(Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)
LOUDON, N.H. — Midway through the 2023 season, Chris Buescher is as consistent as ever.
The 30-year-old Prosper, Texas native is quietly and methodically plotting his way into the mix and up the standings. With seven races remaining in the regular season, Buescher stands 11th in points with eight top-10 finishes. He’s recorded just one DNF and has finished worse than 21st just three times.
“I’m really proud of RFK [Racing],” Buescher said at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday. “It’s not one thing. It’s a very large combination of everybody really working to the best of their abilities and finding speed everywhere. We’ve had speed at all kinds of different racetracks. That’s a high point that we don’t talk about RFK as just a superspeedway organization anymore or just a mile-and-a-half organization. We’ve been very universal this year.”
Buescher, who has been with the organization for the entirety of his national series career, has seen a general performance increase. His average finish (13.9) is four spots better than last year and he’s on pace to finish five spots better in points than 2016, when he won his way into the playoffs with a rain-shortened victory at Pocono Raceway.
Among drivers without a win, Buescher is second in points to Kevin Harvick. He’s ahead of teammate and owner Brad Keselowski, who is also winless, by two points.
While Buescher is currently safely in the playoffs, he said that his mentality is to pursue wins and not think as much about points.
“We go to the racetrack every week to win. It’s why we’re here. It’s why we’re competitors,” Buescher said. “But with the playoffs, it’s just become more of the buzz. I mean, we’re talking about it after Daytona [in February] … we want to come to the racetrack and just go try and win race just like you were growing up. You went to that racetrack to win that night.
“Ultimately, points come with wins, and they come with consistency. But consistency is a matter of doing your best to win that race every week, and then if you fall a little bit short, then points come with that.”
(Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
Buescher butchered his qualifying run at Loudon and will start Monday’s Crayon 301 from toward the back in 26th. However, on average, he’s finishing races a spot ahead of where he’s starting.
Buescher admitted that flatter tracks like New Hampshire and Phoenix Raceway have been an Achilles heel for him over his career. While he didn’t participate in the spring Goodyear tire test, he watched as Keselowski completed the test for RFK.
All things considered, he’s satisfied with the piece that he’ll race in Loudon.
“Pretty happy with our racecar. I was able to get some good long run speed out of it,” he said. “[The tire] seemed like in the test it was pretty linear to last year, it just fires off faster [and] falls off pretty similar. I don’t think that will be a big change.
“I got some work to do … but the car was really good in practice.”
Rain has led to the postponement of the race until 12 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Christopher Bell is on the pole.
