Prior to Sunday’s Shriner’s Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway, the RFK Racing duo of Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher had a combined one top-10 result in three races this season.
However, the NASCAR Cup Series’ trip to the Arizona desert perhaps turned the tide for the two-car operation.
After the checkered flag flew for winner Christopher Bell, Buescher finished second, with teammate Keselowski placing a distant fourth.
While Keselowski’s winless streak rose to 102 races after Sunday, the 2012 Cup Series champion saw plenty of positives from the day.
“It was a good solid day for us,” Keselowski said. “We want to win these races but we didn’t have anywhere near the speed the 20 (Bell) car did, I don’t know if anybody did to be quite honest.
“We put ourselves in good position with a good pit call and a great restart at the end and we just tried to execute. The potential is there. We are just one step away and we are going to keep working on it until we get there.”
For Buescher, a trip to Phoenix was a welcome one as he notched his fifth consecutive top-10 finish on a track one mile or shorter, which included a victory at Richmond (Va.) Raceway last summer.
“I was really impressed with our Ford Mustang today, that was awesome. A heck of a comeback after a rough go the last couple of weeks,” Buescher said. “We had really fast race cars and I am proud to be able to do that today. I didn’t quite see the 20 (Bell) there at the end so I know they were lights out.
“We have some work to do to get to that point. What thrills me is we were by no means perfect on balance so we have a lot of room to make this thing better which is awesome. It tells me we can go compete for that thing.”
Last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Buescher endured a vicious crash after his right front wheel detached from his race car, sending the No. 17 Ford into the outside wall.
“I am proud of everybody and a great bounce back after a rough go last week and did it with the same team here today and it just goes to show that we are going to do these things together, win, lose or draw,” Buescher said. “That was almost a win today.”