Last weekend’s race at Darlington saw an unfortunate incident between Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher. The 23XI Racing driver attempted a risky move down the inside trying to gain ground on the RFK challenger, ultimately ending both their chances to win. After the race, Buescher confronted the driver of the #45 Toyota Camry XSE on pit road, complaining how the latter had a win, but ruined his chances of taking a trip to victory lane. Ahead of the All-Star race, Bubba Wallace gave his take on the expectation of the driver already with a win to not use up the driver fighting for his first win of the season.
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“Wins are so tough to come by, so I agree with Chris (Buescher) a 100% on that. But you are in a spot to win, we are going for it. Doesn’t matter if you have 10, you want 11. Never gonna back down just because you have a win somebody else doesn’t,” said the 23XI driver.
However, the driver of the #23 car did mention that the way Reddick raced Buescher could change by trying to stay clean. But at the end of the day when gunning for the win there are going to be times when contact is made. All some like Reddick can do is make sure that he does not end up repeating the same mistake in the future.
“You win one, you wanna win 10, you wanna win all of them. They are so hard to do. But you are in a spot you do whatever you can for your team for your sponsors, for yourself,” Wallace concluded.
Was Buescher’s anger against Reddick justified?
Reddick scored his first victory of the season at Talladega Superspeedway, thereby booking his slot in the playoffs later this year. But Buescher on the other hand is yet to win a race. After the Darlington incident, it was two races in a row where the RFK driver lost out on the chance to pick up a win and secure himself for the postseason.
Considering how hard it is for drivers to win in the top division of NASCAR, his frustrations and anger against Reddick were seemingly justified. With the Fords so far showcasing lackluster performance, who knows when Buescher will have the chance again?
But at the end of the day, why would Reddick not race him hard, even if he already has a win? Everyone wants to win as many races as they possibly can during the regular season to solidify their championship contention chances when the playoffs arrive. Moving forward, there are still several races remaining for Buescher to find his luck and possibly get himself to victory lane. It’s just a matter of time from here on.
