Smokescreen start turns into clear comeback for Buescher at Indy

SPEEDWAY, IN. — Chris Buescher finished 10th in Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit to cap off a remarkable comeback that began after a wild mechanical mishap in stage one.

On Lap 12, in stage one, Buescher’s rockerbox started on fire and filled the cockpit with smoke. Although the crew extinguished the fire, the extinguisher’s residue meant Buescher couldn’t see and had to be guided to pit road.

On pit road, Buescher and the crew cleaned the interior to finally regain his visibility for Stage Two. Buescher stayed two laps down, in 34th, throughout the stage but mounted a comeback in the final stage.

A Lap 62 caution put Buescher back to one lap down and a caution away from getting back on the lead. He received that caution on Lap 78 and restarted 29th. After a chaotic restart that bred another one in overtime, Buescher gained 19 spots and finished 10th.

Buescher has now finished top-10 in the last three NASCAR Cup Series road course races — something only Michael McDowell and Austin Cindric have also done.

Buescher has also earned six top-10 finishes after 22 races, the most of his career at this point in the season.