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RFK Racing driver Chris Buescher entered the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs as one of the favorites to reach the final four race, but his chances are now not looking good.
In the postseason, Buescher scored only two top-five finishes, including a best finish of P3 at the opening playoff race at Darlington Raceway. His form appeared to be declining in four of the last five races. He secured a P21 finish at the recently concluded race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Speaking to the media after the race, Buescher admitted that he had a brutal outing at Homestead. Reflecting on his 21st-place finish, he said:
“Yeah, that was a brutal day. We worked hard on this Fastenal Mustang and got it better. We started off the race really tight and went a lap down and didn’t have any opportunities to get that back,” as quoted by NBC Sports.
He continued:
“The cautions didn’t fall at the right time for us and about the time they would start the green flag cycles something would happen. We couldn’t quite catch the break we needed. We did find some good speed and I feel like on equal tires there at the end we would have been able to move up quite a bit. It just wasn’t the case.”
“Yeah, it is a must-win” – Chris Buescher on Martinsville race
Heading into next week’s elimination race at Martinsville Speedway, the #17 RFK Racing Ford sits last in the playoff standings among six remaining drivers, 42 points below the cut-off line to reach the season finale race at Phoenix Raceway. Only a win at Martinsville can save his title hopes.
Speaking about the do-or-die Martinsville race, Buescher said:
“Yeah, it is a must-win. There is no other way around that one now. For us, I feel like we have brought really fast race cars to a lot of these tracks. “We obviously needed some tweaks (Sunday) and we did a good job during the race,” as quoted by motorsport.com.
Chris Buescher returns to the short track this weekend, where he has performed well this season as his one of the three wins came at Richmond Raceway.
Buscher added:
“Another short track (coming up) and we have been good at them this year, so we need to go make that one trophy for us.”
Catch Chris Buescher in action at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, October 29.
