Chris Buescher takes on Parris Island Marine Corps training after Darlington

It’s been a brutal couple weeks for Buescher, who has tasted the agony of defeat by the smallest of margins in back-to-back races. Kyle Larson edged out Buescher for the win at Kansas by 0.001 seconds and the finish to Sunday’s race ruined a quality run.

After the slide job gone wrong, Buescher confronted the 23XI Racing driver on pit road. The two shared a heated exchange, with Buescher making it very clear he didn’t appreciate the way Reddick raced him. Buescher and Reddick had to pit as a result of the on-track incident and went from battling for the win to finishing P30 and P32, respectively. Brad Keselowski, Buscher’s RFK Racing teammate, inherited the lead and held on to break a 110-race winless streak.

Chris Buescher narrowly remains in playoff spot after disappointment at Darlington

Reddick was apologetic during the heated exchange on pit road, repeatedly saying, “I f***** up.” Buescher pointed to the win sticker on Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota, saying, “We don’t have that sticker on our door right now. I don’t have that sticker on my door. This means more. I need you to be better. We’ve raced each other fine for so long.”

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.

“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. … 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.”