Chris Buescher Confronts Tyler Reddick After Late-Race Contact for the Lead

Opportunity knocked, and Chris Buescher answered the door late in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.

Buescher took the race lead as his teammate Brad Keselowski and Tyler Reddick made contact battling for the top spot on Lap 264 and it looked like Buescher was going to cruise to his first win of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. That is, until Reddick caught Buescher and made a miscalculated move in Turn 1 for the race lead with 10 laps remaining.

Reddick collided with Buescher, which sent Buescher into the outside wall. Both drivers cut down tires as a result of the incident, and as they both visited pit road, Brad Keselowski was handed the lead, and win, on a silver platter.

As his RFK Racing teammate celebrated his first win since the 2021 season, it was little consolation for Buescher, who was still stewing over a legitimate shot at a win being ripped from him in the closing laps of Sunday's race.

Buescher, who was credited with a 30th-place finish, climbed from his race car, and made a b-line for Reddick, who was parked behind him on pit road. As Buescher charged toward Reddick, he extended his arms, and shoved his competitor in anger.

The two drivers then engaged in an intense one-sided conversation on pit road. Buescher lashed out at Reddick. Buescher was enraged that he was roughed up by Reddick, who already has a win this season, while Buescher is still looking for his first win of the year. Reddick agreed and apologized, but much like Keselowski's win, it was of little consolation to Buescher, who feels he was wronged with 10 laps remaining in Sunday's race at Darlington Raceway.

After the confrontation, Buescher spoke about his frustration level. And from his point of view, he was completely wiped out from the lead by Reddick.

"We got wrecked," Buescher explained. "I mean, that one's clear as day. Don't need any cameras to tell us. But, I don't know what to say. We've raced each other really clean over the years, tried to be really respectful about it, and we get used up. It's something that you just know isn't going to work. I'm just really pissed off about it right now. We certainly had a chance to win another one."

Buescher continued to seethe, and he admitted that Reddick owned up to his mistake, but at the end of the day, Buescher says sorry doesn't fix the fact that he didn't end up in victory lane because of what he felt was over-aggression by Reddick.

"I just felt like we got used up, and he knows he messed up. He said it," Buescher stated. "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, it takes away those opportunities. It's tough. That's two weeks in a row that we've a shot to win races. One, I'm going to live in my head about forever on what I would have done different. This one, I'm going to need someone else to be mature about it."

While it was another missed opportunity for Buescher, the No. 17 team continues to put themselves in a position to win races. At some point, Buescher and his team are going to bust the door down, much like last year, where he exploded for three victories.

It's just losing one because of someone else's mistake is always harder to accept, and this one will certainly hurt for Buescher for some time.