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NASCAR Darlington Notebook: Battle Ends with TwistJonathan Bachman - Getty Images
Throughout Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, it was obvious that the cars piloted by eventual winner Tyler Reddick, runner-up Brad Keselowski, and nineth-place finisher Chris Buescher were the class of the field.
Keselowski was the 293-lap race’s top lap leader, setting the pace on six occasions for 142 laps. Reddick led 77 laps and Buescher 41. However, it was an incident with 52 laps remaining that possibly cost Buescher a shot at victory. Reddick didn’t know Buescher was headed for pit road and when he attempted to pass him on the inside, he clipped him and sent the RFK Racing driver into the wall.
“It’s just racing,” Buescher said. “The 6 (Keselowski) had just gotten by us and he (Reddick) probably was gonna go to the bottom and dive through there and pull a slider. That was probably what was on his mind and we kind of turned down last second to take that (entrance to pit road) and it’s hard to check up that fast. It was nothing intentionally and I know that from where I’m at without ever having to talk to him.”
Reddick confirmed Buescher’s supposition during his post-race interview.
“I knew he had a bad corner off of (turn) two, and I made my mind up that I was going to make the slide job into (turn) three,” Reddick said. “I hit the brake, but I was up his back bumper. I just completely ran him over. It’s just one of those things that didn’t need to happen. I don’t know if he waved or not. If he didn’t wave, I get it, because he’s not trying to broadcast to me, he’s going to pit because maybe I pit with him.”
Pit Road Problems for Blaney
Ryan Blaney posted a third-place finish in the Goodyear 400 for his fourth top-10 finish in six races and his second top-five in the last three events, but pit road issues forced him to have to drive through the field on several occasions on the tough Darlington track.
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Ryan Blaney.Jonathan Bachman - Getty Images
The Team Penske driver cited pit road performance as definitely something where his team needed work. During his pit stop at the end of Stage one, the lug on the left front didn’t get tightened and he had to stop in another Team Penske pit to get it tightened as he left pit road.
“I thought our car was pretty good, we just got set back too many times and it was hard to make it back up,” Blaney said.
Blaney said the high horsepower, low downforce package used in the Darlington race was a “handful.”
“You can crap the bed quickly if you were kind of rough on your stuff… so that part was good,” Blaney said. “There was tons of fall off. I think you saw guys kind of get too much early and then they were done.
“Very rarely in my Cup career have I just let guys go, whether it’s on restarts or green flag runs and say to myself, ‘I’m gonna see you in about 20,’ and that was kind of the way it went today.”
Hocevar, Suarez Snare Best Career Darlington Finishes
Spire Motorsports teammates Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez posted their best-ever finishes at Darlington Raceway in Sunday’s Goodyear 400, and they couldn’t have been happier.
Hocevar finished fourth to winner Tyler Reddick while Suarez placed seventh. Previously in six starts at the historic 1.366-mile track, Hocevar’s best finish had been ninth, while Suarez’s had been 10th in 17 Darlington races.
“It hasn’t been a lack of effort, but just a lack of luck that takes us out of finishes, so it’s nice to take one today,” said Hocevar, who had to go to the rear at the start of the race due to unapproved adjustments on his Chevrolet.
The 23-year-old Hocevar said the 750 horsepower and less downforce package with a softer right-side tire didn’t feel “crazy different, but it seemed like it was way different for everyone else, and we were able to pass a lot of cars.”
“That was beneficial for us, for sure,” Hocevar said.
After the 293-lap race in nearly 90-degree temperatures, Suarez said all he could ask for was for his team to get “a little bit better” each week.
“We’re not trying to hit home runs right now, we’re just putting one step in front of the other, and that’s how progress happens,” Suarez said.
Suarez said when he was watching Spire Motorsports from the outside, he viewed them as “the fastest growing team.”
“I was always curious, what are they doing to grow that quick?” Suarez recalled. “But as the year (2025) went along and we put a deal together, I started to understand more and more. The culture of the team is pretty incredible. The best part is that they just continue to grow. We’re not even close to our full potential, so we just have to keep doing our thing; keep building and get better and better.”
After six races, Hocevar is 13th in the driver point standings and Suarez is 14th.
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