NASCAR takeaways: Chase Elliott's playoff bid falls short at Daytona
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chris Buescher continued his career-defining surge with his third win in five weeks, capping the regular season with a dramatic victory Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
Buescher's win locked Bubba Wallace into the playoffs as Wallace earned the final spot for a winless driver on points in the 16-driver playoff field.
The RFK Racing driver used a push from teammate and car owner Brad Keselowski in the final laps to earn the victory.
"This is huge," Buescher said. "I've been here since I was 15 years old trying to be right here in victory lane winning Cup races for this organization.
"To be able to do this as consistently as we've been able to is just so cool. Quite a blessing right now."
The overtime finish was set up by a nasty accident where Ryan Preece flipped nearly a dozen times.
Preece, who got out of his car under his own power, was taken to the hospital for tests.
Takeaways following a night where Buescher and Keselowski crossed the finish line 1-2 with Aric Almirola, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano rounding out the top five. Meanwhile, Martin Truex Jr. claimed the regular-season title.
Dramatic Finish
Keselowski saw his winless streak extend to 88 races but knew that making a move to get around his teammate would have been risky.
Instead, Buescher won for the third time in his last five races after winning two races in his first 278 starts.
"We've worked hard to find ourselves in these situations," Buescher said. "We've needed to capitalize and close the deal on the last 2% of these races. We were finally able to do that."
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Keselowski and Buescher outlasted a run in the inside lane of Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott.
"We were able to clear the lane and take off," Keselowski said.
Wallace In
Wallace made the playoffs for the first time in his career. He finished 12th and was pretty much at the mercy of who won the race as to whether he would make the playoffs. If a driver who wasn't already locked into the playoffs had won, Wallace would not have advanced.
"Starting Sunday night [from the last race] until climbing in the car, that was the most stressed I've ever been but also the most hyper-focused I've ever been," Wallace said. "It was kind of a surreal situation I was in mentally. ... Just super cool."
Wallace, the only Black driver at NASCAR's top level, is in his sixth season in Cup and his third driving for 23XI Racing co-owners Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan.
Jordan was in attendance and congratulated Wallace after the race.
Elliott, Gibbs, Suarez, Bowman Fall Short
Ty Gibbs and Daniel Suarez had mathematical chances to overtake Wallace on points but neither came close. Gibbs got an untimely push by teammate Christopher Bell that sent him spinning and Suarez wasn't a factor in a 20th-place finish.
"Clearly I didn't mean to spin out my teammate who needs to win the race," Bell said. "That was not the objective.
"The objective is to win the stage so that is what I was trying to do, at least get my teammate to win the stage."
Suarez obviously was disappointed.
"We have to make sure this one hurts so we get better," Suarez said.
Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman, both who missed races earlier this year because of injuries, could see the lead but couldn't accomplish the win-and-in feat. Elliott placed fourth; Bowman was sixth.
"I felt like we had an OK chance but Brad and the 17 just worked so well together," Elliott said. "They just had a stranglehold on the top lane. ... It was a valiant effort."
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass.
