"Certainly bummed out by scenario" - Frustrated Chris Buescher discusses playoff miss, RFK's strategy for next season

Chris Buescher failed to make the cut for this year's playoffs despite having a strong showing throughout the regular season. The Texas native spoke to renowned journalist Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports on Saturday to discuss missing the 16-driver playoff field.

The driver of the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford said that it's disappointing to miss the postseason but added that it hasn't made his entire season bad.

"I'm certainly frustrated by it and bummed out by the scenario that we're in," Buescher said. "It's been a good year, just not a great year, ultimately."

Despite not making the playoffs, the five-time Cup Series race winner said there's still time through the remaining races of the season to experiment with their race cars and try to find more speed for next year.

"There's always things you can try," Buescher said. "We found a lot of things that work really well for us, and maybe sometimes, that's, 'Hey, this is a really good way for us to run top five,' but we need more to win. We can look at different things that we can give a shot at to experiment some.

"It's nothing crazy with this car. Being able to try and work towards being better for, I mean, you wouldn't do anything that you don't think would be better in the moment, but also trying to work to be better next season as well."

Chris Buescher is in his fifth season in the No. 17 car and third since the rebranding of the old Roush Fenway Racing to the RFK Racing team.

He has had four of his five victories with the team, which includes one at the Bristol Motor Speedway in 2022 and Richmond Raceway, Michigan International Speedway and the Daytona International Speedway last year.

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Chris Buescher had strong showings throughout regular season despite missing playoffs

Chris Buescher, the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, tallied five top-fives and two stages wins throughout the 26-race regular season. One of those top-fives came in the closest finish in NASCAR history, as Buescher was edged out by 2021 champion Kyle Larson by 0.001 seconds.

The 31-year-old had a strong run going the next week in Darlington, as he led inside the final 10 laps. But after contact with Tyler Reddick while racing for the lead, his teammate and co-owner at RFK Racing, Brad Keselowski, passed both drivers from third position and went on to win.

Keselowski snapped a 110-race winless streak to qualify for the postseason, being the only RFK Racing car in the playoffs. In Sunday's playoff-opening race at Atlanta, Chris Buescher placed 36th after an accident, while Keselowski finished 19th.

After Atlanta, Keselowski is 13th in points, one behind 12th-place Ty Gibbs, while Buescher is 18th in the standings.