Late pit calls can often turn into mayhem across NASCAR, handing some teams an edge while leaving others to pick up the pieces. In recent races, a pattern has come into view. A driver dives for pit road without much warning, and the car behind, still at speed, has nowhere to go. The result is contact, and at times, chaos. That same scene played out again at Darlington Raceway, this time involving Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher.
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The flashpoint came in Stage 3 on Lap 241 when Buescher, out front, unexpectedly slowed to make his move to pit road. As Reddick closed in behind him, he ran into the back of Buescher’s No. 17 Ford, sending Buescher spinning into the wall. Reddick later said he did not see any signal that Buescher was heading to the pit lane.
The damage forced Buescher into a delayed stop on pit road. Reddick, meanwhile, stayed in the hunt and went after Brad Keselowski for the lead. Buescher, for his part, did not fan the flames after the race, treating it as part of the give-and-take that comes with racing.
“It’s racing,” Buescher said. “At the end of the day, that was trying to make an aggressive call to get to pit road kind of last second, and they were coming through on tires right there with the six. So, just a racing deal. And unfortunately, it just got us pretty good to the point where it knocked a toe out, I’m sure. Pretty big hit there, but got back going, was able to salvage and keep rolling, and man, what an awesome day.”
“Fun to be up there racing with the boss and fighting with this Ford Mustang Dark Horse, to be in the hunt to win, really. So a great day at Darlington, really, for coming to try and win races. And that was aggressive for us, and unfortunately, it didn’t work out,” he continued.
“Just a racing deal.”@Chris_Buescher on the contact from Tyler Reddick in turn 3 at Darlington.#NASCAR
Presenting Partner: @MyPlaceHotels pic.twitter.com/9bPUSzBRrc— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) March 22, 2026
Buescher took some solace in how his car ran over the course of the race, especially with the new package and the bump in power hanging over the weekend as a question mark. To him, it was a solid run, even if passing proved tougher than expected with grip at a premium across the field.
Reddick and Buescher’s run-in from 2024
This time, the contact did not spill over after the checkered flag. But the two have been down this road before at Darlington. In 2024, Buescher’s bid for the win ended when Reddick, trying to make a move, slid up into the No. 17 Ford. The contact sent Buescher into the wall and knocked both drivers out of contention.
Buescher confronted Reddick once he got out of the car, shoving him and making it clear he took issue with the move. “I tried to back out,” Reddick said at the time. “The last thing I wanted to do was wreck your car. I’m sorry.”
He doubled down on that stance after the race, saying the pass was a gamble and that he tried to check up to avoid sliding into Buescher. While history did somewhat repeat itself in 2026, the final outcome was way different this time around.
