"Definitely a bummer" - Chris Buescher takes responsibility for the crash at the end of NASCAR Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500

NASCAR’s 2022 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 concluded with a wild finish at the newly reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Most of the fans in the grandstands were on their toes as William Byron neared the finish line with Bubba Wallace Jr. and Ross Chastain, giving him a run for his money.

Before collecting the checkered flag, Byron had managed to edge Wallace Jr. as well as Chastain, who were now battling to get behind.

During the last lap, leading cars were moving in a single-lane run on the outside before Blaney decided to make a move into the inside lane. He gave Wallace Jr. a side-to-side draft.

On his Twitter account, Chris Buescher stated that:

"Two straight Top-10s. I just wish my rear bumper wouldn’t have finished before my front. Kids, don’t drive backwards unless you’re Tow Mater or Ricky Bobby."

Byron went on to maintain the lead and collected his first win of the season. The race turned wild a few seconds after Byron crossed the line, and the cars behind him turned the finish line into a spinning zone.

The wreck collected three cars, including Bubba Wallace Jr.’s No. 23, Chris Buescher’s No. 17, and Justin Haley’s No. 31.

Following the wreck, Chris Buescher took full responsibility for what happened on the ugly scene of the final lap. A Twitter clip posted by Fox’s Bob Pockrass stated:

“Chris Buescher took responsibility for the accident at the end of the race.”

In the footage, Buescher cited the fact that the race was an adjustment.

“They're so good like, for everybody involved for gustan elsewhere but definitely, definitely in this thing. Definitely a bummer, but we had some decent speed by the end but just fine all day long.”

After feeling out the newly repaved track, Buescher still misses the old Atlanta. Though all the drivers involved in the last lap wreck finished in the top fifteen, the wreck denied Bubba Wallace Jr. a top-five finish, which he worked so hard for.

Instead, he finished 13th, one of his best finishes since the Daytona 500. Buescher managed to post a top ten finish.

NASCAR imposes penalty on Christopher Bell

Christopher Bell also suffered a stripping penalty after he finished second but was demoted to the 23rd finish. Christopher passed below the white and red line, which is termed as an out-of-bond line, and NASCAR had to strip him of his finishing position.

The repaving and reconfiguring of the tracks was not the only special change in this year’s Folds of Honor as it went over the board to break several records in terms of lead changes.

This year’s event witnessed 46 lead changes with 20 drivers leading a lap each. The last time NASCAR recorded this number of lead changes was in the Atlanta Journal 500, in 1982.