Chris Buescher seizes nail-biting victory in FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway

August 7, 2023 

By Reid Spencer 

NASCAR Wire Service 

 

BROOKLYN, Mich.—In an extended, dramatic, nail-biting green-flag run to the finish, Buescher held off hard-charging Martin Truex Jr. to win his second straight Cup Series race.

 

With team co-owner Brad Keselowski finishing fourth and Buescher winning—the ninth straight victory for Ford drivers at the 2.0-mile speedway—RFK can claim bragging rights as the top Ford team in the Cup garage, at least for now.

 

When the race resumed at Lap 75 on Monday after a postponement from Sunday because of rain, Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet wasn’t on the track, having crashed out in 36th play on Lap 35 the day before.

 

Elliott’s deficit to the Playoff cut line grew to 55 points; realistically, the 2020 series champion will have to win one of the next three races to avoid missing the postseason for the first time in his career.

 

Eight days after winning his first race of the season on the .75-mile Richmond Raceway short track, Buescher proved himself a formidable competitor lap after lap in holding off Truex, whose No. 19 Toyota arguably was the fastest car in the race.

 

With Truex closing the distance between the cars over the final six laps, Buescher roared off Turn 4 and crossed the finish line .152 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

 

“This Castrol Mustang was so good in practice, qualifying,” said Buescher, who picked up his fourth career victory. “Gave me a great car again. Had to work for that one too, hard racing at the end.

 

“Martin was very clean with me. I appreciate that. Get to go to Victory Lane two weeks in a row. That’s pretty awesome.”

 

With 13 laps to go, Truex had his best chance. Buescher slipped slightly off Turn 4, and Truex pulled alongside. The No. 19 Camry edged ahead to the inside, but Buescher doggedly kept Truex beside him for nearly two laps.

 

Rounding Turn 4 on Lap 188 of 400, Buescher held Truex’s car to the bottom of the track, forcing Truex to slip and lift off the gas. Truex also had to clear the lapped car of Michael McDowell as Buescher opened a gap of 10 car lengths.

 

That gave Buescher enough of a margin to hold off Truex for the win over the final 11 circuits.

 

“I think we needed maybe a little bit longer run to wear the tires some more,” said Truex, who swept the first two stages and increased his series lead to 57 points over second-place Denny Hamlin, who finished third on Monday. “I feel like we were a little better. It’s hard to pass the leader on equal tires.

 

“We had an unbelievable car today. Hats off to everybody that puts in the work on these things… It was a rocket. The leader in clean air is really, really hard to pass. Just didn’t quite have enough. All in all, a good day.

 

“Tough to get a win here. We’ve been really good in the past. Just can’t get it done. Hopefully, I don’t know, maybe next year.”

 

Kyle Larson finished fifth, followed by Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones. Ty Gibbs came home 11th and supplanted McDowell in the 16th and final Playoff-eligible position. McDowell trails Gibbs by three points, with Suarez five points back.

 

With Buescher winning his second race and qualifying for the postseason, all the single-race winners this season also clinched Playoff berths on Monday: Christopher Bell, Chastain, Blaney, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

 

Bell, the Michigan pole winner, damaged his car severely with a spin into the wall on Lap 65 on Sunday, but after repeated trips to pit road for repairs, he salvaged a 13th-place result.

 

–30–

 

NASCAR Cup Series Race – FireKeepers Casino 400

 

Michigan International Speedway
Brooklyn, Michigan
Sunday, August 6, 2023

 

1. (4)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 200.
2. (5)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 200.
3. (13)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 200.
4. (12)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 200.
5. (17)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 200.
6. (14)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 200.
7. (2)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 200.
8. (22)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 200.
9. (9)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 200.
10. (25)  Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 200.
11. (3)  Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 200.
12. (20)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 200.
13. (1)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 200.
14. (6)  Joey Logano, Ford, 200.
15. (31)  Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 200.
16. (18)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 200.
17. (29)  Harrison Burton, Ford, 200.
18. (11)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 200.
19. (15)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 200.
20. (34)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 200.
21. (27)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 200.
22. (28)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 199.
23. (26)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 199.
24. (23)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 199.
25. (33)  Cole Custer(i), Ford, 199.
26. (24)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 199.
27. (36)  JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 199.
28. (30)  Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 198.
29. (32)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 197.
30. (16)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 197.
31. (21)  Chase Briscoe, Ford, 197.
32. (37)  Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, 196.
33. (19)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, Steering, 134.
34. (35)  Josh Berry(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 50.
35. (7)  William Byron, Chevrolet, DVP, 46.
36. (10)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, Accident, 34.
37. (8)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, Accident, 14.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  131.159 mph.

 

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 2 Mins, 59 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.152 Seconds.

 

Caution Flags:  9 for 43 laps.

 

Lead Changes:  26 among 16 drivers.

 

Lap Leaders:   R. Chastain 1-16;M. Truex Jr. 17-46;T. Gibbs # 47;A. Bowman 48-63;C. Bell 64;A. Bowman 65;D. Hamlin 66;J. Bilicki(i) 67;A. Bowman 68-69;T. Reddick 70-76;M. Truex Jr. 77-82;B. Wallace 83-99;M. Truex Jr. 100-103;B. Wallace 104-107;D. Suarez 108-119;M. Truex Jr. 120-122;C. Buescher 123-156;M. Truex Jr. 157-159;R. Blaney 160;B. Keselowski 161-175;K. Larson 176-177;T. Dillon 178-179;A. Dillon 180-181;C. Buescher 182-187;M. Truex Jr. 188;C. Buescher 189-200.

 

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Chris Buescher 3 times for 52 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 6 times for 47 laps; Bubba Wallace 2 times for 21 laps; Alex Bowman 3 times for 19 laps; Ross Chastain 1 time for 16 laps; Brad Keselowski 1 time for 15 laps; Daniel Suarez 1 time for 12 laps; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 7 laps; Ty Dillon 1 time for 2 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 2 laps; Austin Dillon 1 time for 2 laps; Ty Gibbs # 1 time for 1 lap; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 1 lap; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 1 lap; Christopher Bell 1 time for 1 lap; Josh Bilicki(i) 1 time for 1 lap.

 

Stage #1 Top Ten: 19,23,54,6,5,99,48,11,43,7

 

Stage #2 Top Ten: 19,99,6,23,48,5,22,16,2,17

Chris Buescher wins FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan

 

STEWART-HAAS RACING FireKeepers Casino 400

Date:  Aug. 6-7, 2023 Event:  FireKeepers Casino 400 (Round 23 of 36) Series:  NASCAR Cup Series Location:  Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn (2-mile oval) Format:  200 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/75 laps/80 laps) Note:  The race’s first 76 laps were run on Sunday before rain forced the completion of the race to Monday.   Race Winner:  Chris Buescher of RFK Racing (Ford) Stage 1 Winner:  Martin Truex Jr., of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) Stage 2 Winner:  Martin Truex Jr., of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)   SHR Race Finish:             ●  Kevin Harvick (Started 22nd, Finished 8th / Running, completed 200 of 200 laps) ●  Aric Almirola (Started 18th, Finished 16th / Running, completed 200 of 200 laps) ●  Ryan Preece (Started 28th, Finished 22nd / Running, completed 199 of 200 laps) ●  Chase Briscoe (Started 21st, Finished 31st / Running, completed 197 of 200 laps)     SHR Points: ●  Kevin Harvick (5th with 663 points, 136 out of first) ●  Aric Almirola (24th with 405 points, 394 out of first) ●  Ryan Preece (25th with 397 points, 402 out of first) ●  Chase Briscoe (31st with 289 points, 510 out of first)   SHR Notes:         ●  Harvick earned his 11th top-10 of the season and his series-leading 23rd top-10 in 43 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Michigan. ●  This was Harvick’s fourth straight top-10. He earned back-to-back fourth-place finishes July 17 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon and July 23 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, and finished 10th July 30 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. ●  Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has only one finish outside the top-15 at Michigan. ●  This was Harvick’s 14th straight top-15 at Michigan.   Race Notes:        ●  Chris Buescher won the FireKeepers Casino 400 to score his fourth career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Michigan. His margin over second-place Martin Truex Jr., was .152 of a second. ●  This was Ford’s 724th all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory, its third of the season and its second straight. Buescher also won the series’ prior race at Richmond. ●  This was Ford’s series-leading 44th win at Michigan, which is the most at any track currently on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. Ford scored its first Michigan victory with NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson on Aug. 17, 1969. ●  This was Ford’s ninth straight win at Michigan, a streak that started with former SHR driver Clint Bowyer in June 2018. ●  There were nine caution periods for a total of 34 laps. ●  Twenty-one of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap. ●  Truex remains the championship leader after Michigan with a 57-point advantage over second-place Denny Hamlin.   Next Up: The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Verizon 200 at The Brickyard on Sunday, Aug. 13 on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race begins at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Micah Roberts' Top-10 Finish Prediction: 2023 FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan

Read my full Michigan article at Sportsline.com

1 #9 Chase Elliott (15/1) - He leads all active drivers with an eighth-place average finish. He started his career off at Michigan by being runner-up in three straight races. His worst finish was 20th in 2019 and his next worse was 11th last season. All 10 other finishes were ninth or better. He’s 40 points behind the playoff cutoff spot, but he’s got this place, two road courses, and Daytona to make it happen. Or he could just win here and get the automatic playoff berth. He was runner-up at Michigan’s sister track at Fontana in February.

2 #8 Kyle Busch (8/1) - He has three wins this season and one of them at Fontana, Michigan’s 2-mile sister track, stands up to be my first exhibit that he can win here this week. He has nine top-fives in 32 Cup starts at Michigan, but just one win back in 2011. He was in an accident last season and finished 36th, but he had nine straight top-10s there before the wreck.

3 #11 Denny Hamlin (13/2) - In 32 Cup starts at Michigan he has 11 top-fives, two wins, and 262 laps led. But his two wins came in 2010 and 2011. However, he’s been fast at Michigan in his last seven races leading laps in all seven and he’s been sixth or better in his last five. He’s knocking on the Micgan door for a win, and I have a feeling he expects to win there soon.

“I’m excited for Michigan,” Hamlin said. “Chris (crew chief Gabehart) has been telling me for weeks that we’re finally going to be able to get a win at Michigan together. We’ve had the fastest car, one of the most dominant cars there for the last handful of years. Typically, any time we are good at a track, we can tweak it a little bit to get better but the competition is also going to get better. We better be on our game, but I like our chances. It has historically been a good track for me and Chris.”

4 #19 Martin Truex Jr (7/1) - In 32 Cup starts at Michigan he has a 13.5 average finish. No wins yet, but he has 10 top-fives and he’s currently on a run of having six top-fives in his last 10 starts in 2023. He talked about his recent success this season.

“It’s so important to execute in the race these days with how close the field is and how hard it is to pass at certain tracks,” Truex said. “You have to do everything right. You have to do all of the little things right. We’ve been able to do that pretty well the last couple of months, for the most part, but really feel good about what we’ve done all year as far as the speed of our cars, and how we’ve able to race. I feel like we’ve had winning cars three or four races this year, already, and we’ve been leading a lot of laps and running up front each week. It was nice to get three of them (wins), but we would like to have more, so we will keep working on it.”

5 #1 Ross Chastain (17/1) - He had his best career finish in this race last year with 24th place. But he did lead the first laps of his Michigan career there, leading 29 laps. Between poor qualifying and poor races, you wouldn’t think I like him this week, but he was third at Fontana in February leading a race-high 91 laps.

6 #5 Kyle Larson (7/1) - From the fall of 2016 to 2017, he won three straight Cup races at Michigan when he drive for Chip Ganassi. He was the driver of the last non-Ford to win at Michigan. He is the king of the rim-riders running the high line and keeping his tires fresh for late in a run. Less movement on a run saves tires. I like him to run well here, but I’m still puzzled at what happened last week at Richmond.

7 #24 William Byron (8/1) - In eight Cup starts at Michigan he has a 14th-place average finish but his last five have been his best which includes a runner-up in 2021. He was 12th last season. He leads the series with four wins this season and this track might be win No. 5.

8 #4 Kevin Harvick (9/1) - He won this race last season. He’s won five of the last seven Michigan races. He has six wins overall on the wide 2-mile layout. And this is his last race ever at Michigan. He drives for Ford who has won the last eight Cup races at Michigan. Everything is there to say he wins again. But in the back of my mind, I know I haven’t seen the signs to trigger me to feel confident about a Michigan win by Harvick. Maybe I’ll see it during Saturday’s practice and qualifying, but I need some kind of a sign.

9 #45 Tyler Reddick (12/1) - He hasn’t had much success at Michigan with a best of 18th in his rookie season, but his style of rim-riding up high on these types of tracks does give him an edge that just hasn’t been recorded yet at Michigan for him other than an Xfinity Series win in 2019. I like how he ran at Pocono with second place and fifth at Charlotte, two tracks that require lots of horsepower as Michigan does.

10 #22 Joey Logano (14/1) - Every few seasons, he comes up with a Michigan win. His last win there was in 2019, then before that it was in 2016, and before that, it was in 2013. His next week should be soon. Maybe it’s Sunday. He was fourth last season, one of his eight career top-fives.

William Byron is 9/1 to win 2023 FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan

 

24 WILLIAM BYRON   Age: 25 (Nov. 29, 1997)   Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina   Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina   Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle   Standings: 3rd

No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1   EYE ON THE PRIZE: With four races left in the regular season, William Byron is third in the NASCAR Cup Series driver points standings, 43 markers behind the leader. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native is looking for his first Cup Series regular-season championship and the extra 15 playoff points that come with it. To this point, Byron leads the series in wins (four), laps led (810), laps run in the top five (2,688) and stage wins (seven). His 810 laps led mark a new season-high for the 25-year-old driver. In addition, Byron is tied for second in top-five finishes (eight) with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson (nine) leading the way in that category, tied for third in top-10s (11) and has run the third-most laps in the top 10 (3,595). He also has an average running position of 9.53, which is second-best in the field. MICHIGAN MINUTES: With 10 NASCAR national series starts at Michigan International Speedway under his belt, Byron will be adding one more to his résumé this Sunday. Of those 10 races, eight have come at the Cup level, where he has a track-best starting position of third (August 2019) and a track-best finish of second (in 2021). In fact, of the last five races at the Brooklyn, Michigan, track, Byron has an average finish of 9.60. He has also spent 213 laps running in the top 10 in the last two races there – the fifth-most among active drivers. Byron has one NASCAR Xfinity Series start at the 2-mile D-shaped oval, where he qualified fourth and ended the race in the runner-up position. He also has one NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start, where he started third and finished fourth with crew chief Rudy Fugle on top of the box. OH SO CLOSE: Sunday will mark Fugle’s third Cup Series event at Michigan. In his previous Cup Series starts, the Livonia, New York, native has a track-best finish of second coming with Byron in 2021. Aside from those two Cup Series starts, Fugle has eight other starts in the Irish Hills, with seven coming in the Truck Series. In those truck starts, he has six top-five finishes and six top-10s. To further break it down, Fugle has finished second on three occasions, third once, and in the fourth position two times, with his only finish outside of the top four coming in 2019. This weekend, he hopes to continue his success by capturing his first checkered flag at the Michigan venue. PIT ROAD PROWESS: After 22 races in the 2023 season, the No. 24 pit crew remains in the top spot with the fastest average four-tire pit stop time of 10.991 seconds. The No. 24 pit crew consists of Spencer Bishop (jackman), Jeff Cordero (front-tire changer), Orane Ossowski (rear-tire changer), Ryan Patton (tire carrier) and Landon Walker (fueler).  LIBERTY U IS BACK: For back-to-back weekends, Byron will sport his Liberty University paint scheme. Featuring a white base with navy flames and red accents, the Liberty University No. 24 will be sure to stand out on track. Liberty University has a long history with Byron starting back in 2014 in the late model ranks. Liberty University has been Training Champions for Christ since it was founded in 1971. Located in the mountains of Central Virginia, Liberty is a liberal arts institution with 17 colleges and schools that offers more than 600 degree programs from the certificate to the doctoral level, on campus and online. Working on an undergraduate degree in strategic communication, Byron is now in his junior year at Liberty University through its online program. For a better look at Byron’s Liberty University paint scheme, click here.  William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his motivation for this weekend at Michigan: "We’ve had a couple weeks now that we haven’t gotten the result we’ve wanted. I think going to Michigan (International Speedway) is going to turn that around for us. It’s a big and fast track and we’ve always had speed there. We did a tire test there earlier this year there and it went really well. We’re not going to let the last couple weeks define our team though. We’re going to show that we’ve put those races behind us and move on to the next week. That’s what is great about our team. You can’t get us down." Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what he expects at Michigan: "Michigan (International Speedway) is a track I’ve always liked. I think we’re going to be pretty prepared for this weekend’s race. We had speed at Michigan last year and we were able to do the tire test in May with the new tire we’ll be running. With that combination of notes, I think we’re going to unload in a good place. We’ve also been good on the intermediate tracks this season, which is a bit of added confidence in what we’re doing. I think track position is going to be key, even though it’s a wide track with multiple lanes. It’s really going to come down to your pit strategy and when within your pit window do you stop for fuel."

Keselowski & Jones chasing home track success this weekend at Michigan

RFK Racing driver Brad Keselowski from Rochester Hills and Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones from Byron are returning to the great state of Michigan this weekend to compete at their home track - Michigan International Speedway.

A total of 101 different drivers in NASCAR national series history have their home state recorded as Michigan, and 10 of the 101 (9.9%) have won at least one race in a NASCAR national series.

Michigan drivers have combined to win 162 NASCAR national series races, led by RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski, who has won a combined 75 NASCAR national series races - nearly half of the state’s total.

NASCAR Winners From Michigan:

Driver	Cup	Xfinity	Truck	Combined
Brad Keselowski	35	39	1	75
Paul Goldsmith	9	0	0	9
Erik Jones	3	9	7	19
Johnny Benson	1	3	14	18
Tim Fedewa	0	4	0	4
Butch Miller	0	2	1	3
Tracy Leslie	0	1	0	1
Jack Sprague	0	1	28	29
Carson Hocevar	0	0	3	3
Bob Keselowski	0	0	1	1
Totals	48	59	55	162

 

Next to Martin Truex Jr.’s 32 winless starts at Michigan, Brad Keselowski has made the second-most starts among active drivers at Michigan without a trip to Victory Lane at 25. But in his 25 previous starts, he has put up seven top fives and 13 top 10s; including three runner-up finishes (2012, 2018, 2020). His average finish is 12.640 – sixth-best among active drivers.

Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones has the third-most combined NASCAR national series wins by a driver from Michigan with 19 victories, behind only Keselowski with 75 and Jack Sprague (Spring Lake) with 29. Jones has made 10 Cup Series starts at Michigan posting one top five (third in 2017) and two top 10s. He finished eighth in this event last season. His average finish is at the 2-mile speedway is 15.7 – 11th best among active drivers.