Buescher hopes he can reign again at Pocono
LONG POND, Pa. — Rain, rain, go away. And maybe come back late today with Chris Buescher in the lead.
Buescher was one of the biggest surprise winners in the NASCAR Cup series in years when he took the checkered flag in a rain-shortened race last year at Pocono Raceway.
He had finished 30th or worse 10 times before August when he rolled into Pocono in the No. 34 Ford. There was nothing in his Cup resume that suggested Buescher would sniff the lead, even under gloomy conditions. Buescher hadn’t led a lap all season.
But the poor results and underdog status with underfunded Front Row Motorsports hardly mattered on a stormy weekend that had already pushed the race back a day.
With nasty weather punishing the track, NASCAR called the red flag with 22 laps left and Buescher declared the winner after about an 80-minute delay. He was doused with beer and water in a makeshift victory lane celebration inside a garage stall, his Ford covered on rainy pit road instead of bathed in confetti.
“Yeah, we needed a jon boat to get back to the hauler afterward,” Buescher said. “The garage was about a foot deep (with water). It was a pretty awesome deal getting that win and having everything play out the way it did. It was a big moment for us.”
Buescher’s win had ripple effects far beyond hoisting a trophy at Pocono. He made NASCAR’s Chase and spent a playoff round racing for the championship with veterans such as Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.
Buescher’s win earned him spots in Matt Slocum / AP
Chris Buescher looks over his car in the garage after practice for today’s NASCAR Cup Series Pocono 400 race in Long Pond, Pa.
the Clash at Daytona and the All-Star race, marquee events usually reserved for some of the sport’s heavy hitters.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., set to retire at the end of the season, recently endorsed Buescher among a small handful of upand-coming drivers that fans should root for in the years ahead.
“If you want to pick a guy that I think is just as talented as these guys, but you want to work your way up with him, Chris Buescher. I think that Chris did an amazing job in the Xfinity Series,” Earnhardt said on his Dirty Mo Radio podcast.
Buescher was surprised Earnhardt singled him out as a dark horse pick for Junior Nation to follow next season.
“I just want to tell him, ‘Thank you for that,’” Buescher said. “When he talks, our fans listen. And so that’s pretty awesome to be talked about in that manner. I think it says like a ‘dark horse,’ right? And so that kind of sums it all up, right?”
Sure does.