Chris Buescher had an emotional reaction to being pushed up into the wall by Tyler Reddick with 10 laps to go during Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, confronting the 23XI Racing driver on pit road after the race.
The two shared a heated exchange, with Buescher making it very clear he didn’t appreciate the way Reddick raced him. Buescher and Reddick were both forced to pit as a result of the on-track incident and went from battling for the win to finishing P30 and P32, respectively.
Speaking on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin said that Buescher’s post-race reaction was “understandable,” given how important a win would have been for he and his team.
“Had Buescher finished second, he probably doesn’t have the reaction that he had, but it’s understandable,” Hamlin said. “He’s had a couple weeks now where he’s been thinking he’s gonna have a shot to win and it didn’t work out. And instead, it puts him back in that bubble position again. There’s obviously a lot of emotion because of the result.
“… What a win does is he doesn’t have to sweat the points anymore. … They didn’t have a great start to the season. They had a few DNFs and yes, over the last few weeks he’s been running up front. But we zoom in too many times. And I think what he’s saying there is you’re locked into the playoffs and I’m not. I think that’s what he was trying to say is that this win meant more to him and his team than the extra win for you [Reddick] and your team.”
Chris Buescher on late-race contact with Tyler Reddick: ‘We got wrecked’
Despite some quality runs over the duration of the season, Buescher currently sits just 15 points above the playoff cutline. A win would have clinched his spot in the postseason for the second consecutive season. Instead, it’s back-to-back close calls for Buescher, who was edged out by Kyle Larson by 0.001 seconds for the win at Kansas last Sunday.
Though Reddick did apologize during the exchange on pit road, “it doesn’t change anything for us,” Buescher said after the race.
“We got wrecked,” Buescher told Jamie Little of FOX Sports. “That one’s clear as day. … We’ve raced each other clean through the years, try to be respectful about it and we get used up. It’s just something that you know is not gonna work. Just really pi--ed off about it right now. We had a chance to win another one. … Felt we got used up and he knows he messed up, he said it. But it doesn’t change anything for us.
“I told him he’s got a win sticker on the door and we’re still trying to find ours. We get used up like that and it takes away those opportunities — that’s tough. That’s two weeks in a row we’ve had a shot to win races. And one I’m gonna live in my head forever on what I would have done differently, and this one here — I need someone else to be more mature about it.”
More must-reads: