Chris Buescher responds to Kevin Harvick calling his answer 'a bunch of sh*t'
Chris Buescher made it clear this past weekend at Michigan that his goal is to win when he shows up to the racetrack, even if his current position on the playoff cutline indicates he should be looking to gather as many points as possible.
“I’m definitely not your guy to sit here and decipher all the points side of things,” Buescher told NBC Sports. “I go the racetrack and do our own deal. Control what we can. … You always go the racetrack and figure out how you’re gonna win this one.”
Buescher’s stance drew the ire of Kevin Harvick, who called his answer a “bunch of sh*t.” Buescher, speaking with the media ahead of Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, said he can assure Harvick and everyone else that “it’s not bs,” and he’s not here to points race. Buescher is in it to win races, just as he aims to do at Daytona.
Chris Buescher claps back at Kevin Harvick
“I can assure him it’s not BS,” Buescher said Friday, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “It is not something that we’ve put any focus on throughout my career, especially not until it’s absolutely necessary. At this point, there are thoughts of what are our point situation is. And [we] discussed it a little bit today and last week. The last couple of weeks haven’t gone our way, so we don’t start the race thinking about points and how do we just put points up and play conservative. I promise that’s not what’s going on here. But certainly, we’ve had some rough go’s — a couple of races, and we haven’t been in a spot to compete for a win at the end.
“At that point, team’s made me aware of struggles of some of the other cars we’re racing on that cutline. And it’s just information, it’s not telling me to do anything different, it’s just, ‘So you know, had two cars that were racing had failures or wrecked out.’ That’s just information for me to say, ‘Do I really wanna go four-wide in Turn 1 at Pocono? Or is three-wide maybe my number?’ It’s all it is.
“At that point, you think about it if you don’t truly believe you’re gonna have a shot to win the thing, then you’re not gonna do something crazy and lose 30 points on the day. I’ll defend that one pretty adamantly that I can assure him it’s not BS and we’re not coming here to points race, we’re coming here to win races.”
Buescher entered Michigan just one point clear of Ross Chastain for the 16th and final playoff spot. After scoring a much-needed sixth place finish, he heads into Daytona 16 points clear of the playoff cutline.
The Fords were fast in qualifying, making up the first three rows of Saturday’s starting grid. Buescher will start 13th.