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via Getty

via Getty

Chris Buescher from RFK Racing just can’t seem to catch a break. After mere millimeters snatched away the win from him at Kansas last week, he found himself on the receiving end of a wreck today at Darlington Speedway. With just 10 laps to go in the race, Tyler Reddick’s aggressive move led him to make contact with the No. 17 car and ram him into the wall.

Reddick had already brought home the win at Talladega, which saw his team co-owner get a taste of his first NASCAR win. Therefore, his actions today were unwarranted and perhaps could have been avoided. Who knows? Surrounded by two Ford cars in front and ahead, he was forced to run the race right on the edge, and it came back to bite him.

Tempers flaring high on the Darlington pit road

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Reddick, earlier in the race, was tussling with race winner Brad Keselowski for the win. And this is when Buescher made an impressive pass to take the lead. Trying to imitate the same move, Reddick completely lost control of his race car, and the wreck took both drivers out of commission. Finding himself on the bitter end of the stick two weeks in a row, Buescher could not maintain his calm and confronted Reddick on the road. He is one of the very few guys in the NASCAR garage to steer clear of any drama or unnecessary confrontation, but today’s event really triggered him.

However, despite Buescher’s initial attempts to throw arms at his rival, Reddick’s public apology cooled down the tempers. The 23XI Racing star admitted, “I f**ked up, I’m sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was wreck your car. I could care less about mine.”Buescher pointed out that his racecar doesn’t have the winner’s sticker and signed off by saying, “You need to be better. We’ve raced each other just fine for so long.”

Expressing his feelings in a post-race interview, Buescher said, “I mean, we were wrecked. That one’s clear as day, you don’t need any camera to tell. I’m just really pissed off about it right now. We certainly had a chance to win another one… I got used up, and he knows he messes up, he said it but it doesn’t change anything for us. That’s two weeks in a row we’ve had shot to win races and one I’m going to wither my head forever on what I would’ve done different. This one here, I need someone else to be more mature about it.”

Both drivers, after wrecking, had flat tires and had to make a pit stop when the race was running green. However, despite finishing the race on the tail end of the field, none of the two drivers had anything positive to take back from the race.

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Tyler Reddick comes clean on his mistake in wrecking Buescher

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By all means, Reddick had a genuine shot at winning the race had he not lost his cool and made a hasty decision. His No. 45 car was good on the short run and would have caught up to the No. 17 Ford Mustang. But he chose to go with a bold move, which proved to be detrimental to him and his opponent, Buescher.

Explaining his side of the story, the 23X1 Racing star driver said, “Yeah, I completely understand where he’s coming from. He’s run the top, run his own race, and run his own line. Yeah, I made a really aggressive move, and I was hoping I was going to clear him, and when I realized I wasn’t going to, I tried to check up and not slide up into him. I wish I wouldn’t have done that… It’s tough to walk away knowing that I used someone up and took their chance away from winning the race.”

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It sure won’t be a surprise to see Chris Buescher plan to repay the favor to Reddick in future races. However, for the time being, the latter will have to make peace with himself, knowing that his mistake cost another driver his win.