CONCORD, N.C. — Audio and story by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — John Davison photo —

Quietly, Chris Buescher began to solidify his NASCAR XFINITY Series championship run after a seventh-place finish that belied just how much speed the No. 60 Zest Ford Mustang actually had on Friday night.

Buescher, who qualified fourth and sat higher than all of his championship rivals all night long, had to rally after struggles on his final pit stop at lap 143 dropped him back to 10th in the running order. The championship leader ultimately survived a late-race scrap with his teammate Darrell Wallace Jr. to extend his points lead to 26 over Chase Elliott at the end of the Drive for the Cure 300 presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.

The driver admitted that the numbers slightly soothed the sting of losing a chance to contend for the win in the closing stages.

“That was the good thing — that we gained a couple points,” Buescher said on pit road after the race. “Our guys have done a really nice job and this is by far the best car I’ve had here at Charlotte, so I’m really proud of that. Our Zest Mustang had a lot of speed. We should have been a top-five car, but everyone is human and things happen. I make mistakes out there, too, so I can’t be hard on them (the pit crew). Everyone is human, but we’ll work on cleaning up [our stops] a little bit.”

“It wasn’t a bad day for us at all. We’re right there with them. We’re following [the Cup regulars and our title rivals] around the track. If we would have had a couple more laps we could have gotten [a few of] them back there, honestly. It was a lot of fun though.”

Buescher circled his battle with Wallace as something that showed him a little extra speed inside the final 50 laps of the event.

“We were pretty fast all the way through the end of the race. The 6 car [Wallace] was in a line that was working really well up there on the top and I was finally able to move up there and find the same speed. We were actually both able to close in on the 3 [of Ty Dillon] and the 7 [of Regan Smith] there towards the end but just ran out of time.”

After scoring two victories early in the season at Iowa and Dover but having just a single top five finish in the last eight races, Buescher also shot down any notion that his team has simply been “riding the wave of momentum” from the late spring and early summer.

“I absolutely think we can win another race before the end of the season,” Buescher said emphatically. “Our guys have been doing a really nice job. We’re not going on defense right now. We’re not coming here to ride around and we’re going to keep doing what we’ve done to get to this point. To be able to lead the championship battle for the last 20 races, now, shows just how good we’ve been, I think.”

And with just Kansas, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead remaining on the schedule, what does the former ARCA Racing Series titlist think of his chances to add a second national stock car championship to the trophy case?

“I love our championship chances,” Buescher said with a big grin. “They look really good. It was nice to get a little bit closer tonight. You know, if we’re not the fastest one of [the points contenders] we’re right there with them and we can see them crossing the finish line. If we keep doing that, then they won’t be able to make all [the points] up.”

“We’ll keep doing what we’re doing, and regardless of what some of them might tell you — no one’s in our head. Nobody’s playing games with us. We’re out here running our own race and we know we can beat them the rest of the way.”

Buescher will return to the track next Saturday for the Kansas Lottery 300 from Kansas Speedway (4 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).

For more information on Chris Buescher, follow him on Facebook, on Twitter @Chris_Buescher or visit the team at www.roushfenway.com.

Listen in to an extended cut of Race Chaser Online’s post-race conversation with NASCAR XFINITY Series points leader Chris Buescher:

About the Writer

Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.

The 21-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.

Email Jacob at: speed77radio@gmail.com

Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77

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