NXS: Chris Buescher Rebounds for Top-10 Finish

Following contact with the wall on the first lap of the race, Chris Buescher fought back throughout the second half of the event to finish ninth at Texas Motor Speedway.

“That was dumb. That was my fault. I should know better and I messed up, so I apologize to these guys,” he commented. “They worked really hard on this Safety-Kleen Ford Mustang to get it back rolling and they did a great job. We’re sitting here talking and thinking, ‘Man, it’s probably a blessing to come home 10th,’ so that was a fun XFINITY race. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We’ve got a lot to learn and learned a lot tonight that we can apply to that one, so it was a chaotic night. I think we’re still second in points, so we didn’t lose anything. I’m happy they can’t blame me for too much there, but it’s my bad and I can’t do that again.”

Buescher said the wall contact happened on the first lap after he went to outside to avoid the people checking up due to someone spinning their tires.

“I just lost the air on the nose and it was my fault,” he stated. “I knew better than to be racing that hard that early.”

Buescher’s finish was highlighted by some great racing side-by-side late in the event with teammate Darrell Wallace Jr. and fellow series regular Chase Elliott. Buescher said those laps were all about racing “everybody as hard as you can and as clean as you can”.

“It came down there to the end and we got tight,” he added. “That was kind of the trend for us and it probably had a lot to do with the fact I got in the wall early. We didn’t have a very good aero package after that and I take the blame for that. That was on me, but the guys did a good job getting that Safety-Kleen Mustang back in good shape and we were able to race our way back up into the top five at one point.

“Coming down to the closing laps we lost a little bit and went to a little tighter side. That was kind of the trend for the night, but we had a good recovery.”

The top-10 finish continues Buescher’s solid start to this season that has him sitting second in points behind Ty Dillon, a mere three points behind. It also hands the Roush Fenway Racing driver some momentum heading into the next couple of races.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “Those two off weeks were nice, but we’re ready to get back racing. We gained a little bit on the points lead again today, so we’re ready to get back to it.”