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The rain-suspended NASCAR Cup race at Michigan was won by Chris Buescher over Martin Truex Jr. over the last 10 laps on Monday (August 7). Sunday's race was postponed due to heavy rain, with only 75 laps completed.
Chris Buescher took the lead after the last round of green-flag pit stops, but Martin Truex Jr., who had won the first two stages, was close behind and aiming for a victory.
Chris Buescher and Martin Truex Jr. battled for the lead. With only 10 laps to go, Buescher was able to retake the lead, thanks to the side draft from the already lapped car of Michael McDowell.
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Buescher skilfully held a lead over Truex and outran him by 0.152 seconds at the finish line to win for the second time in a row.
This side-to-side battle for the lead kept NASCAR fans on their toes. Fans took to social media to share their reactions to the last-lap battle.
Here are some of the reactions on Twitter:
The win in Michigan is Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing's first straight victories since 2020 and Buescher's fourth of his career. Teammate Brad Keselowski passed Kyle Larson, the Hendrick Motorsports driver, to make it to the finish line, to take fourth place.
"First off, thank you to all the fans who hung out on Monday with us. It’s awesome, I’m glad we got to get this whole thing in. I know it’s been a long weekend," Buescher said during the post-race interview (via Autosport).
"I was just trying to do all I could" - Martin Truex Jr. on the final-lap chase with Chris Buescher
With 12 laps remaining, Truex tried to pass Buescher for the lead, but he was unable to recover, losing to the No. 17 by a margin of 0.152 seconds.
“I got beside him and about lost it down into (Turn 1). I was just trying to do all I could to get by him without making contact,” he said, while describing the race (via NASCAR).
“I easily could’ve got into him there. I feel like we’ve had a good, respectful relationship on the race track, and I wasn’t gonna do anything to wreck him or take a chance at wrecking both of us. Second is better than that,” he added.
Truex, however, increased his lead over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in the Cup Series point standings to 57 points despite falling one spot shy of a maximum-points day.
