Chris Buescher finishes 5th, now Chase playoff eligible

When Chris Buescher unexpectedly won Aug. 1 at Pocono Raceway he fulfilled one of the two criteria needed to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Yet the 23-year-old rookie still needed to move inside the top 30 in points before the regular season concluded to earn playoff eligibility.

Buescher took a big step with a fifth-place finish Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway. For the first time he is inside the mandated cutoff, jumping 13 points clear of 31st-ranked David Ragan with three regular season races remaining.

While Buescher is provisionally in the Chase, he still needs to navigate the next three races (Michigan, Darlington and Richmond) by recording respectable finishes to prevent falling back under the cutline. And with no wild card tracks upcoming, the Front Row Motorsports driver is in relatively good position to get in.

“We’ve got to be aware of it, but we’re still going to be aggressive with our racing style,” Buescher said. “We’re not here just to lay over and be conservative. We’re going out for good finishes to stretch that points to be comfortable at Richmond.”

Staying aggressive is important for Buescher, who despite winning the Xfinity Series title a year ago utilizing a conservative approach, is not found of points racing. He much prefers to focus on maximizing his finish over worrying where’s running in relation to someone else on the track.

That strategy is what Buescher employed at Bristol, where he qualified a career-best 12th, then drove a patient race and avoided the numerous multi-car incidents that sidelined several contenders.

“Just because of points being where they’re at doesn’t mean we have to go and just focus on that aspect,” Buescher said. “We came to Bristol knowing that we had speed, that we love this race track, and it was a good chance for us to go out and have an awesome run, and that’s exactly what we were able to do.

“Points will fall however they will. You can’t focus on them too much because you lose sight of what the main goal is, and that’s to go out and win races.”