Chris Buescher is certain that he does not want to adjust the way he races in the NASCAR Cup Series as he battles for a place in the playoffs.
The RFK Racing driver is 15th in the playoff picture, with the top 16 drivers in the championship advancing to the playoffs.
He sits ahead of Ross Chastain, who is holding onto 16th place, as Bubba Wallace sits in P17, which isn’t enough to make NASCAR playoffs.
Buescher needs just one victory from the next four races to secure a place in the playoffs as the season gets nearer to its conclusion.
Buescher is ‘adamant’ that he wants to keep his current approach
The American has had a mixed season so far, with a narrow defeat at Kansas Speedway to Kyle Larson, losing the victory on the line with the pair separated by a photo finish.
Building on the good performance at Kansas, he scored another second place later in the season at Sonoma Raceway.
But Buescher has floundered at some events; despite enjoying further visits to the podium, he failed to finish at Las Vegas earlier in the year after completing just 27 laps.
Yet the RFK Racing driver has now said that he is feeling calm about his approach as Buescher looks to secure a playoff spot.
He said via motorsport.com: “I’m not nervous about it. I’m pretty adamant about it – I don’t want to change the way we approach our races. I’ve just seen it too many times in our sport where you try and get put back on your heels and change up what you’re doing, and it can end up costing you.
“We’ve got to race our races, put our best foot forward and that should be enough to get us where we need to go. We’ve got to be aware [of the points], but it’s not something that we’re up in arms about or worried about.”
The upcoming NASCAR tracks bode well for Buescher
Buescher has performed admirably at the next four tracks on the NASCAR calendar during his career, taking three of his five career wins at those circuits last year alone.
The driver of the No. 17 Ford car will be eagerly anticipating trips to Richmond, Michigan, Daytona and Darlington.
He finished in the top three on all four of these tracks in 2023 on his way to seventh place in the standings, finishing in third place at Darlington in the Cook Out Southern 500.
Buescher explained that he is delighted to return to tracks the RFK Racing performed well at last season, but he is aware that past results have zero impact on this campaign.
The 31-year-old said: “That’s a pretty awesome statistic as we look at it, but last year’s results don’t equal this year’s. We’ve been very good at a lot of different styles of race tracks. We’ve been very close to locking ourselves in.
“We’re plenty capable of progressing and winning a race here in the next four like we have been. We’ve just got to clean up and have a couple things go our way and just do a good job and control what we can from our side.”