NASCAR at Bristol results: Chris Buescher prevails. Which playoff drivers move on?

Another Cup race, another winner.

Chris Buescher led a bulk of the last 100 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway — weaving around lapped cars and keeping his cool even as regular-season champion Chase Elliott tried to hunt him down — and in the end, he found a way to earn his first win of the 2022 season on Saturday night.

The win for the driver of the No. 17 car marks the third time in as many races that a non-playoff driver has won a race in this year’s postseason. It also means that 19 different drivers have notched wins in this rambunctious, unpredictable season.

Right before burning out at the start-finish line, Buescher was met by the No. 6 car — driven by his boss and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing teammate, Brad Keselowski.

The win — which ends a 222 winless streak for the driver and a 191 winless streak for RFK Racing — was clearly special to the Prosper, Texas native.

“Just so special here at Bristol,” an out-of-breath Buescher told NBC Sports on-track. “I love this racetrack. I love the fans. I love every time we come here.

“We lost one that really broke our heart back in 2015 on the Xfinity side. ... So this one makes up for that one. This is pretty awesome, pretty special.”

Buescher led the race for 169 laps and won this race thanks to a lot of gutsy calls down the stretch. Among those calls: His team elected to change only two tires on the final caution of the day while the rest of the leaders took four.

One of the leaders who entered pit road with Buescher on Lap 439 was Kevin Harvick. The veteran driver essentially needed a win to cement his spot in the next round of the playoffs — but a critical mistake in his final pit stop (he left his pit stall with a loose wheel and had to back up) foiled his postseason hopes.

“Pretty tough,” Harvick said post-race. “We pitted in front of the 17, so it’s just kind of how the year has gone. We went from having a chance to lead the parade to being a part of the parade. Just difficult to pass.”

Chase Elliott finished second. William Byron finished third, and Christopher Bell finished fourth.

Which playoff drivers are moving on to the Round of 12?

Drivers who made the Round of 12: Christopher Bell, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez.

That means Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick are eliminated.

The guy who finished right above the cutoff line? A very relieved Cindric.

“That was easy, right?” Cindric said with a chuckle. “Came in plus two, leaving plus two. Just how we drew it up. What a night. ... To get all of us into the Round of 12 after a very scary night for Team Penske, I’m glad I did my job and gutted this one out.”

Kyle Busch eliminated from playoffs historically early

For the first time in his career, Kyle Busch didn’t make it out of the first round of the Cup Series playoffs. He finished 32nd, exiting early thanks to a second engine failure in three weeks — and did so at a place where he’s won a remarkable eight Cup races.

Busch told NBC in an interview that Saturday night was just par for the course for a snakebit season.

“This just sorta goes with our year,” Busch said, standing in the infield before the race was over. “I just, I mean — I don’t know what to say. I’m flabbergasted. I just feel so bad for my guys. They don’t deserve to be in this spot. They’ve worked too hard. We’re too good of a group to be this low down on the bottom, and fighting for our lives just to make it through.”

Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon also end days early

Busch wasn’t the only playoff driver who ended his day early.

As promised, Bristol Motor Speedway featured a race of attrition: In the end there were 11 cautions and 12 lead changes on Saturday.

The first to go down was Ryan Blaney. After leading nine laps in Stage 1, everything that could’ve gone wrong seemed to: The No. 12 car suffered a flat tire in Lap 92, sending his Ford hard into the outside well. Then once he entered pit road, the left rear then came off as he tried to leave his pit stall.

The problems didn’t end there: On Lap 105, he had to pit again as his car began dragging and sparking. He pit under green, then subsequently didn’t meet minimum speed and had to get work done behind the wall.

Blaney eventually re-entered the race on Lap 266, keeping himself away from the cutoff despite being 152 laps down. He finished 30th — just barely good enough to make it to the Round of 12.

“Just lucky to get in, I guess,” Blaney said with a shrug post-race. “We were really fast early, and I just had a right-front go down like almost everybody else in the race. We just hit the wall a little harder than some other guys. We spent a long time fixing it but was able to get it back out.”

He added: “We built up a good-enough gap the first two races to give us ourselves a little bit of a cushion, and some guys had their issues tonight. Yeah, so pretty crazy turn of events for sure. But good perseverance by this 12 group.”

Alex Bowman and Austin Dillon were both caught in the big wreck around Lap 280 (Stage 3), which was caused after Daniel Suarez got loose on a restart and collected a bunch of the field. Bowman ended his day in 32nd; Dillon finished 31st.

“We lost power steering at the beginning of Stage 2,” Bowman told NBC mid-race. “We stayed out there to get stage points, so we kind of toughed our way through it and restarted at the back because we stayed out so long. They then all crashed in front of me, had nowhere to go.”

Said Dillon of the Suarez wreck: “I was feeling pretty good about it, we just needed to miss that one. ... That was the best car we’ve brought. We put ourselves in a bind with the first two races. We brought something we could race with today and felt good about it.”

Official results from Bristol Motor Speedway

Post-race inspection in the NASCAR Cup Series garage completed around 12:48 a.m. Monday morning. All clear. No issues. The No. 4, 20 and 24 cars will return to the R&D center for teardown inspection.

(P) - Playoff driver

This story was originally published September 17, 2022 at 11:19 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Charlotte Observer

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22. Support my work with a digital subscription