Fastenal Ford Bounces Back After Tough Opening Stage
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (Oct. 22, 2023) – Chris Buescher’s Sunday afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway didn’t go as planned, finishing 21st in the Fastenal Ford.
“Yeah, that was a brutal day,” Buescher said after the race. “We worked hard on this Fastenal Mustang and got it better. We started off the race really tight and went a lap down and didn’t have any opportunities to get that back.
“The cautions didn’t fall at the right time for us and about the time they would start the green flag cycles something would happen. We couldn’t quite catch the break we needed. We did find some good speed and I feel like on equal tires there at the end we would have been able to move up quite a bit. It just wasn’t the case. We had 10 laps or something on tires and had to finish out.”
Buescher began the afternoon from the 17th spot, and through an opening stage that saw just one caution, finished 28th as the segment ended under yellow. From there, he fired off in 26th, needing another quick yellow to get back on track.
The stage ran all under green as Buescher finished in 26th, still needing a timely caution. He fired off 23rd for the final stage, but the next caution didn’t wave until 54 to go. He had just pitted prior to the caution, catching a host of cars on the wrong end of track position. He waved around after the race resumed from red-flag conditions, still needing another yellow late.
He received two more chances, eventually earning the free pass under yellow with 32 to go. The final restart came with 26 laps remaining as Buescher picked off a few cars in the closing laps to finish 21st.
“We were still able to get to the last four or five cars that were on fresh tires, so I know we were a lot better than we had been and were making good progress, it was just too late. Too late in the day to make anything happen.”
Up Next
Martinsville Speedway hosts the final race in the Round of 8 next weekend, which determines the Championship 4. Race coverage on Sunday is set for 2 p.m. ET on NBC, with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.
