CONCORD, N.C. — Chris Buescher may be flying under the radar this NASCAR Cup Series season.
The driver of the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford ranks fifth in the standings after 11 races and has six top-10 finishes. Buescher has been the top finishing Ford driver in the last two races, highlighted by a fifth-place run last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.
The series heads to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l this weekend. Buescher won there two years ago.
“I’m excited to be heading into Watkins Glen. I would be a little bit more excited if it was drier, but that being said, we’re hoping for a nice window and maybe we can catch a little bit of a break along the way,” Buescher said during a Ford media call on Wednesday. “It’s such a fun racetrack. I love that place. It was my first race and we’ve had success and won there with BuildSubmarines.com on board, so they’re with us again. Familiar colors would look good in a familiar place parked there in victory lane, so I’m ready to head up north.”
The big difference heading to the Glen is the race runs in the spring for the first time.
“I know Mother’s Day weekend is a strange date to a lot of people up there that it’s been so consistent, but it seems like I know everybody was worried about snow still being on the ground and we’re not gonna worry about that part of it,” Buescher said. “I think as we head up the temperature is probably the bigger things we’re looking at. I don’t know how much track time other series have had up there with the past several weeks and the weather and the amount of rain they’ve gotten, but I know typically there would have been a lot of people on the race track before now, so it’s not like the track would be completely green.
“I don’t know what that looks like so I would imagine we’re gonna have a handful of laps to figure out what is different from the last go around,” he said. “I think it’s gonna be fast. I think that’s what we’re predicting. If the track is clean, which we predict it will be, I think it’s gonna be really fast, especially to get going for practice and qualifying.”
The race distance has also increased by 10 extra laps of the 2.45-mile track, with the race now lasting 100 laps (245 miles).
“I like that they added some laps to it. I wouldn’t say Watkins Glen was ever a race that felt like it was over as soon as it started from inside the car. It didn’t feel like a short race, but I like the fact that we’re gonna add some more to it,” Buescher said. “I like that you put a little bit more physical work in everybody. You change up the strategy, albeit it may not be a huge change, but it’s still something different.”
