Roush Fenway Racing, after weeks in the news cycle over off-track drama, broke free at Talladega Superspeedway with a daring plan to fight the lull of fuel-saving racing that has marred the Next Gen’s performance at NASCAR’s largest tracks.
The three RFK drivers, Christopher Buescher, Ryan Preece, and Brad Keselowski, found their way to the front of the pack early in the first stage and slowed the pace. This has been the pattern for years at Talladega and Daytona, where passing is at a premium and teams have concluded the race is often won from the pits.
They would hold on to finish 1-2-3 the stage by 20 seconds over Kyle Larson in fourth position. This was Buescher first stage win of the season and, with their daring move, RFK is out of contention for the Championship win. Buescher and Preece are still looking to move up spots in the playoffs.
The pack slows down through their longest green-flag runs, and everyone saves fuel, shaving a few seconds off their pit stops as they jockey for position between the racing.
But the three RFK drivers had a different plan: once they had the lead, they floored it and started running true lap times at Talladega. Within ten laps, they had more than 30 seconds on the field; they extended it to as much as 45 seconds over the first green-flag run, meaning they were catching the back of the pack.
“Great game of poker where we just called the field,” Keselowski said over the No. 6 team radio. “Got to love it.”
The first pit cycle came in four waves, with drivers outside the playoffs like Connor Zilisch, Austin Dillon, and Shane van Gisbergen coming in first, followed by a larger pack of playoff Chevys and Fords.
On lap 58, the RFK trio pitted alone from their island. Their pit stops averaged 14 seconds, while the field averaged 11.4.
After the pit, the three drivers blended back into the field, as the leaders of those who pitted.
The final 16 cars, including all nine Toyotas, came on the next lap, and Christopher Bell, who entered the race second in points, lost grip and spun into the wall at pit entry. His day went from bad to worse when he had to pit twice for blown tires.
Buescher, Preece, and Keselowski moved back to their podium positions with over a 30-second buffer. But this time they weren’t alone; a cluster of four to five lapped cars struggled on the pit cycle due to contact or speeding penalties. More cars in the pack helped them run faster.
The larger pack continued to cut into the lead, but nowhere near fast enough. Without a caution, the championship contenders were all fighting for a best finish of fourth.
Kyle Larson, the championship leader, took the position ahead of William Byron, Riley Herbst, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, and Tyler Reddick.
With this, Larson gets seven points, Briscoe four points, Blaney three points, and Reddick a single point. Denny Hamlin finished 15th, outside the points. Bell, with his stage-one trouble, finds himself in the hardest spot among the championship hopefuls, finishing off pace in 40th.
Victoria Beaver is a nomadic sports writer who spends her time hopping between race tracks and hippie farms. She’s covered every corner of motorsports that will let her in from 410 Sprints to NASCAR to Supercross. Her daily driver is a 2010 Subaru that she refused to do the smallest amount of preventative maintenance on. Instead, she spends her free time and money building a 42-foot Skoolie to one day travel the country full time.