Chris Buescher went back-to-back on Monday at Michigan following his win last Sunday at Richmond Raceway. It marks his fourth career win and his second win of the season.
Driver No. 17 finished 10th in Stage 2 and went on to lead a race high of 52 laps. He would then hold off hard charging Truex in the final laps and went on to score his second straight win of the season and the first time he’s won back-to-back races in NASCAR’s premier series.
“Thank you for all the fans that hung out here on Monday with us,” Buescher told NBC Sports following his win. “Glad we got to get this whole thing in. I know it’s been a long weekend.”
NASCAR had to move the remainder of the race to Monday after rain forced a postponement on Sunday with 125 laps to go.
The race would resume Monday on Lap 83.
Tyler Reddick was in command of the lead on Monday after he stayed out while the leaders were pitting before the caution came out for rain.
Martin Truex Jr. would regain the lead from Reddick after he came down pit road for fresh tires and fuel during the caution laps.
On Lap 83, Truex would restart in first place alongside Austin Cindric in second. Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace lined up on row 2.
Wallace would get a big run on the inside on Lap 84 and was able to pass Truex for the lead. Truex would fall to second place and Erik Jones who restarted on row 2 would fall back to sixth place but was able to find his way back to third.
Bubba Wallace would stay in the lead when the field completed the halfway point of the race.
However, Truex would retake the lead from Bubba Wallace on Lap 101 after being told by his team that he had enough fuel to make it to the end of the stage.
On Lap 104, the caution would be displayed after Ryan Preece blown a tire. Driver No. 41 was able to keep his car from spinning out and hitting the wall. Preece was able to make it back to pit road and resume the race without much damage.
Martin Truex Jr. would go onto win Stage 2.
Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Cindric and Chris Buescher all scored stage points following Stage 2.
Tyler Reddick passed Chris Buescher with 42 laps to go in the race, but he would be forced to head to pit road after having tire issues.
Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota had a right rear tire issue. Reddick would have to head back to his pit stall, but the crew would take extra-long on pit road and would fall multiple laps down of race leader Chris Buescher.
With 15 laps to go, it was all Martin Truex Jr. vs. Chris Buescher.
Martin Truex Jr., who had a dominant car all day would struggle to get past Buescher for the race lead. Both Truex and Buescher made their final pit stops with a little over 40 laps remaining in the race. Buescher would stay in front of Truex but was not able to make a sizable gap between the two drivers.
Truex was able to get beside of Buescher with 12 laps to go and would lead at the line but he got loose when he was forced three wide with Michael McDowell and he would have to back out of the gas to avoid crashing.
Chris Buescher would be able to stay in front for the remainder of the race and win his second straight win of the season.
Rounding out the top five were Martin Truex Jr. in second, Denny Hamlin in third, Brad Keselowski in fourth and Kyle Larson in fifth.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on Sunday, August 13th at 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
Stage 1 Winner: Martin Truex Jr.
Stage 2 Winner: Martin Truex Jr.
Race Winner: Chris Buescher
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