Lady Luck has refused to favor RFK Racing driver Chris Buescher for the second time in as many weeks. He was poised to win the Darlington race on Sunday with 10 laps to go when Tyler Reddick forced him into the wall and took them both out of contention. Frustrated at the immature move from Reddick, Buescher couldn’t help but lash out in the pit road.
Advertisement
Unable to wrap his head around why someone he’d always raced clean with would make such a move on him, he admitted to reporters that not winning races despite having a fast car was beginning to hurt. He said, “It’s not just a door-to-door contact or a little push or shove. It just ruined both of our days. Really pissed off about that. I don’t get it. We’ve been able to race clean for how long?”
When the move in question came, the duo was battling for the lead alongside Brad Keselowski. Courtesy of the tangle, the former Cup champion got to grab the win for himself. Buescher finished in 30th place after leading 21 laps throughout the race. Reddick ended up 32nd having led a race-high 174 laps. Without a victory yet, Buescher sits a mere 15 points above the playoff cutoff.
Chris Buescher is unable to accept Reddick’s apology being deeply hurt
Confronting each other on the pit road, Reddick apologized multiple times to Buescher. He acknowledged that the move had cost a potential victory for the #17 RFK Racing team and that he greatly regretted it. In his words to the press, he lamented, “If I just would’ve took myself out of it, I had a flat, that’s a different story, but yeah he was going to win that race had I not tried that.”
Despite the humble stand that he took, Buescher wasn’t close to being appeased. He told Fox Sports that the apology did not change what happened on the race track. “Saying sorry doesn’t fix it,” he seethed. He later wrote on his X handle that his team deserved to win and that they would soon if they kept performing at the same level.
Third… yeah I was a little pissed. Our whole team deserves to be in victory lane. We keep showing speed like this and that will happen… just wish it was today. Really looking forward to the 600 after the All Star race
— Chris Buescher (@Chris_Buescher) May 13, 2024
While he sure is happy that his teammate and team owner Keselowski ended his long winless streak, he did admit that the loss selfishly hurt him. He is already looking forward to the Coca-Cola 600 that will come up when the All-Star race is done over the coming weekend. Hopes are that he will be the second Ford driver to see the checkered flag in winning position this season.
