“Big Tex” Chris Buescher wins Go Bowling! At the Glen, Larson holds P1 in GFT Rankings
15 September 2024
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News
WATKINS GLEN, NY — Race 2 of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Playoffs Round of 16 saw an epic overtime battle of non-playoff drivers Chris Buescher and Shane van Gisbergen with Buescher prevailing. The win was RFK Racing‘s Chris Buescher’s first career road-course victory at the famed Watkins Glen International.
In the overtime restart, Van Gisbergen took the lead from the second row with a bold three-wide move, but Buescher held SVG’s bumper as the two battled during the final laps. As they entered “The Bus Stop” section Buescher‘s №17 RFK Racing Ford and van Gisbergen‘s №16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet made contact, with Buescher nudging his Mustang inside van Gisbergen‘s Camaro to take the lead and powering to a 0.979-second win over the New Zealander.
“I thought we lost it there on the last one, but, man, to stay right there with him. It was a spot he was better than us, but he just missed it, so I tried to cross over and just hard racing. What an awesome finish. To be that good for so much at the end of the race — all race — to get a win is good. We came here to be spoilers, and we‘re going to do that” said Buescher in Victory Lane.
UPDATED GFT NASCAR DRIVER RANKINGS — after Watkins Glen
Kyle Larson’s 4 wins and bank full of playoff points helps him keep his P1 ranking in our GFT Driver Ranking AI models, but he has dropped to 9th on the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff grid after a 12th place finish at Watkins Glen.
Joey Logano remains the only Playoff driver officially locked into the Round of 12 after 2 races. Bristol on Saturday night is going to be epic.
GFT NASCAR BOX SCORES
After 28 Races …
Manufactures Box Score:
Chevrolet = 11
Toyota = 8
Ford = 9
Team Box Score:
Hendrick Motorsports = 9
Driver Box Score:
Kyle Larson = 4 wins
GFT AI NASCAR Fantasy LIVE — back in the top 15%
Our models scored 154 points at The Glen, with the GFT AI model remaining in the top 15% of all players (14.21%) in the TMD NASCAR Fantasy Live League.
Looking Ahead: The Next Race
Saturday, Sep. 21–7:00 PM ET
Bass Pro Shops Night Race
Bristol Motor Speedway
