Gluck: Chase berths narrow with Chris Buescher's Bristol finish

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kevin Harvick did dueling burnouts with team owner Tony Stewart following Harvick’s win Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway, much to the delight of fans who stuck around nearly 24 hours after the race’s originally scheduled start.

But as smoke billowed from Stewart and Harvick’s tires, spectators cheering over the engine noise, a 23-year-old named Chris Buescher climbed from his car on pit road and smiled like he was a winner, too.

Buescher’s surprising fifth-place run for Front Row Motorsports, the second of his young career, leapfrogged him past David Ragan for 30th place in the Sprint Cup Series standings.

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That won’t get the same amount of headlines as former champion Harvick’s second victory of the season, but it’s more important in relation to this fall’s Chase for the Sprint Cup. That’s because 30th or better in the standings is one of two requirements for an automatic playoff berth; the other is a victory.

Buescher now has both, thanks to a weather-shortened victory earlier this month at Pocono Raceway, where his underdog team played pit strategy perfectly to put him at the front of the field when fog rolled in.

But that win wouldn’t mean much if Buescher wasn’t able to finish the regular season in the top 30. He was three points behind heading into Bristol.

Now he has a provisional spot in the field — with three races remaining — and his presence brings some clarity to NASCAR’s playoff picture.

“That’s Chase eligibility (gained) in one race out of the four we had to do it,” Buescher said Sunday. “Now we have to hold on to it.”

If Buescher stays in — and he’s 13 points to the good — there’s one less spot for a winless driver to make the postseason on points. Twelve drivers have won races and are in the top 30, meaning there are only four drivers who can make it on points.

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Those drivers currently are Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray and Ryan Newman — and no one else is close. After Newman, there’s a giant 35-point gap back to Trevor Bayne.

That means drivers like Bayne, Kyle Larson, AJ Allmendinger, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Blaney are all likely in a win-or-go-home scenario over the next three weeks.

And after Bristol — a short track which can shake up the running order both by promoting parity and wrecks — there are few opportunities left for an unusual winner.

Stenhouse knows that all too well, and that made his second-place finish Sunday bittersweet.

“We really wanted to get that win this time at Bristol,” he said. “We knew this was probably our best shot.”

Sure, someone could take a fuel mileage gamble next week at Michigan International Speedway. Perhaps there could be a pit strategy play at Darlington Raceway or Richmond International Raceway — the regular-season finale on Sept. 10.

But those tracks don’t set up well for unusual winners, which puts much of the spotlight for the final Chase spot on Buescher.

After all, just because he’s in after Bristol doesn’t mean he’ll stay there. Yes, the 2015 Xfinity Series champion is perfectly capable of doing so, but drivers can’t control things like a flat tire, a part failure or a competitor causing a crash.

That presents an alternative scenario for drivers like Bayne and Larson. They can balance going for a last-gasp win with racing for the top spot currently outside the Chase. Then, if Buescher slips up in the next few weeks and falls out of the top 30, they could suddenly find themselves in the playoff picture.

They have nothing to lose. Buescher? He has plenty.

But the rookie said he isn’t feeling the pressure – yet, anyway.

“It’s still relief,” he said. “It’s a good scenario. We’ve got some good tracks coming up for us that we’re ready for.”

Though Buescher’s team has never made the Chase, it is capable of doing so based on an affiliation with Roush Fenway Racing. His Xfinity title for Roush last season helped Buescher land the ride at Front Row – with Roush technical support – and put him in position to out-duel drivers like Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards on Sunday.

Buescher, who has said he hates points racing, still has to do just that for the next few weeks. But he’s also anxious to show his team has speed and won’t just be taking up a spot from a more consistent car in the Chase.

“Same thing we just did today would be great,” Buescher said of his approach to the next few weeks. “If we can go have a couple top-fives and keep up this momentum we’ve had the last few weeks, we’ll be golden.”

Follow Gluck onn Twitter @jeff_gluck