The famous seven-turn Watkins Glen International has seen many exciting finishes over the years. Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen was added to the list thanks to an epic battle at the end between Chris Buescher and Shane van Gisbergen.
After executing the right strategy, Buescher took the lead by more than four seconds. A caution was then issued for Harrison Burton, who punctured a tire and whose corpse covered the track. All that hard work has been undone. Ultimately, the race was sent to extra time due to a multi-car incident in the esses. , I felt a lot better,” Buescher said. “It was a bit crazier at the end, stopping one after the other, it was definitely disappointing.”At the restart of extra time, Van Gisbergen lined up inside the second row and, entering Turn 1, he passed Buescher on the track to take the lead. The race for the win was on.
Van Gisbergen pulled away from Buescher for the next lap, but Buescher noted that he had caught the No. 16 Chevrolet when the white flag approached. He knew that passing a road ace would be a tough task. ‘I looked stuck, really loose,” Buescher said. “I got to a point where I wasn’t very comfortable at the entrance sign at my bus stop and I thought I was still wired. I had a feeling that something big was going to happen and of course it did this big slide. »Car #16 went wide on the inner loop, washed the grass. This allowed Buescher to get inside van Gisbergen entering the carousel where the two met. Buescher ran away with the lead, ending a 37-game winless streak dating back to the 2023 regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway.”I knew that when he took that spot on us in this last one restart that was It will be hard to go through it,” explained Buescher. “I wanted to make sure we stayed in the race and drove hard and kept the pressure on him and let him know that we were still there and that it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. I thought that was the way to make sure that the others riders are looking in their rear view mirror instead of looking ahead and in the end it was a good old hard battle. “There have been a lot of great last laps here at The Glen and I feel like I will definitely go back and watch it, and I feel like I will add to some of the old school battles of Ambrose, Keselowski or a few others.
Van Gisbergen expected this contact after giving Buescher a bump on the restart. He considered Buescher’s contact fair. “I did, because I took him out,” van Gisbergen told NASCAR.com, climbing into the pit. “Just a slight movement to position him.” I knew there was a chance he would try to get me back. I pushed the entries very hard, and I had a little wobble at the bus station and that put me on the track too early and I just washed the grass. » Compared to the extra finish in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, van Gisbergen thought it was clean. “There’s a degree where it’s like that and then another degree where it’s like yesterday’s Xfinity race, which was just crap,” he added. “I think it can work well sometimes.”If van Gisbergen had not made a mistake on the inside, Buescher would not have gone so far as to destroy him for the victory. It would not have been necessary in his case .But after posting two second-place finishes this season, including being on the wrong end of the closest finish in NASCAR history at Kansas Speedway in May, Buescher was happy with how things turned out.< br>” I didn’t like going there, but I didn’t think it was ugly; it was a very aggressive race,” Buescher said. “I’m not here to destroy anybody. I didn’t do anything to deserve such a thing, but we were going to compete hard for it and fight until the end. »After the race, van Gisbergen congratulated Buescher on his hard-earned victory in Victory Lane. There were no hard feelings between the two drivers.”I didn’t feel there was anything bad about that race,” Buescher noted of his race. “I didn’t do it
“Final Lap Showdown: Chris Buescher Triumphs Over Shane van Gisbergen in Thrilling Watkins Glen Duel”
