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At Richmond Raceway on Sunday, July 30, Chris Buescher surged away during a restart to win and secure one of the remaining slots in the NASCAR playoff field.
Just before the caution was thrown with only ten laps remaining, Chris Buescher had a six-second lead and led 88 laps by himself. But Denny Hamlin got a bad restart and he could not catch up with Buescher, who drifted away quickly to get his first win of the season bringing up his career total to three.
"I knew even on our green flag stops we were strong during the race. I had a good feeling about it. Pretty awesome to pull it off. Proud of everybody because of that was a long way from the back this morning," he said during the post-race interview.
There were only three cautions in the race, and the final one with eight laps remaining sent the leaders to pit road for four tires. Buescher took the inside line to draw ahead when the green flag was displayed once again to win for the third time in his career.
Pocono Raceway winner, Denny Hamlin crossed the finish line in second place followed by Kyle Busch in third, Joey Logano, and Ryan Preece in fourth and fifth place respectively.
Chris Buescher shakes up Playoff standing after Richmond victory
RFK Racing's Chris Buescher became the 12th different driver to win in the 2023 season and secured his place playoff spot as of now. With only four races to go, there are only four playoff spots left for others to fight for.
Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace, and Michael McDowell are the four drivers that are presently in those positions. It should be possible for Harvick and Keselowski to show the way in, but it's not the final list.
Over a hundred points separate Harvick and Keselowski from the drivers that will be eliminated in the 16th position. Wallace leads the playoff fight by 54 points, and A.J. Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing is 22 points down of McDowell.
