Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, put up quite the effort at Sonoma on June 9th, 2024, but he lost out in the closing laps as he used up his tires and had to fight with an ill-handling car, settling for a third-place finish. Considering how close he’s been to several wins already this year, Sunday’s loss was particularly harsh for Buescher.
According to a report from Motorsport, Buescher said he’s keeping his chin up despite being beat to the line multiple times this season. He started outside the top 20 at Sonoma, but battled his way back up to the front by the end, leading with under 10 laps left. However, his pit strategy meant he was running on older tires than the teams behind him.
“It was really good strategy on the day and an awesome finish. I wasn’t quite able to hold the lead there and that bums me out,” Buescher said. “I was trying. Ultimately, we started deep in the field, and it was going to be hard to make it work, but Scott [Graves, crew chief] and our group did a fantastic job. They played it well and got us up front.”
Even so, it’s impossible to deny that being beat at Sonoma hurt a bit. Buescher has yet to win at a road course, and he’s currently 16th in point – a precarious position if he wants to get his No. 17 NASCAR Ford a slot in the postseason Playoffs.
“We got a stage win, a playoff point, but ultimately there at the end I wasn’t able to hold on,” Buescher said. “If that was just a little bit of tire difference late in the run or how hard I ran at the beginning I’m not sure.”
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