Chris Buescher walking to pit road before qualifying at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo: Landen Ciardullo | The Podium Finish)
AVONDALE, Ariz. — The start of the 2024 season for Chris Buescher has been relatively quiet, as the No. 17 team has not been able to find the speed that won three races a season ago. Through the first three races of the season, Buescher only led three laps and had a best finish of ninth, which came at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Coming off the heels of a last-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Buescher entered the Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway looking to get his season kickstarted with a good run.
Buescher was able to qualify in the 14th position on Saturday, good enough to be the fourth-highest starting Ford in the field.
Once the race went green, Buescher was immediately under pressure being in the middle of the pack, losing one position on the first lap and falling back to 15th. On Lap 7, the first caution of the race came out for Derek Kraus, who got loose and spun out, leaving Austin Dillon and Austin Cindric with nowhere to go. Both drivers collided with Kraus and received heavy damage. At the time of the caution, Buescher had continued to fall back a few positions and was battling with Ross Chastain for the 17th position.
Buescher used the caution to go down pit road on Lap 9, changing all four tires and adding fuel.
The race restarted on Lap 13 with Buescher deep in the field outside the top-25 after choosing to pit. The remainder of Stage 1 went green, allowing Buescher to use his nine-lap fresher tires to drive back through the field, making it back up to the 17th position when the green-and-white checkered flag waved on Lap 61, ending Stage 1. Buescher and every other car on the lead lap came down pit road under yellow for fresh tires and fuel before the start of Stage 2.
Stage 2 began on Lap 70 with Buescher restarting in the bottom lane in the 14th position. Once again, Buescher lost a few spots later that lap, as after being passed by Daniel Suarez, Buescher found himself in the middle between both Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain, losing the position to both drivers. The race stayed green and Buescher made a green flag stop on Lap 117 along with nine other drivers, including Ty Gibbs, who had a 17-second pit stop, which cost him a few positions as he continued to fall back after leading the first 57 laps of the race.
Following the pit stop, the race continued green, allowing for a long run that brought some life to the No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Buescher was able to climb through the field to finish 10th in Stage 2.
On Lap 189, all of the lead-lap cars came into the pits under caution and the third and final stage went green on Lap 195 with Buescher in 12th.
Chris Buescher’s car being pushed to the grid for Sunday’s race. (Photo: Landen Ciardullo | The Podium Finish)
After a quick caution on Lap 198 for Kyle Busch spinning out, the green flag waved once again on Lap 202. Two laps later, Buescher had a close call as Chastain got into the outside wall right ahead of him and while checking up, lost three positions, falling back to 15th.
On Lap 205, Joey Logano got turned around after contact with John Hunter Nemechek and collected Corey Lajoie, Josh Berry, Zane Smith and Derek Kraus. Then on Lap 216, Denny Hamlin got loose while battling Tyler Reddick for the lead and went up the track into Reddick, before spinning out across the track, bringing out another yellow flag.
These quick cautions at the start of Stage 3 allowed for differing strategies to take place. On Lap 218, Buescher stayed out along with eight others while the rest of the lead lap cars went down pit road under caution. Staying out resulted in Buescher restarting in fourth when the race went back green on Lap 221.
Buescher quickly lost one position to Ross Chastain, but he held the fifth position until Martin Truex Jr. pitted from the lead on Lap 271, moving Buescher up to fourth. Buescher used the final 40 laps of the race to continue gaining positions, getting back around Chastain for third and then Gibbs, to eventually finish in second place as Christopher Bell cruised to victory.
“I was really impressed with our Ford Mustang today. That was awesome,” Buescher said after the race, “A heck of a comeback after a rough go the last couple of weeks. We had really fast race cars and I am proud to be able to do that today.”
As the race progressed, Buescher and his No. 17 team made gains, going from running outside the top-15 early to finishing runner-up and earning the team’s first top-five finish of the season.
“What thrills me is we were by no means perfect on balance, so we have a lot of room to make this thing better which is awesome. It tells me we can go compete for that thing,” Buescher added. “That was almost a win today.”
Today’s result catapulted Buescher up seven spots to 16th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings as the series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500 on Sunday, March 17.
