Chris Buescher wins Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway

On a typically wacky Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, Chris Buescher outran the 16 Cup Series playoff drivers and scored his second career victory.

The 500-lap race, one of the season’s toughest, saw a bundle of problems across most of the playoff grid and made the cut line between those advancing and those departing a movable object for much of the night. There were tire issues, power steering issues and engine issues. No one seemed safe from imminent peril.

Buescher, however, jumped in front of the field courtesy of a two-tire pit stop late in the race and ran away from the rest of the field to end a 222-race winless drought. Buescher pitted on lap 439 and moved from fourth to first with the two-tire stop. He led the final 57 laps.

Buescher said he wasn’t worried about tire problems over the closing miles. “It was up to me at that point,” he said. “Just hold on and make it work. We had a really fast Fastenal Mustang. Just so proud of everybody. We knew we had a good race car after practice and didn’t quite get the job done in qualifying, but what a race car. It’s just special. Get RFK in Victory Lane for the first time, and we had great race cars. Brad had really good speed, too.

“I don’t know what else to say right now. I’m out of breath. This place will wear you flat out, and I love that about it, but such a special night.”

Following in the top five were Chase Elliott, William Byron, Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson.

The second-place finish lifted Elliott into the point lead.

Buescher, 29, became the Cup season’s 19th different winner, tying a modern-era record. His win gave Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing its first Cup victory since July 2017.

The night’s biggest hit was experienced by two-time Cup champion