DARLINGTON, S.C.: Coming into the Cook Out Southern 500, Chris Buescher was 21 points above the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff cutline with 367 laps to go at Darlington Raceway in order to secure his place in the Championship 16.
Unfortunately for the Ford Performance driver, it wasn’t the points that he needed to accomplish that goal.
Starting in the 10th position, the RFK Racing driver fought a tight Ford Mustang Dark Horse throughout the first stage.
Making adjustments throughout the stage, the Prosper, Texas native would drop below the top 10 in the running order to 12th place.
After a late-stage scuffle with Carson Hocevar and passing his boss, Brad Keselowski, on the last lap of the stage, Buescher would finish in 10th position gaining a valuable playoff point and remaining three points to the good in the Playoff cutline.
Communicating with the team that his No.17 BuildSubmarines.com fired off tight but feeling that there is going to be a big balance shift with the sun going down, Buescher pits for a new set of Goodyear tires, fuel and a slight adjustment.
Returning to the track at The Lady in Black in ninth place for the start of Stage 2, Buescher continued to fight a tight-handling car.
Despite the slight adjustments that the team continued to make and finishing in the 13th position in the second stage, Buescher finally told the team to “Leave the adjustments and let’s see how this next stage happens.”
With the start of the final stage of the final race of the regular season, Buescher would start in 14th place.
Continuing to fight an ill-handling Ford Mustang and battling hiccups on pit road, Buescher struggled to remain in a position to move forward.
Adding to his struggles, on Lap 323, Todd Gilliland’s No.38 car moved him up the track and into the wall, bringing him back to pit road for a new set of tires, fuel, and an adjustment.
Several more cautions, including the “Big One” on Lap 345, would seem to continue to plague Buescher, but on the final restart of the race, he got to restart in the fifth position, giving the team hope of making it into the playoffs.
Finishing in sixth place would have gotten him into the playoffs, but with a new winner in Chase Briscoe, it relegated Buescher to 17th overall and one spot outside of the Championship 16.
“We just didn’t quite get it done again and we’re on the outside looking in,” said Buescher after the race. “It’s just the system we’re all playing in.
“We had such a great year. Everyone at RFK has worked so hard. We’ve been so fast. We’ve outrun so many of these cars that are gonna get to run for a championship, but that’s the system and we didn’t work it right.”
Clearly disappointed after the race, Buescher stated, “It’s frustration and disbelief all together.”
Looking forward to the final 10 races of the year, Buescher would lament, ” It’s another great finish here at Darlington, but just not enough with another new winner and, yeah, just crazy.
“I’m definitely gonna think back on different times throughout the year and we’ll figure out how to do better next time.”
Next up for Chris Buescher will be the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 8, 2024, at 3:00 pm E.T.
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