Chris Buescher isn't ready to give up on NASCAR Playoffs yet: 'We're not done'

Even if he isn’t one of the favorites to make the NASCAR Championship 4, Chris Buescher is focused on proving people wrong, again. At the end of the regular season, no other driver was as hot as Buescher. Three wins in five races had him looking like a sure thing in Phoenix.

Chris Buescher has a real chance to make a lot of noise in this round. The NASCAR Playoffs are entering the Round of 8. Las Vegas, Homestead-Miami, and Martinsville. I like Buescher in the first and third races, not so much Homestead.

Ahead of the South Point 400 at Las Vegas, Buescher talked with the media about his outlook on the playoffs. It hasn’t been as dominant of a performance as many thought after his streak of wins earlier this year.

“I think we’re not at a point where we [can’t] be ignored anymore,” Buescher said in a Wednesday media teleconference, via NASCAR.com. “We’ve made it a long way this season. We’ve outrun a lot of what were considered favorites from the get-go on the year, and we’ve outrun them very consistently through the second half of the season – even a little more so.

“To me, like I said, I don’t know what everyone else is feeling. But I would say you’re gonna have a hard time finding somebody that’s not aware that we’re in this round and that we have an opportunity to make it to the next one.”

Some fans are shocked to see the 17 team still in the mix. The team isn’t.

“This is not coming as a surprise to us whatsoever,” Buescher said. “We’re thrilled to be here. And I’m happy to be halfway there on our goals for the season and our expectations. But we’ve got work to do yet. We’re not done.”

Chris Buescher has mixed results in the playoffs

Looking at the six races we’ve seen in the NASCAR Playoffs this year, Buescher has a mixed bag of results. He was P3 at Darlington. P27 at Kansas, Then he was P4 at Bristol. Then he went P14 at Texas and P19 at Talladega. But he was able to go P7 at the Roval.

This is all to say, I am not sure what to expect from Chris Buescher. He went from April at Richmond to September in Kansas without a finish worse than P18. He’s consistent, but if that top-end speed doesn’t show up soon, it will be too little too late.

My main concern for Buescher in this round is that other drivers will simply outperform him. Las Vegas is a track for the Hendrick and JGR drivers to dominate on, mostly. Homestead-Miami feels like the Kyle Larson Invitational. Martinsville is a crapshoot at this time of the season.

I do like the confidence that Chris Buescher has. He hasn’t given up on the dream, and that could make a huge difference when the going gets tough over these next three weeks.