NASCAR star Chris Buescher grateful for Cody Ware’s safe health after staggering Chicago crash

Chris Buescher was glad Cody Ware walked out of the scary crash on the streets of Chicago last week. He was the driver trailing Ware when the incident happened and said his fellow NASCAR Cup Series driver did everything right.

On lap 74 of 75 in the Chicago street race, Buescher was running in 19th place when he saw the #51 Ford of Ware blow a brake rotor before riding the wall to slow down ahead of turn six. His #17 RFK Racing Ford collected some of the debris before settling with an 18th-place finish.

In a post-qualifying interview at Sonoma Raceway, Chris Buescher expressed support for the 29-year-old, as the latter shared a positive update on his health.

“I'd seen him blow a rotor. I'd seen the parts scattered. As soon as it happened, I was right there. It's a massive hit. So, really glad Cody is okay,” he stated (via Frontstretch on X). [5:49 onwards]

Buescher also applauded Ware for riding the wall instead of saving the car, which he believes was counterintuitive as a driver.

“I know he's sore, but massive hit. I did tell him, I said, ‘I commend you for turning it right.’ Because that is the hardest thing to commit yourself as a driver to have a failure, to turn into the wall and knock speed out. Instinct is to turn away and say, ‘I'm going to save this. I'm going to get there,’” the Ford pilot said.

“He did everything right that he could do in that moment,” he added.

Cody Ware is back in action for this week's race at Sonoma Raceway. However, he only managed a 36th-place start after the qualifying session. Chris Buescher, meanwhile, will start 14th, ahead of his RFK Racing teammates, Ryan Preece (20th) and Brad Keselowski (21st).

NASCAR will kick off the Toyota/Save Mart 350 on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. With an 18th-place finish in Chicago last week, Buescher lost to Zane Smith in the second round of the In-Season Challenge.

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“I don't have a good answer for you”: Chris Buescher on why he performs well at Sonoma

Chris Buescher was asked about his thoughts on why he has had good finishes at Sonoma Raceway. The 32-year-old didn't have an answer for the question, though he commended RFK Racing for bringing competent cars on road courses.

In the same post-qualifying interview, the Ford driver said:

“I don't have a good answer for you because my first time or two here, I was fighting for crazy like 34th.” [1:32 onwards]

“I'll say RFK brings really fast racecars when we go road racing in general,” he added.

Chris Buescher driving the #17 Ford Mustang at Sonoma Raceway - Source: Getty

Buescher, who joined RFK Racing in 2020, had scored three consecutive top-five finishes in the last three races on the 1.99-mile Californian track. His most recent finish was a third place last year, where he led for 32 of 110 laps, but Kyle Larson had the last laugh and took the checkered flag.