By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
When you race for a mid-pack team whose goals are to hit the top 10, nights like Sunday at Darlington Raceway are considered good nights for Chris Buescher.
Though not hitting the top 10, which would have been his first outside Daytona for Buescher in 2018, the Bojangles’ Southern 500 offered solid pace from his No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet.
Starting 19th, Buescher gained spots through the longer runs across the 500-miler and eventually contended inside the top 10. The consistent pace on the night surprised Buescher, given the difficulty the track presents.
“It’s definitely a tough place here. Darlington is an animal of its own,” Buescher told Kickin’ The Tires. “But it’s a fun race. This is one of my favorite tracks but also a career-best. This hasn’t been one of my best tracks, just a place I enjoy and that helps.”
With three yellows in the final 55 laps, Buescher was unable to maintain the top-10 spot, running 11th for a good period before falling to finish 13th.
“You come here and search around for grip the whole time and you hunt to find what works,” he said. “Then it’s gone 50 laps later and you start all over. It’s a demanding track not just physically but very much mentally.”
But it wasn’t enough to deter Buescher. The third-year Cup Series driver has put his No. 37 in the top 20 consistently in the last month and has been known to bring potential to any racetrack. The difference has been execution and that’s what the JTG crew had across the board at Darlington.
“I’m really proud of this group. They did a fantastic job on pit road all night,” he said. “We didn’t have the fastest car here but we made go with absolutely everything we had today.”
Though 13th-place finishes are usually forgotten and are rarely included in water-cooler talk, it’s a positive for JTG and Buescher as the playoffs loom.
“We work toward [top 10s] every week,” he said. “We haven’t since Daytona. It hasn’t gone as we hoped through a lot of weekends. Then again on a lot of other ones, we’ve done really well.
“We’re putting it all together. Unfortunately, we’re a bit outside the playoffs. We’ll have to work at that next year.”