Buescher earns provisional spot in the Chase with top five finish

It’s likely no coincidence Buescher’s two best finishes in his Sprint Cup Series rookie season have come when he needed them most.

Buescher’s Cup victory came with a little luck, but it was a strong performance from start to finish in Sunday’s rain-delayed Bass Pro Shops/NRA 500 that provided his Front Row Motorsports team a fifth-place finish.

“That was a lot of fun. It’s been a long time since we’ve come to the race track and enjoy it like that,” Buescher said. “We had awesome speed out of our (car). I’m really proud of the team.

“This thing was good from the start of the weekend. We kept working our way up towards the end and got to the top-five, and almost got one there at the end, but I love Bristol. I absolutely love this race track.”

“I know we had to get there."

Asked how it felt to finally break into the Top 30 over points, which will allow him to use his victory to make the Chase field, Buescher said:

“I know we had to get there. That’s Chase eligibility in one race out of the four we had to do it.  Now, we have to hold onto it. I’m really proud of this team.

“We’re looking forward to the next handful of races. We’ve got some really good tracks for us coming up. We knew Bristol would be a good one for us. It took us a day later to do it, but we got ourselves a top-five and had a blast out here. That was an awesome run.”

Fast all weekend

The strength of Buescher’s run Sunday could well signal his No. 34 Ford team plans to do much more than simply take up a spot in the 16-driver Chase field.

His 12th place qualifying effort on Friday was the first time a Front Row team had advanced to the final round of a three-round qualifying session.

“It was a pretty big day for us. We’ve had really strong days at the track. We’ve had a lot of bad luck. Obviously at Pocono we had some really good luck,” he said. “It’s been a roller coaster ride of a season, and because of that, we’re having a talk about racing for that top-30 place in points. 

“I know everybody can say the same thing. Everybody can pick out a handful of races and say if it weren't for those, they'd be in a lot different situation, and I guess I’m focused on what ours were.”