FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR
NSCS NOTES & QUOTES
Chase Media Day – Chicago
Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016
Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Fusion, made the rounds at Chase Media Day in Chicago Thursday afternoon. The rookie, one of two in the 2016 Chase, spoke about a myriad of topics.
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Fusion — WHAT IS YOUR STRATEGY NOW THAT YOU ARE IN THIS THING? “We are going one round at a time right now. We are trying to look ahead to the next three races. We have been so focused on getting into the Chase that now that we are here we haven’t thought too much past that. I feel like we are prepared to go into this next couple. Chicagoland has been a good track for me on the XFINITY side. We were here a couple weeks ago for the test and got to run a handful of laps, not near as many as we would have liked. I have some time on the track. We have an idea of how it has fared through the winter. I like Chicagoland and the character that the race track has. The character of the race track reminds me of Texas of Fontana with how it is worn out and getting rough. That usually produces the best excitement and some of our best runs.”
HAS THE SUPPORT WITH ROUSH FENWAY CHANGED NOW THAT YOU ARE IN THE CHASE? “We are pretty much the same still. We have had an open relationship all season. An open line of communication to be able to transfer any information we have needed from Roush to Front Row Motorsports. To have the support of both teams has meant a great deal to us all season long. We find ourselves in a great situation right now and they have made it very clear that whatever help they need that we feel we are not getting, to be sure we speak up and are vocal about getting what we want. I feel great about the level of commitment we have had all season and also Ford Performance has been behind us 110% from the start. We are proud to be here and representing Ford and everybody. Now the real fun starts, now the real pressure starts.
QUESTION INAUDIBLE “I try to stay pretty level headed. I am not one to get too excitable about a lot of things. It was a huge win for us at Pocono and put us in a great position but from there we are still down and trying to climb our way out of the hole that we got ourselves in with the superspeedway racing, basically. We found ourselves in a great spot and when we had to turn around to go in a little more of a defensive mode that is when it becomes more difficult. You have to watch too much of what everyone else is doing instead of just going and getting all you can get. Bristol was an awesome race for us and we were able to be aggressive and get all we could right down to the very end. We had a great points day going and had to try to take it a little easier and make sure we weren’t pushing it too much and get ourselves in a bad spot.”
HOW DO YOU ASSESS YOUR CHANCES? “I like where we are at. I think we can make it into the second round. Consistency was a huge part of our championship last year. We were able to get a couple wins and be right there with the guys we were racing every week. That was a big part of it. For this first three races, I definitely think consistency will play a really big part of it. You can’t have that one bad week and expect to recover in the two remaining. You really need to be smooth throughout all of it and make sure you are there after Dover. Then you can reevaluate and decide how you will treat the next couple of rounds.”
QUESTION INAUDIBLE “We definitely can. I have been proud of our program and where we have been the last couple of months and where we have been heading. Indy was decent for us and Bristol was an awesome run and could have been better if we could have stopped worrying about points. Places like that have been good to us. Kentucky was bound to be a great day for us but we got caught up in someone else’s accident. Unfortunately that has been a big part of our season. It has looked bad on paper because I had never been to the infield care center before this season. I have never gotten a car to the point it couldn’t be fixed and back on track before this season. That has been a really difficult part of our year. That is why we even had to worry about the top-30 in points. If it weren’t for four or five races this would have been a lot more calm and a lot better situation going into the Chase.”
BECAUSE OF HOW LATE YOU QUALIFIED FOR THE CHASE, ARE YOU AT A DISADVANTAGE TO SOME OF THE GUYS THAT GOT IN EARLY? “We are probably behind a little bit. Denny Hamlin wins the first race of the year and then have the opportunity to test what they want to test and try stuff. Nobody is willing to go to the race track and give up a good finish so nobody is doing something so outside the box that they will end up 20th, but they are trying to make stuff better. We are probably a little behind because of all of that but at the same time Front Row Motorsports has been working hard to keep things going and working in the right direction. Roush Fenway Racing has been working hard to produce better cars as we have gone through the season and I think we will start seeing some of that work show up in our results in the next race or two.”
