Chris Buescher is hopeful that Sunday’s Fire Keepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway can produce some Michigan magic, just like it did for the No. 17 Ford Mustang Dark Horse team in August 2023.
The Prosper, Texas-native has done it before, winning in the series’ annual trip to the two-mile speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan just two seasons ago. That victory wasn’t just a one-off, though, but was the second race in a sequence of back-to-back wins, and three wins over the course of five races (Richmond, Michigan, and Daytona).
It was a significant victory for the RFK Racing team in ‘The Motor City’, with the state of Michigan being so important to the organization, the Ford Motor Company, and team co-owners Jack Roush and Brad Keselowski.
So, returning to Michigan International Speedway comes with some additional pressure, as Buescher disclosed while speaking to the media on Wednesday.
“There’s a little added pressure behind everything heading into everybody’s home track. Fortunately, we’ve got a third car and it’s not Preece’s home track, so at least there are two of us this year, but it’s a big one as we head up there,” said Buescher. “We have a lot going on. We’ll get to see a lot of the Ford family and get to see a lot of Jack [Roush] and the Roush automotive family that will come out to the racetrack and be a part of the weekend.”
“It’s a big deal. It really is, so I’m excited to get back up there. We got to do the tire test there a couple of months ago, so I felt like that went really strong for us, and I’m ready to get on track. It’s gonna be really fast to fire off with the weather looking like it’s gonna be in the seventies.”
Coming into Michigan, Buescher sits 14th-place in NASCAR Cup Series point standings, sitting above the cutline with an eight-point advantage over the bubble driver, which in this case is RFK Racing driver Ryan Preece.
It’s a position that Buescher and the No. 17 RFK Racing team have been in before, specifically last year, where the battle for the final spot in the 16-driver postseason came down to the regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway. Despite not being in a literal must-win situation, Buescher recognizes that a win is almost always necessary to get into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
“I think that, for us, we’ve been able to recognize that it’s always a must-win situation. From the beginning of the year, you have to win races. There’s been a couple of times where we’ve been right there in a good spot or been right there in that window and just get a surprise winner or two to close the regular season, or we got caught up in an accident in Darlington the other year and you can’t depend on points to get you in the playoffs when it’s as tight as it is every week. For us, I think that’s been our mindset, which means that ultimately wherever we bounce around that line we’ll be aware of it, but it’s a matter of figuring out how to go win races, and we haven’t done that yet.”
Throughout the opening 14 events of the season, Chris Buescher has had a solid campaign, collecting a single top-five result, a fifth at Phoenix, and six top-10 finishes. However, the team has yet to be in serious contention to secure a victory, so another step is needed.
“We’ve not been quite good enough and we’re working on trying to clean up some of the detail work and study a little harder and be better from my end behind the wheel and make it to where we basically lock ourselves in on that side of it and don’t have to have any of that thought in the back of our heads. But I certainly don’t want it to be what we’re sitting here thinking of, how can we get two points here, three points there, and try and just feel like we can skate our way in. It doesn’t work. Ultimately, you can’t count on that when it comes down to the end.”
Buescher will tackle Michigan International Raceway in the Fire Keepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Coverage of the event will be on Prime Video at 2:00 PM ET and Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
