Chris Buescher Deserves Extra Attention at Road Courses

There are several drivers that become favorites heading toward the various road courses on NASCAR‘s schedule. It’s about time to put RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher on this list.

The driver of the No. 17 Ford Mustang has been solid at road courses throughout his career, especially so during the first two years of the Next Gen era. For example, he finished top 10 in five of the six road course races in 2022, which includes a runner-up at Sonoma Raceway.

Buescher has continued this production during the 2023 season. He finished eighth in the return to Circuit of the Americas and then fourth during the most recent trip to Sonoma Raceway.

“Our group’s done a really nice job at road races throughout the year last year,” Buescher told media members at the California track. “COTA was kind of our exception to our good speed last season and we were much better there this go around. I don’t think we need to rehash all the Turn 1 chaos that we get there and then what happens from it.

“But nothing leads me to believe that we won’t be very competitive here. We’ve been very good at every road course we’ve been to. We’ve been a top-10 [car] about every time we’d go somewhere and that’s including, of course, where we were on fire for three laps.”

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The Fire Occurred During the 2022 Season

The “fire” incident that Buescher referenced took place during the 2022 season. His No. 17 RFK Racing Ford Mustang was actually one of the two vehicles that caught on fire during a trip to Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano had a blaze erupt in the No. 22 Ford after he crossed the finish line. He delivered a sixth-place finish and then immediately climbed out of the car.

Buescher had to make an unscheduled pit stop during Stage 1 of the road course race. The reason was that his car was on fire. His team was able to extinguish the blaze, but they had to continue working on the car while Buescher sat inside.

The NASCAR veteran fell two laps down, which knocked him outside of the top 30 for much of the race. However, he got back on the lead lap with fewer than 20 laps remaining, which set him up to make several moves.

Buescher took advantage of several chaotic restarts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He avoided the carnage in Turn 1, and he put himself in 10th place before crossing the finish line.

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There Were Early Signs of Success for Buescher

The Next Gen era has provided Buescher with numerous opportunities to achieve success on the various road courses, and he has taken advantage while scoring some crucial points. Though there were some early signs that he would become a contender.

The Texas native wasn’t as consistent at road courses during his first two seasons with RFK Racing — then Roush Fenway Racing — but he still delivered some solid performances.

Examples include the 2020 Daytona Road Course race where he finished fifth overall and the 2021 Charlotte Roval race where he finished third. The Daytona Road Course race, in particular, marked the first time in his Cup Series career that he had delivered a top-10 finish on a road course.

Buescher remains winless in Cup Series road course races, but he has a career average finish of 14.4. This is the best of his career ahead of 15.7 on dirt tracks and 20.4 on intermediate tracks.

Along with the Cup Series success, Buescher also delivered standout results on road courses during his Xfinity Series career. He won the 2014 race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and he posted top-10 finishes in four of his six career road course starts.

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