FORT WORTH, Texas — At long last, Chris Buescher got a great result at his home track.
The Prosper, Texas native (with a population of 46,087) took home a fifth-place finish in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday (May 3).
“It does [feel good],” Buescher said.
“We’ve run really well here, and we’ve talked about it a lot this week. We’ve run where we just finished. We haven’t been able to put it together for a host of reasons, whether it’s been my decisions, bad luck, you know, random issues, and that wasn’t the case today.”
Buescher was the best finisher out of the three Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing drivers. All three cars were at or near the front for most of the event. For Buescher in particular, it continues the already strong start to the season he has had.
His Daytona 500 ended with a seventh-place run after the chaotic final lap, and since then, he only has one finish worse than 19th. The front of the field is looking more and more like the rightful place for the No. 17 team.
With that consistency, though, comes increased expectations, which starts with the driver laying out the goal.
“It doesn’t change the fact that we’re not holding a trophy right now,” Buescher said.
“That’s ultimately what we want to do. You hate to lose and, you know, while this is progress and has put us in really good spots, a lot this season, that’s great, it’s great, and I’m really proud of everybody for what we’ve been able to accomplish, but it’s gonna take a little bit more to get to the point where you’re burning down the frontstretch and then you’re happy with that kind of top five, so you know they matter, and the point side thing is always gonna matter.”
It’s a notable sign that the team is now consistently looking to win. Buescher and his teammates believe they can not only contend for the win each week, but potentially contend for the championship if they keep improving.
We all remember Matt Kenseth sixth-placing his way to the 2003 championship, and while that is not nearly as possible in the new Chase format, consistency is still key. Winning is more key, however, and you have to believe you can win to have any shot at winning. The mental side of the game is at least 90%, and Buescher firmly believes he is up to the task.
“We will make the Chase, and I have no doubt about that,” Buescher said.
“It’s how do we set ourselves up to be a contender to race for a championship?”
Kevin Nix has been with Frontstretch since February 2023. Hailing from Gilbert, Arizona, his dream is to be in the NASCAR media sphere full-time. He is a video assistant, working on the back end to streamline video and audio quality of all at-track interviews. Nix also writes about news every Monday for the site.
Nix graduated with a Master's Degree in Sports Journalism from ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix, Arizona. He also has bachelor's degrees in Communications and Political Science. In his downtime, he likes to read, play video games and take walks in the Arizona weather - when it's not too hot.