Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Coke Zero Sugar 400 Media Availability | Daytona International Speedway
Friday, August 23, 2024
Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is the defending winner of the Coke Zero Sugar 400. He comes into this weekend 16 points above the cut line with two races remaining in the regular season and discussed that situation as part of a media session this afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang Dark Horse – IF THERE ARE A GROUP OF CARS THAT PIT EARLY LIKE THE TOYOTAS DID AT TALLADEGA IS THERE A CHANCE TO COUNTERACT THAT? “We can counter it, yeah. It’s more on our radar now. Obviously, fuel saving has become very prominent at these superspeedways in the last four to six races and it was that ‘what-if’ and the group took it and ran with that and proved that there’s a possibility and everyone took note. So, yeah, it’s definitely something that if it’s going on and we see it happening, then we definitely have the opportunity to cover it this go around and not have to try and hope for anything bad to happen. We’ll be more prepared for that this go.”
WITH THE SUCCESS YOU AND BRAD HAVE HAD ON THESE TRACKS IN THE NEXT GEN ERA, DOES THAT GIVE YOU MORE CONFIDENCE IN YOUR ABILITY TO EXECUTE GIVEN HOW UNPREDICTABLE THESE RACES CAN BE? “Yeah, it certainly helps. We know we’re gonna be fast when we get on track here in a short bit. We know we’ll have Fords that will race really well, that push really well, things that we’ve excelled at that it’s taken others longer to figure out, and a lot of the field is starting to catch up in those areas, so we are aware, but certainly we know we have a lot of really good things going for us when it comes to this style of racing and it makes them a lot more enjoyable when you’re fast and when you don’t feel like you’re white-knuckled and hanging on it every moment. With that, we are very much looking forward to getting going into the race tomorrow. Obviously, we’ve had a lot of discussions on how our teamwork has benefited us in the last couple of years. I think we can pick out moments in time from every race where we could have done better, whether that ends in a one-two finish or whether that ends with a big separation of cars there are always moments in a race when you feel like we can be better teammates, be more on the same page and try and cover more strategies, I guess, and be prepared for anything that may happen during a race. All of that said, there’s a level of unpredictability or it’s probably predicted that it’s going to happen, it’s just when so when we come to these races we know that and at the end of the day you can only control what we can in our very small circle and the rest of it will go as it may. Unfortunately, that’s part of the game at these places and small lapses in judgment lead to rather catastrophic consequences. We’re certainly ready for it, but we’ll be eyes out front paying attention and trying to be smart and work together really well so that we can find ourselves with a shot to go one-two again.”
AS THE ONLY FORD IN A POINTS POSITION THAT HASN’T SECURED A SPOT AT THIS POINT, IS THERE AN EXPECTATION THAT YOU WILL GET HELP FROM YOUR FORD TEAMMATES IF YOU NEED IT? “I don’t know if it’s an expectation. It’s more of an ask if given an opportunity to help out a manufacturer car versus a competitor. I think the ask would be there to try and have that scenario in your mind from some of our teammates across the board on the Ford camp, but, no. I certainly don’t think you can expect it from others. We’re all competitors. We obviously have a very singular goal in mind, all of us for the same thing, and you’re not gonna get there if you’re helping out those that you’re gonna have to compete with at the end of the day. Again, it’s kind of just a small favor, if possible. You try to pay attention to who is around. It’s something that I feel like we’ve done in the past if you had the opportunity to help a fellow Ford move forward in a line or be in a better spot to push, then you would take that, but ultimately I certainly know everybody out here is trying to figure out how to win this thing.”
HOW EASY WAS IT TO HELP ANYBODY THAT NEEDED HELP LAST YEAR SINCE YOU WERE ALREADY LOCKED IN? “The part for me is the fact that our two RFK Fords are very good and if we’re both in the race and can find each other, we’re gonna work together first and try to better both of our positions. With that, the person we can count on the most is names on my shirt and the side of the car. That’s our biggest ally out there on any given weekend, but certainly this race and we know that at all these superspeedways. That’s what worked so well for us last time, so it’s a matter of doing what we can to help each other, but obviously it’s within our organization’s walls it’s very important to try and get a win for the 17 group and go ahead and lock this thing in to where we can go to Darlington and not have any of this thoughts in the back of our minds. When we come to Daytona it’s tricky because we’ve gone about this different ways in the past and ultimately I think we just have to go out here and race and try to be smart within our group – make decisions and try to better both of us and go race and let it fall where it will. It’s Daytona. We know things can happen, but we’ll go race hard, be smart at times, but we’ll go see what happens and see how we can find ourselves in victory lane again.”
AT DARLINGTON YOU NOT ONLY RACE THE COMPETITION BUT YOU RACE THE TRACK AS WELL. HOW MUCH OF THAT RACE ARE YOU DOING BOTH OF THOSE THINGS? “Darlington, you’re always racing the track. I don’t want to be in the position leaving here where we have to have too many of those internal thoughts, but it’s a tricky place. I love that racetrack. I love how difficult it is and what it makes you think of as a driver. For us, you will pay attention. If that’s the scenario we’re in, we’ll pay attention to where others are at, but you’ve got to race that racetrack first, run our own race, make sure we don’t make mistakes. You’re right at the edge at any given point there and while the cars have proven to be quite robust when you are right there up against the fence, they’re certainly not indestructible. We have to have our mindset right going in, but it’s about how we’ve gone about the last couple weeks is go to figure out how to win the race and for whatever reason, many different reasons, we haven’t found ourselves with a chance to really compete for a win in the closing stages of these things and with that you kind of turn your attention to those that we are racing on the other side of it and knowing what their situation is and kind of helping decide how we need to approach the ends of these things. You want to ultimately be fighting for the win first and then worry about the rest of it.”
HAVE YOU AND BRAD TALKED ABOUT THE STRATEGY GOING INTO THIS RACE TO REPEAT LAST YEAR? “We always study a lot for these races and the teamwork side of things we have focused on a lot. We have seen it work for us. We’ve seen it work for other organizations that do it well and we know that it’s a big part of it. It’s certainly a big strategy race. Yes, there’s some of that unpredictability in it and, yes, it puts up this little asterisk there, but it is still a big strategy race. There’s a lot going through your mind as a driver. There’s a lot going through our team’s minds as we go through this. A lot of scenarios that we play out. We go back and watch the old races, even the ones that went right because there’s always stuff to do better differently, try and dissect it through the week leading up to these things and when it comes down to the end, I fully expect it to be side-by-side with Brad last year at the end of this thing and his help kind of all just fanned out behind him in the end and ultimately just stalled out all of us. We all just kind of got stuck to the finish, so I don’t think I ever expect him to simply get in line and push. I think the hope is that in a position where we come down to the end we’re one-two and we can have a shot at this thing together and not take that chance of losing it. If you’re running one-two, make it exciting and go for the win. I think it’s understandable as competitors, but certainly don’t finish second and third doing something dumb. That’s the general mindset right now. I can’t speak for where Brad’s head is exactly, but obviously with having a win and being locked in – this race last year he was locked in mathematically, so it was an easier race as a group to go through and not have that on our minds with it being more ideally not the last one leading into the playoffs, so I do like this, but with that we do have one more race after this that we need to be aware of. You need to be in the hunt to win this thing and if you come close and put up a bunch of points on the board, it will make next week a lot easier.”
WHAT IS IT LIKE WHEN YOU GET AIRBORNE IN A CAR? “I hate Talladega Nights. I hate that movie, but I’ll start with that, but it is strange the amount of time you have to think and the amount of silence that is in the race car when it goes airborne. I haven’t asked Corey about this. I watched it happen right out my A-post window last week. It started out as a spin and the first thought in my mind was, ‘that’s bad angle. He’s gonna hit a lot,’ and then before I got that thought out of my head it was upside-down and flying though the air. I’m sitting there thinking, ‘I know that feeling and it’s not a good one.’ I’m glad he’s OK. I’m glad he and Kyle Sieg are OK, but it is not a pleasant feeling and it’s something that most racetracks, and Michigan is a little bit of an exception, but at most racetracks you don’t realize how fast you’re going, how dangerous this really is until something goes wrong and you’re sideways, or backwards, or upside-down. Michigan is the exception to that. You know how fast you’re going there forwards. I can’t imagine what it feels like backwards and I know it’s not good, so it is very strange feeling. I’m afraid of flying in general. I’m a little more so afraid of flying in a race car, so it’s not something to have on my bucket list. Unfortunately, I have two under my belt. I’m like a quarter of the way to my pilot’s license at this point is what I figure, so maybe that will overcome my fear, but I want to do the rest of it in a real airplane and not in race cars.”
WHEN YOUR CAR STOPS FLIPPING, DO YOU JUST WANT TO GET OUT OF THE CAR AS QUICK AS POSSIBLE OR DO YOU TAKE A SECOND TO GATHER YOURSELF? “My first one at Talladega landed right side up and it’s always the last couple of impacts to me that hurt the most. All of the energy is basically landing on flat ground. At that point in Talladega, the suspension was torn off the car. It was just chassis to Earth. That one I wanted out quicker. I remember the window net was caught because of the A-post. The sheetmetal of the old car was actually wrapped around the buckle, so plus-one for the roof hatch, and then our Charlotte one I just wanted out of that stupid car at that point. I was so mad. It was just a bad situation and sitting in there upside-down for that long, first one to have to be turned back over in the new car and, unfortunately, I was kind of just the learning curve for everybody. It was not fun. It’s not that it was particularly painful during the accident, but you just start getting a little bit of a temper as you’re sitting there upside-down and you know if you undo the belts sitting upside-down it’s gonna hurt worse, just unstrapping and hitting stuff on the way down. Three or four minutes into that one I just decided I’ll just let my arms dangle and kind of tuck down and wait for whatever is gonna happen to happen, but that one was different landing on top and having way too much time to think about things.”
KEVIN HARVICK COULDN’T BELIEVE YOUR COMMENTS ABOUT HOW YOU PRIORITIZE WINNING OVER POINTS RACING. HE CALLED IT BS. HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO THAT? “I can assure him it’s not BS. It is not something that we’ve put any focus on throughout my career, especially not until it’s absolutely necessary. At this point, there are thoughts of what our point situation is and discussed it a little bit today and last week. The last couple of weeks haven’t gone our way, so we don’t start the race thinking about points and how do we just put points up and play conservative. I promise, that’s not what’s going on here, but we’ve had some rough go’s for a couple of races and we haven’t been in a spot to compete for a win at the end. Yes, at that point, the team has made me aware of struggles of some of the other cars we’re racing on that cut line, and it’s just information. It’s not telling me to do anything different. It’s just, ‘so you know, we’ve had two cars that we’re racing that have had failures or wrecked out.’ That’s just information for me to say, ‘Do I really want to go four-wide into turn one at Pocono, or three-wide may be my number.’ That’s all it is. Yeah, at that point you think about it. If you don’t truly believe you’re gonna have a shot to win the thing, you’re not gonna go do something crazy and lose 30 points on the day. I’ll defend that one pretty adamantly. I can assure him it’s not BS and we’re not coming here to points race. We’re coming here to win races.”
