“It’s hard to say”: Chris Buescher unsure over his true standing as a team in 2025 so far

Chris Buescher of RFK Racing has finished in the top-10 three times already this season. But when asked about his team’s true standing, he seemed unsure.

Buescher has started the 2025 season with a string of strong performances, securing his first top-five finish at Phoenix Raceway with fifth place. This was his third top-10 finish in the first four races of the season. His performance have propelled him to 10th place in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings.

A big part behind his strong run of form has been shrewd strategic decisions with his crew chief, Scott Graves. One of the examples was at Phoenix where the crew and the driver decided to save the softer option tires for the end of the race, allowing Beuscher to charge in ahead and make a top-five finish. As the season progresses, Roush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing will be hoping for even better performances.

Chris Buescher, when asked to comment on his strong start to the season, replied to Brett McMillan of Performance Racing Network:

"Early in the season it's hard to get a true read. I'm proud of what we've done but it's hard to say where we are on the whole."

Chris Buescher, a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver for RFK Racing, is best known for his 2015 Xfinity Series Championship triumph. He clinched his first Cup victory at Pocono Raceway in 2016, becoming the first rookie to win at the track since Denny Hamlin in 2006. Over the years, he had built a reputation for being consistent with his best season being 2023, where he won three races and had nine top-five finishes, resulting in him making it to the round of 8 in the playoffs.

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Chris Buescher reflected on Phoenix race after fifth place finish

Despite qualifying 13th for the Shriners Children's 500, Chris Buescher navigated through 10 cautions to secure an impressive fifth place result. The team strategically opted to install Goodyear's softer "option" tires late in the race, a decision that initially put Buescher at a disadvantage as competitors with the same tires overtook him.

"I felt like we were there on the yellows and kept getting run all over by reds, and I was just sitting there waiting our turn. We finally put them on and ended up in a place where it was kind of the same time as everybody else. We didn’t see the big movement, but we had them on at the end when a lot of others ran out. It made it interesting. I am still a proponent of a single tire when we come to a weekend, but Goodyear did a great job. That red tire was a lot of fun," Chris Buescher said via Speedway Digest.

After pitting for the softer tires, Buescher experienced an increase in speed; however, he noted that the overall impact wasn't as significant as expected. While praising Goodyear's efforts, Buescher expressed his preference for a single tire compound during race weekends.