Chris Buescher entered the 2023 NASCAR Cup playoffs as one of the hottest drivers in the series but his path to a championship has now become a desperate one.
Buescher won three of the five final races in the regular season but his journey since the start of the playoffs has been a rough ride. His best finish was third in the opening race at Darlington but he’s finished 11th or worse in four of the last five races, including 21st Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “Yeah, that was a brutal day. We worked hard on this and got it better.
“We finally got back on the lead lap with 30 to go but we had a fairly large tire deficit, and we were still able to run up on the last few guys that had pitted for tires,” he said. “So, I knew we were improving, we just didn’t get to show it. We needed a caution with 20 to go and we would have been in a lot better shape.” The disappointing finish left Buescher last in points among the six remaining playoff drivers vying for two remaining spots in the Championship 4.