Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Chicago Street Race Media Availability
Wednesday, July 2, 2025
Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 RFK Ford Mustang Dark Horse, has advanced to the second round of the In-Season Challenge and will face fellow Ford driver Zane Smith of Front Row Motorsports. Buescher spoke about the matchup and returning to Chicago for the third straight season as part of a NASCAR media call Wednesday afternoon.
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS WEEKEND AND HOW YOUR TEAM WILL APPROACH THESE NEXT FEW RACES AS THE REGULAR SEASON WINDS DOWN? “We literally just came across the street from the simulator for Chicago, so obviously that’s in full swing at this moment and has been for several weeks now. We always put in a little bit more time for road courses, just to be familiar with the racetrack again. We’ll definitely be out there on the track walk with I’m sure a lot of you all as we try and see which barriers got placed in slightly different areas or whatever has changed for brake markers, road surface, whatever it may be. There’s a lot of prep to do yet once we do get to town, but looking back on Atlanta and how that all transpired, it was our most competitive Atlanta that we’ve had since reconfiguration on the 17 side. I know Brad has had some really strong runs there through the last several years, but it was a really good race for us. It was nice to run up front and be in the hunt and, ultimately, there at the end wasn’t able to keep quite the pace we needed to fight for the win. It was just a wild day for sure. It worked out for us. We ended up with a decent day. We were up front for the majority of it and felt like there was some good racing. It was more enjoyable from behind the wheel than what we’ve had in the last couple, so there are a lot of positives to come off of the Atlanta weekend and now we’re obviously staring down the barrel of two road courses coming up now.”
YOU ARE THE HIGHEST SEED IN THE BRACKET COMING OUT OF ATLANTA. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT WHERE THIS IS GOING? “You know what, I’ve got some opinions on it at this point now, I guess. Some of them are strong and some not so much. Ultimately, I think the brackets and the in-season tournament was more about the fans and giving them something to really dive off into and try and put in discovery and plan and pick out that perfect bracket starting in Atlanta was kind of rude for all of our fans in that sense. You know what, for the teams and drivers there’s real money in this thing, so we’re not blind to it, but it’s also not changing our approach to our race weekends. It’s not changing what happens in a race for us, so I don’t believe that is going to affect what you see from us. I think that ultimately at the end of the day the bigger picture is winning races, which brings on playoff implications and all of that leads to much bigger consequences for our organization. That is definitely the focus. Now, I think that you had cars that stayed in the race trying to hope that somebody else would fall out and maybe they could win over their bracket or their matchup. It’s a lot easier to do when it’s just one car. I’ve been on the flip side of those days and we hung around the great fog or mist out of Texas for three days with damage and stayed around for three extra days to go out there and gain one point after running damaged and laps down all day long. It was just a miserable experience, so that’s not always the most fun thing to do, but I think it did knowing that you’re only trying to beat out one other car and especially being at Atlanta, a place where the attrition level can be so wildly high. I think it kept everybody working hard throughout the night to try and get their stuff right and being able to get back in the hunt.”
STEVE NEWMARK IS MOVING OUT OF THE SPORT. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS OF HIM MOVING ON? “Steve and I got to Roush right about the same time, so I talk about my entire career has essentially been here, and that’s been with Steve at the head of the company. Obviously, I’m happy for him and what he’s going off to do and the decisions that he’s made and proud to have that friendship through the years and the working relationships and the fun we’ve had, the races we’ve been able to win here as well, and, like you said, we’ve got some time and as an organization we’re in a really good spot with all of our teams, our sponsors, our people, to where it’s not gonna put undue stress on us midseason. It kind of gives you that opportunity to find whoever maybe taking that role over. I don’t have any insight at this point into what that looks like beyond the next couple of months, but I’m really happy for Steve and appreciate the opportunity to work with him through all these years and have that friendship. He’s not going too far away. He might not be in the sport, but he’ll just be a short drive up the road from where we’re at now, so I’d imagine we won’t be strangers at the end of the day.”
HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT THE NEWS? “Steve talked to me and we had a conversation. He was just proactive in saying, he said, ‘I don’t want you blindsided by this. I want this to be as professional as possible. I don’t want you to hear it from anybody else.’ So, he reached out and we got to talk for a good period of time and kind of went through where his mind is at and what’s led him to his decision. A couple of questions from me about what it means for us going forward and does he feel like there’s anything that we need to be on the lookout for and, ultimately, he just assured me that we are in a great place as an organization. This timing is not going to put any kind of draw on the company as we go through that transition and obviously he’s sticking around to help make that an easier transition as well.”
IS THERE ANY CONCERN ON YOUR PART ABOUT UNCERTAINTY WITHIN THE COMPANY ABOUT THIS CHANGE? “I think that there’s always that risk, but I think that he’s staying around. I think that we will have any of those unknowns answered or put into place by the time we get to that point of the year where people start to get antsy about what next season brings. I do think that the timing in talking with Steve and understanding where our entire group is at, I’m confident and believe in what he said and believe in what everybody within these walls has talked about that this is part of life, part of business, whatever it may be. I adamantly hate change. I tell people this all the time and maybe to a detriment to myself, so on that side of it I certainly hate the idea of the movement there and what that may bring. Ultimately, I do believe that we’re in a good spot to the point where I think that we can, I won’t say control what everyone is feeling, but I think it should put everyone else at ease knowing that we feel like we’re in a good spot and that we can make this transition pretty easy.”
LOOKING AT CHICAGO, HOW MUCH DO YOU LOOK AT COTA AND MEXICO TO SEE WHO IS GOOD OR THE FACT IT’S A STREET COURSE DOES THAT NOT MEAN MUCH? “You know what, road racing is road racing in general, but street racing is its own animal. There are things that you can certainly take about it. I’m hoping you’re not asking me for betting advice right now (laughing). I got the refresher. I know you did, but I think that the street course does present its own challenges in that sense, that you have to be a little bit more disciplined there. There are drivers that are very fast and maybe a little bit out of control in a lot of road courses. Most all road courses give you the ability to be a little out of control at times and not pay a penalty, so you have to be right on your marks here and that is a massive challenge of it. I think that’s why we saw SVG come in the first race and take everybody to school. Nobody had that experience to figure it out and then Mexico City happens, so I’m not sure what to make of it. Ultimately, there’s a lot of things that tell me we’re gonna be very competitive as we come into the Chicago Street Course and a lot of things that will line up based on just general road racing.”
THREE MORE ROAD COURSES COMING UP. DO YOU LIKE THEY’RE THIS CLOSE TOGETHER OR WOULD YOU LIKE THEM MORE SPREAD OUT? “I don’t have an answer for you just yet. In my mind, part of says, ‘You know what, find a rhythm and get to work.’ That’s where my head is at right now. I think if you get to the end of it, you might say, ‘Man, that was a lot,’ and would have liked to spread that out through different times of the season, but right now I’m on board and I want to see if this is one of those things we talk about momentum in our sport all the time and while it’s made up in some people’s minds, it works more times than not and, to me, it means that if you can get momentum on your side for these road courses that we’re getting off too early, then I think it can carry over into Sonoma and the Glen as well. So, I’m curious to see how it all plays out. We’ll kind of get some feedback from the industry and from our fans and see where their mind was at at the end of it, but I’m on board right now.”
DOES INDIANAPOLIS GET YOU EXCITED AND WHAT IS THE KEY TO RUNNING WELL THERE? “I’m really excited about Indy, first of all. I’m really optimistic knowing the speed of our race cars here at RFK at places like Michigan or Pocono or even Kansas. We’ve been really fast at these higher speed racetracks and, to me, that translates really well to Indy and we were really good there last year. We had our own issues that held us back from a strong day, but we were really fast in that time, and I think we can be really, really good this go-around. I’m really excited about that race simply because I think that it’s an opportunity for us to go win, just like any other race, but it’s also one of our crown jewels as well. We’ve got to be ready for it. We know it’s gonna be a big weekend. It’s a racetrack that’s gonna be track position sensitive, and I know we all hate having that conversation, but it is what it is, so we need to go there, we need to unload with speed. We have I guess we call this a full practice now, but we have 45 or 50 minutes of practice being a premier event, so we’ll have time to work on it and if we can qualify strong and up front, then that will show we have the speed and that will definitely translate over into the race.”
WHAT DOES YOUR TEAM HAVE TO DO OVER THE NEXT MONTH TO SOLIDIFY MAKING THE PLAYOFFS? “Win. It’s a must-win. I don’t think you can look at it and say it’s not. I think we need to go to the racetrack and we need to take chances and be fast. All of that brings points with it and if that’s what we have to fall back to, then I hope we fall back and say that it was enough and we were proud that we were fast enough to earn those points in these stretches. I know over the last five weeks I saw a stat where our team has put more points on the board than anybody else in the garage, so that’s not because we’re points racing. That’s because we are bringing fast Mustangs to the racetrack. We’re executing at a high level across the board and we’re working on just getting these small details, fine-tuning this last little bit to where we can be in contention to win or put a trophy up on the shelf and that ultimately is the lock in. I’m really proud of the speed that we have right now, but I believe it’s going to take grabbing a checkered flag to get us into the playoffs at this point. We’ve been on this bubble a couple times through the years and we’ve felt safe at times even, but it wasn’t. We’ve got a lot of opportunities for different winners over the next several races, whether that is Daytona or road courses. It’s time to win races. I think we’re gonna consider ourselves in a must-win, and I think it’s important too because a lot of cars know that they are in a must-win no matter what, that are gonna be taking those same chances and opportunities and risks.”
