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Chris Buescher will be missing the practice session for the Daytona 500 and flying back to North Carolina to be with his family as his wife gave birth to their second child.
A team statement released by RFK revealed that Chris Buescher will miss the practice sessions on Friday and Saturday but will join back for the main race on Sunday at Daytona. David Ragan will replace him to run "limited laps" in the number 17 Fastenal Ford on Friday for the practice session.
"Chris Buescher has returned home to North Carolina to be with his wife, Emma, and daughter Charley, for the birth of their second child. He will return Sunday morning ahead of the Daytona 500," the statement read.
"In the meantime, David Ragan will run limited laps in the No. 17 Fastenal Ford on Friday, in addition to practicing the No. 60 BuildSubmarines.com Ford."
Buescher, who finished the Duel 1 at Daytona in 10th place, is set to start the race in 19th place. This will be his ninth Daytona 500 race since his debut in 2016.
Chris Buescher 'confident' heading into 2024 Daytona 500
While Buescher has come close to winning the Daytona 500 in the past, he has not yet managed to finish at the front. He came closest in 2020 when he finished in third place. He finished in fourth place last year.
Heading into the 2024 edition, Chris Buescher revealed that he is rather confident of winning the Great American Race because he believes the team has a chance to win. He was quoted as saying by Speedway Digest:
"I don't know what the feeling is on it from anyone else I guess, but for us, I know we're going to have a chance to win this thing. There's not a doubt in my mind. With all three of our cars."
"So in that case, I'm confident that we will be able to do that, we'll be able to contend. There's a luck factor when you come to these races. You gotta be able to survive some of the things that are outside of your doing and make every one of these things, there's always that accident that happens somewhere near you that you just narrowly get through."
While Buescher is set to start the race in 19th place, his teammate Brad Keselowski in the Number 6 Ford will be starting three spots ahead of him in 16th place. The Daytona 500 is scheduled for the 18th of February at 2:30 pm local time.
