after the final stop, which was fun to watch, but earlier in the day, they didn’t prove to be enough of an advantage to help cars toward the back of the field march forward consistently.

For a softer tire to have the desired effect, it would need to wear out well before the end of a fuel run, forcing teams to choose between pitting early for tires or losing significant track position by staying out. These didn’t do that.

Tires should impact the racing. NASCAR tried multiple compounds earlier this year and was largely successful. Perhaps it needs to bring those into play on the road courses as well.

Why… should you be paying attention this week?

It’s elimination week at Bristol, baby. 

The spring Bristol race was little more than chaos as a tire that officials hoped would improve the short-track package ended up not being durable enough. A tire that wears until it’s pure evil drive on is the goal, not blowouts.

This time around, NASCAR will play it safe with the tires, but there will be plenty of action as the first round of the playoffs closes under the lights.

At 20 and 14 points below the cut line, respectively, Harrison Burton and Martin Truex Jr. have to have nearly flawless nights. For Burton, it might take a win to move on. Truex might be able to overcome the deficit, but in order to make the cut, he not only has to gain 14 points on Ty Gibbs but he also has to gain enough to leapfrog both Hamlin and Keselowski. Keselowski’s uphill battle is slightly less steep, but he’ll need a great night as well.

Hamlin is in the best position among drivers below the cut. He’s already clear of the three others in that position and is the defending race winner. That said, he hasn’t been the same driver since receiving a significant engine penalty related to that very Bristol race a few weeks ago. He’s not a driver who thrives under pressure, so he needs a race that’s more than just good enough to show he’s title-worthy this season.

See also
Chris Buescher is 'The Spoiler'

How… many non-playoff winners will we see?

As tight as the competition to get into the playoffs has been for the last few years, it shouldn’t be a surprise when a driver outside the title hunt steals the show. Buescher and Chastain combined to dominate Sunday.

Chastain also won the season finale last year, so he’s a favorite to play the spoiler at some point. Bubba Wallace has past wins at Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway and finished third at Texas Motor Speedway last year. AJ Allmendinger won at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL last year and will go in as a favorite. Half a dozen drivers could win at Talladega. Heck, literally any of them could. 

It’s good for the sport if non-playoff (or eliminated) drivers win races. Sponsors need to see value in the final stretch without a playoff berth for teams to remain healthy.

About the author

Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.

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gbvette62

It wasn’t fine years ago when a car disappeared for an hour just to come back to make a few laps, and cause another caution. There’s no reason a race should be disrupted by a taped together junker circulating at 3/4 speed. Far to often we saw unneeded cautions when a car 40 or 50 laps down had parts fall off, crashed again or caused someone else to wreck. Not every car needs to finish a race.

I’ve crewed for road racing teams, so I don’t like to see major repairs made on pit road. Instead of clock based, I think a DVP formula based on track length and race distance is needed to come up with an allowed number of laps a car can be behind. Five minutes at The Glen is a lot different than five at Bristol, but four laps down might be fair at The Glen, while sixteen laps might be the number at Bristol. This might allow repairs to be made safety off pit road.

RCFX1

How did that idea of having Montoya drive work out. Started 34 and finished 32nd. I would have put Connor Zilisch in that car. Worst idea in a long time.

DoninAjax

There was more hype with Montoya.

Echo

And more sponsors $$$$, a whole lot more.