Chris Buescher’s motivational resolves are twofold going into Sunday’s (2:30 p.m.) running of the USA Today 301 NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Buescher’s first incentive is institutional. Buescher is the operator of the No. 17 Fastenal Dark Horse Ford Mustang for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.
Boston Red Sox principal owner John Henry bought a 50 percent stake in Roush Racing in 2007 and the organization was rebranded Roush Fenway Racing under the umbrella of the Fenway Sports Group.
Brad Keselowski added his name to the masthead in 2022 when he took on an equity stake in the franchise and took over the No. 6 Dark Horse Ford Mustang. Henry is always interested in how his crews perform at New Hampshire and Keselowski has won there twice.
“Loudon is that way from the whole Fenway side, we have a ton of people coming out from that side of the organization for the race,” said Buescher. “It pains me to say it but this has not been my best track through the years because I am fully aware of what it means to everybody.”
The second incentive is getting right with New Hampshire. Buescher will be making his 11th Cup Series start on the Magic Mile under the banners of Front Row Motorsports (2), JTG Daugherty (4) and the last four with RFK Racing. He has posted an average finish of 22.6 and tied his best with a 15th-place showing last July.
“We want to be better and the last two years were certainly on the right track towards running for a win there and that is promising,” said Buescher. “Our program has picked up everywhere and that certainly helps our Loudon chances.”
Even when he was driving Cup Series races with Front Row and JTG Daugherty, Buescher never cut his ties with Roush Fenway. Buescher was still associated the RFK outfit when the team parted ways with driver Ricky Stenhouse after the 2019 season. Buescher made his Cup Series return to RFK for the pandemic-interrupted 2020 campaign.
Buescher was an ambitious 16-year-old from Prosper, Texas, when he joined Roush Fenway as a developmental driver in 2009. Buescher found the workload strenuous and the track conditions demanding but he made it work to his advantage. Buescher earned his bones as a driver on the junior level by winning the 2012 ARCA Menards Series Championship in partnership with Roulo Brothers Racing.
Buescher advanced up the developmental ladder when he began competing on the Xfinity tour with RFK. He competed in 74 Xfinity races over five seasons and made steady improvements along the way. Buescher brought home Hall of Fame owner Jack Roush’s eighth NASCAR championship by capturing the Xfinity title in 2015.
“I have been extremely blessed to be a part of RFK for a very long time and Jack Raush took a very big chance on me,” said Buescher. “I honestly didn’t really have the credentials to be there but I made some sacrifices, moving from Texas to North Carolina.
“I was willing to work down in the pit practice area, work on race cars and do everything I could trying to get a shot. I went to some speaking courses and got some knowledge on how to find your way on this sport. But obviously you’ve got to win races and be competitive coming up and we did that along the way with a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work.”
Buescher’s Cup Series career got a huge boost when he was paired with crew chief Scott Graves, whom he had worked with in Xfinity races.
Buescher and Graves enjoyed their breakout season in 2023 with three wins, nine top-5 finishes, 17 in the top 10 and had 255 laps led. Buescher competed in the Cup Series playoffs for the second straight year and finished seventh overall.
Buescher is currently 13th in the driver standings with 435 points. That includes three top-5 finishes and seven in the top 10. The run includes second-place finishes at Phoenix and Kansas and a third on the road course at Sonoma. Buescher would like nothing more than to punch his ticket to the playoffs with a win at NHMS.
“It has not been my best track and it has not been due to lack of effort,” said Buescher. “I want it to be a good track for us and Brad has been very strong at Loudon and that insight has helped me be better on that course as well. This can certainly be the one to turn it around.”
