Chris Buescher (17) racing Ryan Blaney (12) during the All-Star Race on Sunday night. (Photo: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — After back-to-back heartbreaking losses for Chris Buescher at Kansas and Darlington, a nice solid finish was much needed for the No. 17 team.
After a rainy weekend that canceled the heat races that set the lineup, Buescher lined up fifth on the grid. The lineup was then set by the All-Star qualifying/Pit Crew Challenge session that took place on Saturday morning.
The track position paid dividends for Buescher, as it was once again hard to pass throughout the race, allowing Buescher to stay up front and have a good pace to finish in third place.
“I’m really proud of our team,” Buescher said post-race. “Friday wasn’t very good to be straight up about it and they worked really hard and pulled some strings, hit some buttons and got us a whole lot better for tonight, so I was proud of that to bring our Fastenal Mustang home third.”
NASCAR and Goodyear experimented with a new tire compound this weekend to go along with the normal tire, giving the teams the option between the two. The new “option” tires had red Goodyear lettering and were meant to be softer and not last as long.
Buescher however ran the entire 200 lap event on the “option” tires.
“We stayed on reds all night, so that worked out pretty good for us,” said Buescher.
During the first 100 laps of the race, Buescher made it up to second and was running there when the halfway caution break came out. In the second half of the race, Buescher lost a few positions but was able to get back up to finish in third.
Chris Buescher racing during the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. (Photo: Ricky Martinez | The Podium Finish)
Joey Logano dominated the race, leading 199 of the 200 laps, the most ever by a driver in the history of the All-Star Race. Despite that, Buescher believed he had a car capable of winning.
“I felt like we had a decent shot at it there, Buescher said post-race. “I was able to pace the 22 (Joey Logano) pretty good, but there at the end just took too long to get around the 5 (Kyle Larson) car and really didn’t have sight of the leaders at that point.”
Buescher also saw the evening’s result as a great momentum builder for the team heading into the Coke 600 this upcoming weekend, the longest race of the season.
“I’m pumped. Momentum is just a product of running good and being on our game and our team has done a fantastic job, Buescher said. “Again, I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Along with the momentum, the excitement for Buescher to get to Charlotte was high.
“I’m pumped for it,” said Buescher. “That’s a track that was really good for us last year. We led laps and got a stage win at a time of the year where we hadn’t hit our stride, so that speaks volumes for us going into it.”
“Tonight, I wanted two more (positions), but this is a heck of a way to lead us right into the 600 next weekend.”
