After a two-hour rain delay, the Great American Getaway 400 finally dropped the green flag under clear skies at Pocono Raceway. The No. 17 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, with Chris Buescher behind the wheel starting on the front row, was in contention for the win. Buescher arrived with back-to-back top-10s, 10th at Mexico City and runner-up at Michigan, bringing a mindset to stamp his playoff qualification with a win, only to fall short and finish fourth. RFK Racing has started to hit its stride in the past few weeks, and the #17 car was right there in the mix until the late yellow foiled his plans.

Now, a driver who’s struggled to gain points in the early half of the season would be content with a top 5 finish, but for Buescher, the only objective in his mind is to win a race. Given how new winners are making the playoffs race more chaotic, a win is the only assured way for the rest of the field to advance in the knockout stages. And that sentiment was evident from Buescher’s post-race interview.

Chris Buescher is building on speed and resolve

Starting from the front after qualifying second at Pocono Raceway, Buescher wasted no time testing the No. 17 Mustang Dark Horse’s pace against the pole sitter. As he noted, “I saw Brad leading at one point today, and I know the speed we had. I’m pretty confident in where our race team is heading and what we’ve been able to accomplish.” All three RFK Racing cars finished inside the top 10. This was the second week after they managed to pull this off in Michigan. Brad Keselowski finished the race 9th just behind Ryan Preece in 9th place.

.@Chris_Buescher reacts to his outing at Pocono as he climbs to 14th in the playoff standings. #NASCARonPrime pic.twitter.com/kGwPd8qwoG

— Sports on Prime (@SportsonPrime) June 23, 2025

In the early goings, he was right on the bumper of the #11 car in stage 1 and bagged nine points. But the late race crash with 30 laps to go hindered the plans of #17 team, and their driver was mired in traffic. Buescher dropped to fifth and was able to advance just one position after the final restart. “We started on the bottom, and I think I just got too low trying to defend and got the marbles and slid up into the middle. Was running them back down there, but with how hard it was to pass the day, I don’t know that would have been possible to get around everybody, but certainly had a really solid speed.”

With a fourth-place finish, Chris Buescher gained 19 points on the playoff cut line, and right now he is sitting 11th in points tally behind Joey Logano. But, despite leapfrogging Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman, the RFK Racing driver wanted more from the race, and why wouldn’t he? Chase Briscoe winning the race in Pocono has made the playoff race even tougher.

It becomes clear why Buescher insists that incremental gains must feed into a win-focused mindset. Playoff stakes amplified every decision. Entering Pocono on the bubble, Buescher explained, “If we go to the racetrack and do what we did today, we’re chasing a win, right? How do we set ourselves up to have a track position at the end to fight for a trophy? And you know, today, a place like this with the speed we had that brought points with it. We’re chasing wins. I feel like these playoffs constantly. You have one or two that slip in on points, but you got to win races.”

While the RFK Racing camp was calculating their approach and plans for the next race, Joe Gibbs Racing had a 1-2 finish with Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin. This was Briscoe’s first win with the #19 team, and it has led to a major reshuffling in the playoffs race.

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Chase Briscoe’s win reshapes playoffs race

Chase Briscoe’s victory at Pocono was as much a lesson in composure as speed: the 30-year-old Indiana native expertly managed throttle and fuel over the final 34 laps, fending off Denny Hamlin by 0.682 seconds and leading a race-high 72 of 160 laps. That triumph secured Briscoe’s automatic playoff berth, making him the 11th different winner this season and leaving only five of the 16 Playoff spots to be filled on points alone. With nine races remaining, the window for non-winners has narrowed. Any driver without a victory must now contend with a tighter points cushion, knowing that each additional event without a trip to Victory Lane chips away at their margin for error.

In this intensified landscape, drivers banking solely on consistent finishes face heightened urgency. If the current trend of new winners continues, even the likes of Chase Elliott and Tyler Reddick won’t be safe. Kyle Busch, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. now find themselves in a tough spot. Bubba Wallace is facing a similar situation to last year, and with races chipping away, the frustration within the #23 team is growing.