No. 17 Improves in Closing Laps to Cap Opening Race in Round of 8
LAS VEGAS (Oct. 15, 2023) – Chris Buescher finished 11th Sunday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Playoffs.
“We got shuffled back a little bit in some dirty air and it was a struggle back there for a little bit,” Buescher said after the race. “We got back going and needed some longer runs and green flag cycles to sort it out and we didn’t get it that way. We were able to make some decent work out of it and get a pretty decent finish out of the day.”
Buescher earned a solid starting position, qualifying fourth in the TravelCenters of America Ford on Saturday. He finished 17th in the opening stage, and lined back up fifth to start stage two.
Varying strategies were implemented throughout the afternoon, as team’s elected to put scuff tires on midway through the race, with Buescher’s set of four scuff tires going on at lap 144. He restarted 10th from there for a shootout that would span 16 laps to the end of the stage, where he finished 15th.
From there, track position never worked in his favor as two yellows were displayed in the final 60 laps. Despite restarting 14th for the final restart with 51 to go, Buescher went on to pick off multiple spots in the closing laps to finish 11th.
Up Next
Homestead-Miami Speedway hosts race two in the Round of 8 next weekend, with race coverage Sunday set for 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
