A NASCAR insider has weighed in on the incident involving Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick at the Cup Series race at Darlington on Sunday. On this week’s episode of The Teardown, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic said that Buescher was to blame for the contact he made with Reddick during Stage 3.
“I watched Reddick’s in-car, and it’s just like he has no warning he’s pitting, which I get from the standpoint of you’re not trying to let that guy come down pit road with you, so you don’t want to give him too much warning. But it pretty much looked like he stopped on the track, slammed the brakes, and Reddick just plows into him, doesn’t know what’s going on. Unfortunate that happened, but to blame Reddick like it was the same incident as a few years ago, I don’t agree with that one.”
Chris Buscher was the race leader before making contact with Tyler Reddick, who won the race. As Buscher began slowing up on the track to get to pit road, Reddick ran into the back of his No. 17 Ford, leading Buscher to get sideways and make contact with the outside wall. Buescher finished the race in ninth.
Chris Buescher reacts to the Darlington incident with Tyler Reddick
After the race, Buescher reacted to Reddick making contact with him. “It’s just racing. Ultimately, it’s just racing,” Buescher said. “We were really fast today. … Proud of everybody. We made great changes, qualified great. I mean, pit stops were awesome. Made improvements on the race car all day long, and that was just a big move to set ourselves up to win the race, and it didn’t work out. We’re coming here trying to figure out how to win races, and that was a big chance for us.”
Buescher came close to earning his first win of the season, but it was still a good day for him. His P9 finish on Sunday was his third top-10 finish in six races this year. Buescher’s strong start has led to a seventh- place spot in the NASCAR Chase/Cup points standings.