He’s the NASCAR Cup Series ‘underdog,’ but Chris Buescher confident heading into Homestead

Chris Buescher knows he stands entering the NASCAR Cup Series’ 4Ever 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday.

The 30-year-old in RFK Racing’s No. 17 Ford Mustang is at the bottom of the standings among the eight drivers still eligible to win the championship. At this point, Buescher almost essentially has to win either this weekend at Homestead or next week at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia to secure his spot in the Championship 4.

He’s up for the challenge.

“I’ve just been a bit of an underdog for a lot of years,” Buescher said, “and we’ve really had to try and claw our way up.”

Buescher certainly has made the climb this year. This is just his second time making the playoffs, let alone advancing to the point of still being in contention through the Round of 8.

His only other playoff appearance came in his rookie season in 2016 — “that was big in the moment” — but finished 16th. In the six years after that, Buescher has finished higher than 20th just one, nabbing 19th place in 2021.

This year, though, he found a groove, especially as the regular season came to an end.

He won three of NASCAR’s final five races heading into the playoffs — the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway and the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

His success carried into the playoffs. Through the first seven races, he posted two top-five finishes (third at Darlington’s Cook Out Southern 500 and fourth at Bristol’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race) and a third in which he has cracked the top 10 (seventh at Charlotte’s Bank of America ROVAL 400).

“I’ve been more ready than I’ve ever been for those moments,” Buescher said. “That’s enabled us to go take those good days and make them fantastic, get some wins, bring some trophies home and put us in a spot where we’re able to just say that we could be fighting for for championship this year. That’s huge.”

That said, Buescher acknowledged a lot will probably need to go right the next two weeks for him to be in contention for a championship on Nov. 5 in Phoenix. One of the Championship 4 spots is already locked up after Kyle Larson won at Las Vegas last week. The next four contenders — William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell — are all within 11 points of each other. Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney are about 15 points behind that pack.

And then there’s Buescher, 23 points back of the playoff cutoff.

“It certainly won’t be easy from here,” Buescher said. “It’s the toughest round to advance, but I do think we are capable.”

Buescher can jump everyone and get an automatic ticket to the Championship 4 if he can get a win either of the next two weeks, although history suggests that will be tough. His best finish at Homestead in the Cup Series was 13th place last season and his best at Martinsville was ninth place in 2021.

But Buescher knows this: He hasn’t been eliminated yet. The underdog still has a chance.

Miami native on poll for Truck Series race

Nicholas Sanchez, a 22-year-old Miami native, will be in pole position for the Craftsman Truck Series’ Baptist Health Cancer Care 200 on Saturday afternoon, the first of the three races at Homestead this weekend.

Sanchez, the only rookie in the playoff field for the Truck Series, ran the fastest lap in qualifying — 32.319 seconds for the one-and-a-half mile track — to get the top spot.

The starting positions for the other seven playoff contenders: Carson Hocevar in second, Grand Enfinger in third, Ty Maieski in fourth, Zane Smith in seventh, Corey Heim in eighth, Christian Eckes in 10th and Ben Rhodes in 21st. There are 34 total entries for the race, which starts at noon.

Xfinity series starting lineup

Following the Truck Series race on Saturday is the Xfinity Series’ Contender Boats 250, which is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start.

And of the eight drivers still in the hunt for places in the Championship 4, five will occupy the top five spots in the lineup to begin the race.

Cole Custer won pole position in qualifying on Friday night, followed by John Hunter Nemechek in second, Justin Allgaier in third, Austin Hill in fourth and Sammy Smith in fifth.

The starting positions for the other three still alive in the Round of 8: Sheldon Creed will be ninth, Chandler Smith 12th and Sam Mayer 13th. There are 38 entries in the race.