LEBANON, Tenn. (June 30, 2024) – Sunday’s race at Nashville Superspeedway was, in a word, chaos. Inclement weather and a flurry of cautions – 15 in total – dominated the headlines as Chris Buescher ended his day on a high note with a fifth-place finish. Brad Keselowski finished fifth in each of the first two stages and was running inside the top five much of the day, but was spun with under 100 to go to ultimately finish 25th.
The closing laps alone saw five NASCAR Overtime attempts, a new record, as the race in total was extended to 331 laps from the original distance of 300. Lightning – and later rain – put the race on halt for nearly 90 minutes just under halfway through the scheduled distance.
For Buescher, it’s his third top five in the last four races, and fifth overall on the season.
6 Recap
Keselowski started fifth following his best-career qualifying effort at the Tennessee track. Despite the numerous cautions late, the opening laps ran caution-free as the conclusion of stage one signified the first yellow flag of the afternoon.
The No. 6 Consumer Cellular Ford pitted from third at lap 39 under green then later went on to finish fifth in the opening stage of 90 laps. A 2-tire call under yellow at lap 117 put Keselowski P2 on the restart with teammate Buescher in third. Then, less than 20 laps later, thunderstorms moved into the Lebanon area as lightning put a delay on the race.
Following the delay of more than an hour, Keselowski restarted fourth and went on to finish fifth in the stage. He began stage three in fourth, and maintained a top-6 position for the next 30 laps. Under yellow at lap 218, Keselowski would pit for four tires which put him 18th on the ensuing restart. Then, at lap 244, Keselowski went to pass the No. 3 on the outside, and the two made contact into turn 1, sending the No. 6 into the outside wall.
After lengthy repairs – including replacing the steering wheel – Keselowski restarted three laps down at lap 247. He ran 34th at the time, but used the final five cautions to gain track position and ultimately advance nine spots to 25th.
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