Brad Keselowski had arguably the best turnaround performance of the day Sunday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway, driving from the tail of the field to a second-place finish in a chaotic NASCAR Overtime ending.
Chris Buescher stayed the course all day, utilized strategy to run inside the top-10 and even top five at one point, and ultimately finished 15th in the Fifth Third Bank Ford. The 400-mile race was extended twice as it took two NASCAR Overtime restarts to settle the finish, and in all 16 cautions flew for 72 laps in a back-and-forth afternoon.
6 Recap
Keselowski experienced and up-and-down day that fortunately ended on the upswing, as the BuildSubmarines.com Ford began the day from the 22nd spot. He finished 28th in the opening stage that saw just one yellow, before the flurry of cautions started from there.
“Honestly, I am more frustrated than anything because I feel like we have a great team and we don’t have the speed to go with it,” Keselowski said following the race. “We are doing all we can do to overcome that. The driver in me is frustrated because I feel like these are races I am good enough to win but don’t have the speed enough to do it. The owner in me is mad as hell because it is my fault for not making the cars faster.
“I am still proud of the team that we have with the pit stops and strategy and execution to put ourselves in position to get a finish we probably didn’t deserve but earned with some never-give-up spirit. It was a good job of executing with what we had. It is frustrating. You can still get good finishes by running good smart days, executing on pit road, and having great strategy and I am proud of our team for doing that today.”
Stage two had six different cautions – three of which were in a 20-lap span – as Keselowski ultimately used pit strategy to regain track position. He stayed out under yellow at lap 137 and restarted fifth with 23 to go in the segment, before going on to finish sixth.
After beginning the final stage in 19th, Keselowski eventually worked his way back to the top-10 by lap 234 and never looked back. In all, five cautions flew in the final 40 laps as Keselowski suddenly picked off positions by lap 250, advancing to third with 13 to go. He was challenging for P2 at the time of the yellow, and flipped between third and fourth as the flurry of cautions were displayed forcing NASCAR Overtime.
In the final overtime restart attempt, Keselowski put the No. 6 third and was initially credited with a third-place finish. However, after reviewing the finish, NASCAR deemed he did in fact pass the No. 24, crediting him with second.
It marks Keselowski’s third top five of the season, and best finish to date through nine races.
17 Recap
Buescher finished 17th to end the opening stage, then flipped his track position to begin stage two. He fired off third at lap 88 to begin that segment, but was hit with a pit road penalty at lap 100 under yellow.
He worked back to overcome it though, driving back to 18th to end stage two. After rolling 12th on the stage three start, he worked back into the top-10 by lap 173 and stayed there for the next 40 laps. He would pit under green at lap 208 from 12th, but was caught a lap down when the yellow was displayed at lap 227 in the midst of the pit cycle.
He worked back in the top-20 with 20 to go, and over the course of the final five cautions, slowly picked off positions to earn the top-15. He was initially scored 18th, but was later credited with 15th in the Fifth Third Ford.
Up Next
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to the high banks of Talladega Superspeedway next weekend. Race coverage on Sunday is set for 3 p.m. ET on FS1, with radio coverage on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
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