While Chase Briscoe made his Playoff situation much clearer by winning at Darlington to clinch a berth, he made it much fuzzier for the drivers fighting for points. And for one, he made it much more disappointing.
That group of drivers – Martin Truex, Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, and Ross Chastain in the order they entered Darlington – struggled at the track to continue the pattern from the penultimate round at Daytona where each were involved in incidents to some degree.
At the end of the race, Ty Gibbs qualified for the Playoffs with a 12-point margin and Martin Truex qualified by just six. On the other side, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, and Ross Chastain missed out by six, 27, and 33 points respectively.
Ty Gibbs
Ty Gibbs qualified for his first-ever Playoff appearance through survival. He started 13th and drove up to seventh place in both stages.
But he had to rely on the 39-point advantage to the cutline he carried into the race to advance in the end, which he did by only twelve points after getting involved in a late wreck after running deeper in the field in Stage 3.
Gibbs was able to survive the wreck but suffered damage, necessitating lengthy repairs and relegating him to a 20th-place finishing position, one lap down.
While Gibbs was happy to qualify for the Playoffs in his sophomore season, he was unhappy with the finish for his No. 54 car.
“I wish we could’ve run better. I really love this track,” Gibbs said. “Most importantly we made the Playoffs and did what we came here to do.”
Martin Truex
Martin Truex Jr. entered with a large buffer of 58 points above the cutline. And he used just about every one of those points to qualify for the Playoffs.
Just four laps into the race, Truex got loose into Turn 1, overcorrected, and slammed hard into Ryan Blaney for both cars, which ended up being terminal for both cars. That meant Truex had to watch from the sidelines as other drivers’ performances determined his fate.
Truex took the blame for the wreck outside the infield care center and said he had ‘no idea’ whether he intended to stick around for the rest of the race.
“Yeah, I mean, it sucks,” Truex acknowledged. “We’ve had a miserable two months. Fast cars and nothing to show for it. Again tonight – tonight was on me. Sorry to my team and all the guys who work so hard.”
The scale of his advantage coming in meant that Truex had enough points to advance unless there was a new winner and both Ty Gibbs and Chris Buescher scored enough points to overtake Truex’s total.
Though there ended up being a new winner, Buescher didn’t pick up enough points in the stages, and Truex clinched the berth by the end of Stage 2. It ended up being by a small margin – just six points gave Truex the spot – but it was a margin nonetheless, and Truex leaves Darlington with a Playoff berth.
Chris Buescher
Chris Buescher entered Darlington on the right side of the cutline and left on the wrong side. His 21-point buffer coming in didn’t prove enough.
Buescher struggled to pick up the stage points he needed, finishing tenth in the first stage and eleventh in the second. He continued to run in that position at the bottom of the top ten all race, ultimately finishing tenth.
Of all drivers, Buescher lost out the most with a new winner. He finished ahead of Bubba Wallace on points, despite a strong challenge from the 23XI Racing driver throughout the day, and ended up 11th in the regular season standings. Without a win to his credit, though, 11th in points didn’t advance.
“I don’t know,” a disappointed Buescher said after the race. “We felt like we did, for the most part, what we needed to do today. We got back in contention there at the end and got a decent finish out of it. We just didn’t quite get it done again and we’re on the outside looking in. It’s just the system we’re all playing in.
“We had such a great year. Everyone at RFK has worked so hard. We’ve been so fast. We’ve outrun so many of these cars that are gonna get to run for a championship, but that’s the system and we didn’t work it right.”
Buescher, who missed out a win that would have guaranteed him a berth in the Playoffs earlier in the season at Kansas Speedway by the closest margin in NASCAR history, said the emotions were complicated.
“It’s frustration and disbelief all together,” he said.
Bubba Wallace
Bubba Wallace, who entered with a 21-point deficit to the cutline, started on the pole after a gritty qualifying lap. Wallace was able to control the race until the first set of green flag pitstops in Stage 1.
From there, he continued to run up front throughout the race, picking up extra points from finishing second in Stage 1 and eighth in Stage 2. But, as the No. 23 slipped through the pack throughout Stage 3, Wallace got mired in traffic and ended up involved in a wreck with multiple other cars.
“Yeah, we got behind on adjustments,” Wallace explained why he fell back. “We just got back there in traffic, a spot we hadn’t been in all day, and got caught in someone else’s mess.”
The damage from that incident hurt Wallace’s car and forced him to make repairs on pit road. Ultimately, he could only manage a finish of 16th on the track, which was not enough to give him 16th on the Playoff points table.
Even if there hadn’t been a new winner, Wallace would’ve been unable to advance. His finish left him 21 points behind Chris Buescher and 27 points below the cutline, and 12th in the regular season points standings.
“Wasn’t good enough for 16th this year. Hate that. Hate saying that,” Wallace concluded.
“We’ll be fine.”
Ross Chastain
With a new winner, Ross Chastain, who entered 27 points below the cutline, needed a win. And he came agonizingly close.
The No. 1 attempted a bold strategy as the race came to a close. In the pit cycle in the middle of Stage 3, Chastain pitted early and drove as high as fourth on fresher tires than his competitors before falling back when the rest of the field also got fresh rubber.
Then, on the penultimate restart with twenty laps to go, Chastain chose to stay out in front of the field, the only car to choose that strategy. It worked out but didn’t work enough: Chastain ultimately finished fifth, just short of the win he needed.
Chastain left Darlington 33 points below the cutline, also failing to score any stage points throughout the day.
“Yeah, nine lap-old tires and staying out at Darlington is pretty scary. But it was the right call,” Chastain said. “Set ourselves up for a good shot.”
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