Playoff hopes dashed for Buescher, LaJoie, Suarez and others at Daytona
Fourteen drivers will have to wait until 2022 for another chance to win at Daytona and get into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, as each driver’s hopes were dashed by Ryan Blaney’s win in Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400.
Blaney won in overtime after several restarts featuring charges from Chris Buescher, Corey LaJoie, Daniel Suarez and other playoff bubble drivers who challenged Blaney for the win.
Chris Buescher
Buescher emerged to take the lead for the second time in the race on Lap 157. He led the Lap 163 overtime restart but fell back to third at the white flag.
Buescher missed the final lap wreck on the backstretch and crossed the start-finish line in second.
However, Buescher was disqualified in post-race tech after an illegal track bar mounting assembly was discovered.
“It hurts,” Buescher said. “I’m glad to see that a Ford ended up in victory lane but it hurts that it wasn’t us.”
Buescher finished 40th, last, after the disqualification.
Corey LaJoie
LaJoie ran up front at various points and mounted some surprising charges in Saturday’s race.
LaJoie led one lap, on Lap 57, and finished seventh in Stage One.
Although he fell back, LaJoie re-emerged at the front after avoiding a Lap 158 multi-car wreck in turn four.
During overtime, he restarted in third and helped Ryan Blaney take the lead. LaJoie looked to make a move on Blaney but he received no help from Kevin Harvick, who passed LaJoie with a run that shuffled him back.
LaJoie finished 16th, one lap down, after being involved in the final lap wreck.
Austin Dillon
Austin Dillon restarted fourth for the overtime after his crew changed a faulty battery. Dillon needed to either win or finish 18 spots ahead of playoff bubble competitor Tyler Reddick.
Dillon was close behind Kevin Harvick, Daniel Suarez and Kurt Busch, who mounted a charge on the backstretch.
However, Dillon was an innocent bystander when the charge went wrong and spurred the big final lap wreck.
Dillon finished 17th, one lap down, after being involved in the wreck. Reddick finished fifth, causing Dillon to miss the playoffs by 30 points.
Ross Chastain
Chastain was one of the favorites for the win, among the playoff bubble drivers, in Saturday’s race. He led five times for 14 laps and finished fourth in Stage One.
Chastain was running near the Top 5 on the final lap with a narrow chance to work with Harvick, Suarez and Busch to contend for the win. However, he was also involved in the final lap wreck.
Chastain finished 18th, one lap down.
Daniel Suarez
On Lap 147, Suarez received front end damage in an eight-car wreck on the backstretch that was set off by Martin Truex Jr. getting turned into the wall and into William Byron.
On the final lap, Suarez launched a comeback as he pushed Harvick to challenge Blaney on the backstretch. As Harvick looked for the lead, Suarez pulled to his inside with help from Kurt Busch. Busch’s bump poorly connected to Suarez’s car which sent Suarez into Harvick and triggered the final lap wreck.
Suarez finished 19th, one lap down, after being involved in the wreck.
Matt DiBenedetto finished 25th, one lap down. He and Chase Elliott wrecked while racing for the lead in turn four on Lap 158.
Bubba Wallace (second), Ryan Newman (third), Ryan Preece (fourth) and Erik Jones (11th) finished on the lead lap but failed to make the playoffs.
SOURCES:
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com