They say to be the best, you have to be the best. Chris Buescher won the NASCAR Cup opener Sunday in a dramatic battle with Shane Van Gisbergen at Watkins Glen International.
In this type of car, this type of track, SVG looks like a generational talent, but that was not the case for Buscher in the last few laps. Buescher controlled the lead on the final restart, but Van Gisbergen used a bumper to take the No. 17 RFK Racing cars lost their balance and were captured. Without looking at the due diligence, they looked at the Las Vegas odds and the odds of Buescher getting it back and making a run were slim. I’m Shane Van Gisbergen from Street Circuit. But SVG was also free to fall behind Bushehr, especially by conservative standards, and knew there would be reciprocity if the margin became narrow enough to do so.
Buescher stayed with Van Gisbergen and the pressure was on to raise the white flag. “I pushed him a little bit to get a spot and I knew he was going to come back,” Buescher said. “So I pushed the ticket and tried to run, but I just made a mistake. “I’m upset because it’s hard to win a competition like this,” he said.The mistake was that I was speeding into the bus stop, shaking the car and letting Buescher in. At this point the favor was returned and Buescher leaned on Van Gisbergen enough to break the momentum and take the lead.
“I didn’t think it was dirty,” Buescher said. “It was a very aggressive race, wasn’t it? “When the white flag came out we were able to really push him and yeah I’m going to put pressure on him. I would definitely do that if I could. We will push and pull little by little. I’m not here to destroy anyone. He didn’t do anything to deserve this for me, but we are fighting for him and we will fight to the end.
“If he runs that fast, he’ll eventually find out where his mindset is and when things change, he’ll realize he doesn’t like going up hills. “If they thought I’d return the favor, I think they’d think the same, even if the roles were reversed.”
Van Gisbergen was no exception. “I knew if Chris was really successful he would push me,” said the three-time Australian Supercars champion. “The driver made a mistake when I turned and I got a little loose and hit the inside wall. “I was devastated.”Buescher was surprised that a mistake had been made here. “The bus stop was not a good area or a good place to pass. They were a lot better there than us for the last 20, 30 laps,” Buescher said. “I really wanted to pass the carousel well and get to the stop cleanly. “Like I said, he was driving hard and still digging when I picked him up, and he was two cars ahead. “That’s when I realized it wasn’t possible and this will give us an opportunity.”
Van Gisbergen was actually in Victory Lane at the time, but he was angry with himself. Was the hope that SVG would flank him? “I thought so,” he said. “In the end, I felt that nothing was dirty. We talked about it. It was a bit of a push and pull on both sides. He made a big mistake at the stop and we had to be very aggressive to exploit that gap. “But yeah, I didn’t think there was anything dirty there. I didn’t expect him to be upset about anything.”
Buescher added that Van Gisbergen does not want to fight alone. “So I think he’s the only one older than me,” Buescher said. “So if there’s a time he gets upset when he comes, I’ll have to take that into account. Yes. I’m sure the others won’t like it if I come. “Yes, I was grateful that he came up to me and said, ‘Good race.’ I think it was a very good race, but nothing strange happened in the last laps. Just be nice and compete hard.”
Buscher joked that because he made it to the podium, “that’s why I took the top spot.” “I had it,” he said with a laugh. This was a rewarding win for Buescher in many ways. First, it was a win against one of the best drivers in Australian supercar-inspired car racing Down Under.
“SVG was a really great road racer or a phenomenal road racer. When he got to that point on the final restart, he knew it was going to be very difficult for him to overtake and we wanted to hang on. “In the race I drove the car hard and put pressure on him and at least told him we were still there and it wouldn’t be a cruise problem,” Buescher said. “I think the last ticket is to make sure you look in your mirrors and look up and not ahead of other drivers. It was really fun. It was a good, old-fashioned fight to the end.”
But it’s also satisfying because Buescher has been with the Roush Racing family his entire career. Recruited by former Cup driver and current Ford Performance consultant David Ragan, he saw the highs and lows of the rebuild at the same time as NextGen Automobile and Brad Keselowski, who joined as team co-owner and driver.
Little did longtime president Steve Newmark know that this year was the team’s first two-car win since 2013. “Sports are cyclical and we’ve had some tough times where we haven’t met our goals and objectives every year,” Newmark said. “A lot of credit goes to Brad for what we’ve seen and the way he’s taken over and helped us continue to improve as a race team, but our goal is for both cars to threaten to win races in every week. “If you go back a few years, there’s no question we’re not there yet. But I feel like I’ve gotten there in the last year and a half. Of course, last year we finished 7th and 8th in points. 3 for 17 won. Brad had a few opportunities to win, but none of us took advantage last year.
“Going back to this year, the best stat for us is we’ve finished fourth and fifth, sixth and 17th, so we’ve finished two of the top five.”Buescher missed the playoffs not because of a lack of consistency, but because he missed wins at tracks like Kansas and Darlington earlier in the season. But Buescher has always been the backbone of the team’s future in the Roush Fenway and RFC eras, and he proved it on the street circuit against one of the current legends in the business.
“It’s been a rough couple of years,” Buescher said. “Difficult times are very well documented. Of course it is difficult. Do your best to come to your senses and we are all better now. “Whether it’s everyone from there to the Roush stores, the Fenway group and the huge investments they’ve made, the incredible commitment to making us a better place, or Brad Keselowski’s footprints in everything we do today. Many factors come into play, but the results speak for themselves. It’s probably the best place I’ve been in 15 or 16 years.
