FONTANA, Calif. – “I’m ecstatic.”
Those were the words from Chris Buescher immediately following his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut Sunday at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway with Front Row Motorsports.
And for all intents and purposes, Buescher had every right to feel that way after wrestling a top-20 lead lap finish in the Auto Club 400.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Buescher. “I can’t thank Front Row Motorsports enough to give me this opportunity and for Roush Fenway Racing to allow me to go do it. “To be able to help another Ford Performance team out, this was a blast. It’s the kind of race track I wanted to make my Cup debut at – some place that the pace falls off, the tires wear down and you’re able to really hustle it and race late into a run and this was just that.
“We went through a lot of changes today, a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of confusion too on my side just trying to keep up with where we were at with the lucky dog and with wave rounds. Green flag stops, everything moved so fast and I really had no clue where we were gonna finish coming to the checkered. I didn’t know where we were at, I just knew I had to beat a couple guys around us and tried everything we could.”
After Brian Vickers suffered an unexpected blood clot Friday morning, Brett Moffitt who had been tapped to drive the No. 34 Ford Fusion this weekend had to take Vickers’s place, leaving an open seat in the FRM’s third entry.
With permission from Roush Fenway Racing, XFINITY Series regular Chris Buescher was given the opportunity to take the reins of the team’s No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford.
While many didn’t know what to expect from the former ARCA Racing Series champion, Buescher shined and exceeded expectations of those around him.
Qualifying 33rd on Friday afternoon, found Buescher mired deep in the field for the start, but through strategy, relentless driving and good adjustments, the Prosper, Texas native made his charge during the second-half of the Auto Club 400.
Running as high as 17th when the sixth caution flag of the day fell, Buescher slipped to 20th when the checkered flag flew. It was the second-best finish of the season for Front Row Motorsports’ No. 34 team since regular driver David Ragan finished 17th in the Daytona 500.
Buescher didn’t shy away from the biggest strides he made in his Cup debut.
“A lot of it has been trying to get used to the amount of downforce and grip in the Cup car versus the XFINITY car,” Buescher added. “That’s something that took me a lot of the race to figure out. Restarts were tough because I didn’t realize how far you could push it, how hard you could really drive the car.
“After we figured that out, our restarts got better the last half. It’s always those little things and I don’t know if this is my last Cup start for the year or if we’ve got a couple on the way, but, regardless, this is a lot of information to jot down in a notebook and remember for my next Cup start.”
As for when Buescher’s next Cup start is? That remains to be seen, but Buescher’s drive on Sunday makes him a plausible candidate.
“Honestly, this (California) is all we’ve talked about to this point,” Buescher said. “We’ll just have to wait and see. I’m sure we’ll get back to the shop in Charlotte on Monday and start going through it, but at the moment this is a one-race deal, but I wouldn’t mind doing more, that’s for sure.”
And what may be even more impressive from Buescher’s outing on Sunday. For most of the day, Buescher outran his Roush Fenway Racing teammates. While Stenhouse took advantage in the late array of cautions, Buescher finished ahead of Biffle and Bayne thus proving that RFR still has a long ways to go.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
