The great state of Texas has produced two Cup champions in NASCAR’s history. Terry Labonte is the only driver from the Lone Star State to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, known for his two Cup championships and incredible consistency. His younger brother, 2000 Champion Bobby, moved to North Carolina in his teens but was born and raised in Texas. Neither driver fits the stereotypical Texas mold of loud wins and loud mouths; both were known more for being quiet and for their cool, calm demeanor under pressure.
Chris Buescher, the first full-time Sprint Cup driver for Texas since Bobby Labonte stopped racing full time in 2013, enters Richmond on the Chase bubble, with an 11 point cushion. Buescher’s surprise win at a rain-shortened Pocono event last month was the first win for a Texan since Bobby’s last win, the 2003 season finale at Homestead-Miami.
Buescher is trying to become the first Sprint Cup driver from Texas to make the Chase. Terry Labonte only ran one full season under the Chase format before retirement while Bobby never made the Chase in 10 seasons of trying. He would also be the first non-Team Penske Ford to make the Chase since 2014.
Speaking with the media Friday after finishing 26th and 28th in the only two Cup practices of the weekend. Buescher is approaching this weekend not loud and proud, but cool and smooth.
“We are going to control what we can control and do our best to have a good, clean race,” Buescher said. “Stay out of trouble. All the normal things you try to do. Go out here and try to have a good run at Richmond.”
But the 23-year-old isn’t going to be a push-over come Saturday night.
“We are not in a full defensive mode,” Buescher said. “We can’t go out and just try to run every lap and stay out of everyone’s way and that will be enough. We don’t have that luxury. We are coming out here to race aggressively for every position, every point we can possibly get, without taking unnecessary risk.
“If it is a matter of not being three-wide into a corner and giving up that position, we will give that up. If it is two-wide racing someone hard so we can get by someone we have been faster than, we will race them as hard as we possibly can to maximize our day. We can only control what we can control. That is pretty much our game plan.”
In some ways, it’s like his approach to winning Pocono last month. When the rain came and Buescher parked on pit road with the lead, he didn’t look overcome with emotion. He wasn’t happy or complaining at the officials to call the race early. He simply waited, seemingly totally in control of the situation.
“If we can see the 23 car and we can see David (Ragan) then, for the most part, we will know we are okay,” Buescher continued. “We need to be on the same lap obviously or preferably a lap ahead if possible but if we are in distance to where we can be around him and racing him then that is not 11 spots. That is what we will focus on.
“We have to be careful. There are guys like Jamie McMurray and Ryan Newman that will be racing extremely aggressive trying to get into this thing. We have to be careful around certain drivers. We are going out there to race, though. When I talk about unnecessary risk, David Ragin isn’t one that we need to sit there and knock the doors off each other, knowing we can be a couple spots behind him and still be safe.”
A lot of young drivers today opt for that risky approach; just look at John Hunter Nemechek last week at MoSport. With Buescher, though, he doesn’t seem to be feeling the pressure. Saturday night will be the most important race of his life up to this point, but he’s treating it as just another weekend. Even if he is feeling pressure, he’s not letting it affect his composure.
Although it’s unlikely Buescher’s small Front Row Motorsports team has the resources to compete for a championship, simply making it in is an accomplishment. It’s a first and his style to get in would mirror two certain former champions, all three from the same state.
