Chris Buescher could have had a worse day at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but in the midst of fighting to advance in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, it needed to be better than an 11th-place finish.
“We had good speed there at the beginning and [were] able to hang right around the top five, I guess. I don’t know exactly where,” Buescher said. “It really just fell apart on pit road for the most part and that’s my fault. It’s not our crew’s fault; they were good. I just couldn’t get in and out of our box and just continuously bled spots. I’ve got to figure out what I could do different, what we can do to try and get some of the rubber out of it, I guess.
“I just really struggled there and didn’t ever find a solution. Outside of that, we had good long-run speed and fire-off speed was decent. We kind of bounced back and forth on balance, but I felt like we had a really strong car. I’m proud of everybody.
“It’s not a bad day at all. I know we’re upset, but it’s not a bad day. It’s just that everybody we need to outrun, we didn’t.”
Las Vegas pit road can be a variable. Christopher Bell, for instance, struggled to launch out of his pit stall, which was the first one at pit exit after winning the pole. The grip in the pit stall is also what hindered Buescher, who felt he could not get stopped well, or launch out of it well.
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“I feel like it was stall and grip,” he said. “You definitely see certain boxes are way more rubbered up after the Xfinity (Series) race. I don’t have the answer, but it sure felt like the box. I think this place always has a little bit of slick pit stalls, but nothing like that in the past.”
Buescher was the lowest-finishing playoff driver — behind Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., and Denny Hamlin who all finished sixth through 10th.
The No. 17 RFK Racing team didn’t lead a lap Sunday and failed to score any stage points, finishing where their average running position was through the 400-mile event. Buescher is last on the playoff grid by 23 points after the opening race in the round.
“I thought we had a chance to win a race today and just lost some track position,” Buescher said. “As I said, I just struggled in the box and bled a handful of spots here and there, and by the time I looked up, we were deep in the teens and struggling in dirty air.
“It was really, really hard to pass, especially when everybody is on newer tires, and it was a little more equal. Once it got strung out, we were pretty decent, but just a bummer it didn’t play out the way we needed it to today.”