WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Watkins Glen delivered another dramatic NASCAR finish with Chris Buescher moving Shane Van Gisbergen out of the way to take the win.
Buescher, who missed the NASCAR playoffs, played spoiler as multiple playoff drivers suffered problems in the Watkins Glen race. Just two of the top 10 finishers were playoff drivers.
"We came here to be spoiler, we're gonna do that," Buescher said after the win. "We would have liked to have won a couple weeks ago but this is huge."
Van Gisbergen led on the final lap and seemed to have the edge over Buescher until he made a mistake midway through the course. Buescher pounced on the opportunity and bumped Van Gisbergen out of the way to take the lead. Van Gisbergen attempted to take the lead back but failed to reach Buescher's bumper.
"I knew Chris was going to send it and push me if he could get there," Van Gisbergen said. "I'm gutted."
Carson Hocevar, Ross Chastain, and Zane Smith rounded out the top five. Chase Briscoe in sixth and Austin Cindric in 10th were the only two playoff drivers to finish in the top 10.
William Byron took flight after contact with Joey Logano during a restart with seven laps to go. Byron's right front tire got stuck to the top of Brad Keselowski's car, badly damaging both cars.
That caution forced another shortlived restart that resulted in another caution when Tyler Reddick crashed with Kyle Busch.
Ross Chastain started on the pole and led most of the first two stages before strategy shuffled him to the back of the field.
The field did not make it through one green flag lap before the first caution flag was waved. Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Ryan Preece all suffered damage in a crash on the first lap. Blaney's damage ended his race and relegated him to a last-place finish.
Martin Truex Jr. won the first stage, gaining 10 valuable stage points as he hopes to advance to the next round of the playoffs. Truex was bumped back to 20th after a crash on a late restart and sits in a big hole heading into the final race before the playoff grid shrinks to 12 drivers.
Hamlin, Keselowski, Truex, and Harrison Burton enter the final race in the Round of 16 behind the 12th-place cutline.
Briscoe and Ty Gibbs are each six points ahead of Hamlin. Nine of the other playoff drivers are over 20 points to the good while Logano is locked in with last week's win at Atlanta.