Chris Buescher, a casualty of the Christopher Bell wreck, has been ousted from the NASCAR Cup Series at Talladega. His response to this turn of events was a sharp critique of the style of racing at Talladega, dismissing it as not really being racing at all.
Buescher had to retire from the race after just 53 laps due to a push from Denny Hamlin to Christopher Bell that led Bell to collide with the inside wall. Unfortunately, Buescher was in harm’s way during this incident. After the event, Buescher made his frustrations clear during a media session. He was questioned about the lack of safe spaces to race, to which he responded affirmatively but added that waiting in the back is just not racing.
“It’s just not racing [waiting in the back], and I’ve been a part of those and I’ve hated every second of it and I don’t want to be a part of it,” Buescher said, as quoted by Matt Weaver of Short Track Scene. Neither Jack Roush nor Brad Keselowski are fans of this style of racing, and neither is Chris Buescher. They refuse to just ride in the back to survive until the end of the race, as they believe that racing should be about being up front and on display. After all, sponsors want their cars to be seen, and racers want to race for the lead, not simply to stay in the game.
Apart from Chris Buescher, Scott Graves, Buescher’s crew chief, also made his sentiments known about the debacle with Christopher Bell. “This team works so hard every week, had our driver in position for the end of stage 1, and the guys that would consider themselves some of the best drivers in the world can’t even get through a restart,” Graves commented on X/Twitter, taking a dig at Denny Hamlin, “I see why you have an insurance sponsor [Denny Hamlin], can I file a claim?”
Graves’s witty remark against Hamlin was a testament to the team’s ire towards the incident. With this, the 17 team is all set to pick themselves up and head over to Texas next week, hoping for a win in the next race.
