By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
Chris Buescher has had a whirlwind 2025 season as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Michigan International Speedway for its 15th stop of the campaign.
There’s a sense of added pressure this weekend as Michigan is a home race in more ways than one. It’s the homebase of Ford and RFK Racing co-owners Jack Roush and Brad Keselowski.
Still winless and fighting for a playoff spot, Buescher hopes Sunday’s Firekeepers Casino 400 (2 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime), that’s expected to be fairly warm, sees him taking the checkered flag as not only it’ll be his second at the sport’s only two-mile oval, but an overall morale booster for the organization.
Knowing what’s at stake and having participated at a tire test, Buescher is excited for what’s in store as a lot of people from Ford and Roush Performance expected to attend.
“It’s a big deal. It really is, so I’m excited to get back up there,” said Buescher. “We got to do the tire test there a couple months ago, so I felt like that went really strong for us and I’m ready to get on track. It’s gonna be really fast to fire off with the weather looking like it’s gonna be in the seventies.”
Throughout the season, all three RFK drivers endured highs and lows with Buescher being no different. At one point, a 60-point L1 penalty due to a violation of the front bumper cover at Kansas set him back outside the top-20 in points where a win became super vital for the No. 17 organization.
However, RFK Racing appealed the penalty, and it was reduced to a 30-point deduction. Therefore, Buescher was back in a better position as far as the playoff standings in the second half of the regular season.
With 12 races left, Buescher sits 15th in the playoff bracket, only eight points above the cutoff line as he’s the only driver from RFK that’s currently in the playoffs.
Buescher’s teammate Preece is two points outside the cutoff line, currently held by Kyle Busch. Further back in 32nd is Keselowski, a whopping 97 points below the cutline.
Despite being back in the top-16, points is rather irrelevant in Buescher’s eyes. The mindset for him and the No. 17 squad is they’re in a must-win situation.
They have their work cut out as Buescher explained they’d like to go back to its winning from 2023 that included a win at Michigan.
“You have to win races,” said Buescher. “There’s been a couple of times where we’ve been right there in a good spot or been right there in that window and just get a surprise winner or two to close the regular season, or we got caught up in an accident in Darlington the other year and you can’t depend on points to get you in the playoffs when it’s as tight as it is every week.
“For us, I think that’s been our mindset, which means that ultimately wherever we bounce around that line we’ll be aware of it, but it’s a matter of figuring out how to go win races and we haven’t done that yet,” Buescher continued.
“We’ve not been quite good enough and we’re working on trying to clean up some of the detail work and study a little harder and be better from my end behind the wheel and make it to where we basically lock ourselves in on that side of it and don’t have to have any of that thought in the back of our heads.
“But I certainly don’t want it to be what we’re sitting here thinking of how can we get two points here, three points there and try and just feel like we can skate our way in. It doesn’t work. Ultimately, you can’t count on that when it comes down to the end,” Buescher concluded.
Be the first to comment