CHRIS BUESCHER COMPLETES FORD PERFORMANCE CHAMPIONSHIP SWEEP BY CLAIMING 2015 NASCAR XFINITY SERIES TITLE

 

                                            

 

·       Chris Buescher registered his first NASCAR XFINITY Series championship today, giving Ford Performance a sweep of both major championships after Team Penske clinched the owners’ title two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway.

·       The NASCAR XFINITY Series title is the fifth for Ford Performance and car owner Jack Roush.

·       This marks the 14th driver’s championship for Ford Performance in NASCAR’s top three divisions combined (8 NSCS, 5 NXS, 1 NCWTS).

 

FORD DRIVER CHAMPIONS

 

·       Greg Biffle became the first driver in NASCAR history to win a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series championship.  Biffle captured the 2002 NNS title in dominant fashion as he posted a series-best 25 top-10 and 20 top-5 finishes in 34 starts.  In addition, he tied for first with poles (5) and wins (4), but his consistency throughout led to a 264-point victory for the championship over second-place Jason Keller.

·       Carl Edwards won his first NASCAR championship in even more dominating fashion than Biffle as he claimed the championship by 618 points over runner-up David Reutimann.  Edwards led the series with 21 top-10 finishes while tying for most top-5 efforts with 15 in 35 starts.  Edwards was in charge of the points race pretty much the entire season, taking the lead after a fourth-place finish on the Mexico City road course in the third event of the year and never giving it up.

·       Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won back-to-back NNS championships in only three full seasons driving the circuit.  He led the point standings for 17 weeks and clinched the title by virtue of six top-5 and nine top-10 finishes over the final 10 races in 2011.  After winning only two races en route to his first title, Stenhouse took it up a notch the following season by reaching victory lane six times and becoming only the fourth driver to win consecutive series championships.

·       Chris Buescher was never lower than third in the 2015 point standings and ended up leading the series for the final 24 weeks of the season in posting his first championship.  He won twice at Iowa and Dover to run his career victory total to three and gave owner Jack Roush his eighth title in NASCAR’s top three touring series combined.

 

FORD'S NASCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONS

 

Year       Driver                        Car Owner                    Wins        Poles

 

2002        Greg Biffle                   Roush Racing                     4            5

2007        Carl Edwards               Roush Racing                     4            0

2011        Ricky Stenhouse Jr.      Roush Fenway Racing         2            3

2012        Ricky Stenhouse Jr.      Roush Fenway Racing         6            4

2015        Chris Buescher             Roush Fenway Racing         2            0

 

FORD’S NASCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONS

Year       Owner                        Car Number                 Wins     Poles

2013        Roger Penske                       22                            14           3

2014        Roger Penske                       22                             6           10

2015        Roger Penske                       22                             8            4

 

Ford Performance NNS Manufacturers’ Championships: 1995, 2002, 2011, 2013

 

Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes

 

Ford EcoBoost 300 Advance – Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

Friday, November 20, 2015

 

Page 4

 

 

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang – 2015 NASCAR XFINITY SERIES CHAMPION

 

VICTORY LANE TV INTERVIEW

 

WHEN YOU LEFT HOME AT 16-YEARS-OLD, DID YOU THINK YOU WOULD END UP HERE, CELEBRATING A CHAMPIONSHIP? “Well, I sure hoped so. I am glad she let me. I think she is okay with it now. I have to thank my parents so much for the opportunity to be here and leave home and do this. That was such an amazing race, just being careful. Our Fastenal Mustang had good speed in it, we just had to be careful out there. I can’t say thank you enough to Fastenal coming on board the last race, Ford and Wiley X and XFINITY for their first year sponsoring the series and it is pretty amazing to be in this position.”

 

THROUGHOUT THIS CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE YOU WERE SO CALM. “I did a good job masking it didn’t I? I was a little nervous. All things considered that was exactly what we needed to do and we knew that and knew we were capable of doing it. I am glad we could pull it off for all the people that were on board all year, AdvoCare, Roush Performance, Cheez-It and all the fans. I know the weather wasn’t ideal today but they hung in there with us and we made it through this thing and get to celebrate”

 

IT WAS A DICEY MOMENT WHEN YOU PITTED AND NOBODY ELSE DID AND YOU HAD TO MAINTAIN POSITION TO GET THAT LUCKY DOG. HOW TOUGH WAS THAT? “We got what we could get on that one. Luckily it was just us and the 01 at that point and we knew that we had been running pretty well and could get that spot and the caution came out pretty quickly. It was exactly what we needed. There at the end it was 21 laps of Scott and the spotter telling me to just stay right there because I didn’t need anything else.”

 

YOU’VE TALKED ABOUT THE XFINITY VERSUS CUP FOR ROUSH FENWAY AND THE MEANING FOR YOU TO BRING A CHAMPIONSHIP TO JACK ROUSH AND WHAT THAT MEANS FOR YOU TO DO THAT FOR A MAN THAT TOOK A CHANCE ON YOU. “I am blessed to be here. It is so cool to be able to pull it off. It is so nice to have everybody out here to support us and be with us for this accomplishment.”

 

YOU SAID YOU HATE POINTS RACING. YOU STILL HATE IT? “I am not a points racer. I don’t like it. It is not the most fun way to run the last 10 races of the season but it is important. This is what we have been fighting for since February and Daytona and these guys have done such a great job and stuck in there with us all year and had no mechanical failures or DNF’s. It is a huge accomplishment for our team.”

 

 

Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes

 

Ford EcoBoost 300 – Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

Saturday, November 21, 2015

 

Page 5

 

 

 

RYAN BLANEY – No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang – “I wish it was about five to go, instead of 16.  We struggled all night and just didn’t quite have the speed to run up front.  We were about a sixth or seventh-place car and I got to second there on that restart and just couldn’t really get by the 33.  I knew it was kind of a longer run and we weren’t gonna hang on very well.  Those guys were a lot better than us on a long run, but I can’t thank everyone enough.  They did a good job working on it all night.  They got it better and better for us to even be in contention there on that last restart.  I want to thank Hertz, Discount Tire, and Ford for everything they do for us.  I’m thankful for getting to drive this 22 in the season finale and cool to get that owner’s championship too.” 

 

YOU MENTIONED WINNING THE MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP.  THAT’S THREE IN A ROW.  “Yeah, it’s still good.  It’s nice we can finally celebrate it and lock it up, so that was good.” 

 

DESCRIBE YOUR DAY.  “It was a long one for sure.  We didn’t fire off the way we wanted to, but we got better and better throughout the night.  At the end, I thought that was when we were our best.  You can’t be too upset at that.  Greg Erwin did a great job of getting us better and I can’t thank the whole team enough for that.  They had awesome pit stops on pit road.  I think we gained a few spots every stop, so I can’t thank them enough for that.  I really have to thank Hertz and Discount Tire for what they do for us.  It’s cool to get a third owner’s championship in a row and really privileged to have Roger Penske and everybody for letting me drive.”

 

DARRELL WALLACE JR. – No. 6 Roush Performance Ford Mustang – “There were so many ups-and-downs, but we continued to fight all year long.  Coming over from JGR and going to Roush was a big jump and it was a lot to learn.  I think that’s the biggest thing.  I think I accomplished that goal of learning as much as I could.  You can always learn more, don’t get me wrong, but I’m proud of myself for being able to call adjustments and everything like that.  It’s a wonderful opportunity.  It hurts a little bit not to get a win this year, but that only makes you stronger for next year.  I can’t thank Ford enough for the opportunity and Jack and everybody – RPP, Cheez-It – it’s just been a wonderful year.  There’s a little bit of disappointment, but we’ll be back next year for redemption.” 

 

WHAT ABOUT YOUR RACE TODAY?  “We brought a new car and were expecting some good results out of it and it just didn’t happen.  We were OK in practice.  I wasted a lot of time hitting the fence and that kind of put us behind, but it was a heckuva job by my team.  I can’t thank them enough for the hard work all season long.  To come home with a top-10 after how we started is like a win for us, so we’ll take it.”

 

 

Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes

Ford EcoBoost 300 Advance – Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

Friday, November 20, 2015

 

Page 6

 

 

2015 NASCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNERS CHAMPIONSHIP PRESS CONFERENCE – TEAM PENSKE

 

ROGER PENSKE, owner, No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – CONGRATULATIONS ON ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP AND WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOUR ORGANIZATION. “I think as anyone would know, having three in a row is an amazing feat and to think we did it with four different drivers in the same car just shows the continuity and Greg Erwin and the team and what they were able to put together week after week. We fought hard to win this championship and it is interesting when you have the Cup guys drive it a few weeks and then Blaney and Alex Tagliani had a great run for us on the road courses. It is pretty special to take something home this year and that is what we were able to do here at the end of the season.”

 

CAN YOU COMMENT ON RYAN BLANEY GOING FULL TIME RACING WITH THE WOOD BROTHERS NEXT YEAR? “I think it is the perfect time for Ryan to step up and he has shown what he can do in the XFINITY Series and he has shown what he can do with us. Our relationship with the Woods is a technical one but also one where we support them with equipment and I think the opportunity for him to race next year and to have a good sponsor on that car is good for the series and the history with the Wood Brothers – we raced against them for many years and to see them be able to come and have a full time car is special to the sport and we are glad to be a part of that operation and support it next year.”

 

WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS 22 TEAM YOU HAVE SEEN TO GIVE YOU THREE STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIPS? “I think it is long and deep. Brad (Keselowski) came on board here four years ago and he said we were going to build a team and we started with Paul Wolfe and when you think about the success Paul had first in the XFINITY Series winning a championship and then coming on and then Todd Gordon, another great crew chief in the series. Jeremy Bullins is over on the 21 today and then Greg Erwin. I think it has been a melting pot for our crew chiefs but at the same time they have been able to get close to the drivers and the information passed between the drivers – as you notice our cars are pretty consistent week after week between the guys. I think we have a great bench. I think the big weakness we had in the past was maybe on pit road but I have to give those guys a really high five for what they have done the last several weeks. You have to be good on the race track and after and we have developed a very strong bench which will take us a long way next year.”

 

YOU TALK ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS AS A FEEDER SERIES BUT WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE COST FOR WHAT IT TAKES TO PUT THOSE TEAMS OUT THERE, HOW DO YOU BALANCE THAT? “Well, I think it is an investment. It is an investment on pit road for building guys over the wall, point number one. Point number two it is to take a young driver like Blaney to get him in the car which is key as we try to build. The top driver just isn’t available as you need them so you have to build them. You have seen Gordon and Johnson and all the great drivers. From the standpoint of support and sponsorship, Discount Tire has been with us almost from the beginning. They like the XFINITY Series. They think it gives them exactly what they want. To me, we have a good sponsor. We only run one car. Occasionally we run two at Watkins Glen. I think it is an important part of our organization. We run two Cup cars and having the ability to work with the 21 helps us build that team and we can move people back and forth. With the XFINITY it is the early stages of young guys coming into the sport and people that can make a difference. There is just no question that the people have moved up. Everybody that is at the top level today in our Cup cars have won and worked in the XFINITY Series. I think that is amazing when you think about it.”

 

Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes

 

Ford EcoBoost 300 Advance – Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

Friday, November 20, 2015

 

Page 7

 

 

THERE WAS A TIME NOT LONG AGO YOU PROBABLY THOUGHT ONE OR BOTH OF YOUR CUP DRIVERS WOULD BE COMPETING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP TOMORROW. DO YOU FEEL WHAT TRANSPIRED WITH MATT AND JOEY IS OVER AND DONE WITH? “I haven’t had any meetings with NASCAR to be honest with you. I know Joey had a meeting this weekend but I look at it this way – what happened, happened, and you can’t go back and repay it. If you did, maybe other things would take place. It was very unfortunate when you think of the wins and poles and number of laps led we had. The two races, Texas and Martinsville we led 79-percent of the laps and in three races we end up with three wrecks and a second place. It is disappointing for the team but we are going to keep going. We have a great organization,. The fans are getting a great show and what we have to do is keep our team together. I think that is what we have done. We have kept our heads high. I fully support Brad and Joey. For me to get into a word-smithing contest with what I think or don’t think doesn’t mean anything. I think we are better off taking the high road on this stuff and continue to compete at a high level and show the speed we had. You saw what we had at Phoenix and hopefully we have a good run tomorrow and we finish this season with a lot of wins and some successes and I guess on the bottom line there will be some disappointments.”

 

DID YOU THINK THE KENSETH SUSPENSION WAS JUST CONSIDERING THE STAKES ON THE LINE FOR JOEY? “I don’t make that decision and I didn’t know exactly what would be the outcome after the accident. I could have thought a lot of things that could have happened. NASCAR called it. There was no opportunity for us to challenge it in any way, shape or form and as I said to Joey, we had to move on. You just can’t replay these things. I think the drivers talked this weekend and they have to race each other for a number of years. We have to race Gibbs and I have talked to Joey about it and I think that at the end of the day, I am going to put it behind me and go forward.”

 

Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes

 

Ford EcoBoost 300 – Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

Saturday, November 21, 2015

 

Page 8

 

DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP PRESS CONFERENCE

 

SCOTT GRAVES, Crew Chief – No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang – HOW DOES IT FEEL?  “It feels great to be a champion at this level.  When you think of competitive sports around the world, this is one of the top ones to me and to be able to get a championship in this series is an honor.”

 

WAS IT A TOUGH CALL TO BRING HIM IN THE PITS WHEN THE OTHER GUYS YOU WERE RACING STAYED OUT?  “No.  We needed the tires.  For us, we thought having fresh tires on it was gonna put us in a better position that we were gonna be up right behind the leaders and felt like we could race for the lucky dog at that point.  We knew that if we could be in the lucky dog situation, and the wavearound situation worked for those other guys, we were basically gonna be on even ground.  With the number of laps left, I figured that was our best option at that point.”

 

HOW NERVERACKING WAS IT BEING BACK IN THE PACK?  “For me it was bigger in the middle of the race when the 42 and 54 were so dominant and they came through the field.  I knew when we were in a situation when we were a lap down and the other guys weren’t, that’s when we were most vulnerable, but once they ended up being on the same lap as us, that helped out quite a bit.”

 

TALK ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIS.  “I learned a lot in 2013 with Ricky and learned a lot through that year about the teamwork and putting together a good team and what it requires.  So then in ’14 when I got the chance to work with Chris and really put our own team together that really helped as far as getting the foundation of things together.”

 

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT CHRIS’ MATURITY ON AND OFF THE TRACK?  “Last year the maturity was there, so it’s hard to say that he’s grown a lot because he’s been that mature and that solid right from the start.  This year, I think, we as a team got better, our cars got better.  Chris’ racing, he definitely grew when you look at where we were in the stats and how we improved from last year.  He’s always just been solid.  I knew I could count on him.  We got through the last month of racing even, we knew we were kind of in that situation where we just had to really be careful and not give up the big points days.  He did a really good job of managing all that.”

 

DID THE PACE OF THE TOP TWO THROW YOU OFF A LITTLE BIT?  “It surprised me to see because we haven’t seen that in a while – to see two cars just be that dominant.  It surprised me for sure.  I didn’t think we would be in that position where we would be a lap down, so that did catch us a little off guard.  We were just lucky enough that they were so dominant over everybody that it put everybody we were competing against in the same situation.”

 

HOW MUCH OF A CHALLENGE WILL IT BE TO REPEAT?  “A challenge for sure.  Going through this year and understanding how difficult it is.  You look at the guys we were competing against, you can’t have a bad day, you can’t have a DNF, and there are obviously going to be some really good people coming up in good equipment next year as well.  For sure it’s gonna be a challenge, but I’d love to have the opportunity to go back and try though.”

 

 

 

Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes

 

Ford EcoBoost 300 – Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

Saturday, November 21, 2015

 

Page 9

 

SCOTT GRAVES CONTINUED -- HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO RACE DEFENSIVELY AND CHANGE YOUR MINDSET AT THE END OF THE YEAR?  “It’s hard.  It’s more frustrating than anything because I think early on, even last year when we were trying to get the first win, we would go for it and try to take advantage of situations knowing there might be a little bit of risk but the reward was gonna be there.  Even early this year we raced like that in a few places like Dover, getting the win there.  The way that worked out we took a little bit of risk there, but it paid off.  Later in the year I don’t know that I could have done that or would have done that knowing the downfall to it on the other side.  It was frustrating for sure.  I know the last month or so Chris and I would talk about that, that we can’t wait to just go back and be able to race and not have to worry about the points side of it.”

 

 

Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes

 

Ford EcoBoost 300 – Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

Saturday, November 21, 2015

 

Page 10

 

 

 

DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP PRESS CONFERENCE

 

JACK ROUSH, Car Owner – No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang – TALK ABOUT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS CHAMPIONSHIP TODAY? “It has been a great year for us. I am recovering from a cold so I apologize for being a little hoarse. The way the championships worked out in traditional fashion before the Chase was introduced to the Cup series you had to win the races when you can and minimalize the points lost on a day when you can’t be your best. Unlike the Sprint series where it is a focus on winning races and you don’t have to worry so much about giving up on a bad day. Chris was on his game this year with Scott Graves as his crew chief and he was on his game. They managed to win two races and managed not to give up points on days they weren’t their best. That is what got us to this point. I think I have been in the XFINITY series for 25 years. I have been in the Cup series for 28 years. The third year in the Cup series we started racing XFINITY cars. It is a good series for drivers to establish themselves and earn a right of passage into the Sprint Cup and we have enjoyed a number of rookies there and a lot of success with our drivers in that series as well as the Truck series and we have won two championships in the Cup series as well.”

 

SPEAKING OF THE RIGHT OF PASSAGE, WHAT ARE THE PLANS FOR CHRIS NEXT YEAR? “We are still not sure what his arrangement will be next year. He will be involved in a Cup car to some extent but whether it is a part time program or full program we are still in the midst of finalizing the conditions of that. We have a number of possibilities but we aren’t ready to announce that today.”

 

WHAT MADE YOU TAKE A CHANCE ON CHRIS? “Chris was really identified by the Ragan family first. They gave him lodging to bring him into the Charlotte area. He is from Texas of course and you needed to have a connection to be able to finish high school and to work your way up the chain here in the Charlotte area for the progression. David Ragan’s dad, Ken Ragan, housed him and gave him a place to start. He was brought to Robbie Reiser’s attention and Robbie was impressed with him and brought him to my attention. I get the credit for finding all the driver talent we’ve had but it is generally someone else in the organization that had the first contact. He was identified by Robbie as somebody we should take a look at and we gave him some support, not a lot, for a number of years in the ARCA Series and he eventually won an ARCA championship and when we got him in a full time XFINITY car on his second year of that it has come to fruition.”

 

DO YOU EVER LOOK INTO YOUR XFINITY PROGRAM AND FIND THINGS YOU NEED TO APPLY TO YOUR CUP PROGRAM OR ARE THEY TOO DIFFERENT? “The front suspension rules with the way the shock absorbers and bump rubbers are in the XFINITY series and Cup series are different. I understand the XFINITY series will get the bump stops and shock absorber retention system that the Cup guys have next year and that will make them more similar than they have been. To the extent we can we have applied our software to those programs and with the changes that need to be done for the difference in components we use the same tools. The aero program one benefits the other with the way we cool our brakes and differential heat exchanger and the various things you do to affect the drivers cooling the air coming in and out of the passenger compartment are very similar. NASCAR, since they made the wheel base the same has allowed us to use the same chassis minus some of the differences as I mentioned in the front suspension. There is more information that flows from the Cup side based on the fact we have more engineers. We have one engineer per team for the XFINITY cars but three per team for the Cup guys that work directly with the team and that generates more ideas that benefit the XFINTY guys more than the XFINITY benefits the Cup.”

 

 

 

Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes

 

Ford EcoBoost 300 – Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

Saturday, November 21, 2015

 

Page 11

 

CAN YOU ASSESS THE OUTLOOK OF YOUR CUP PROGRAM FOR NEXT YEAR? SPECIFICALLY HOW THE LOW DOWNFORCE PACKAGE MAY BENEFIT YOU GUYS. “We have not been a fan of the high downforce, high drag package. I would like to think that given a set of rules if we had the same opportunity everyone else does we would find the same solutions but we have not progressed as rapidly as some of the other teams have. That has left us not having the year on the Cup side we would like to have. We had the two races with the low drag package and with the tires Goodyear brought those two times it sure looks like it is more lined up with the driving preference that our drivers have. I think that they will have more enthusiasm for it in 2016 than we have had in the last couple of years.”

 

HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT FOR YOU TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP ON FORD CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND? “It is always great to win at any Ford event. I know my team has won when they declared the 100th anniversary of Ford as something to be celebrated and Greg Biffle won at Michigan which was in the backyard of Ford Motor Company and that was a great honor a few years ago and we have managed to win also when Ford had their 1,000th win in NASCAR with Greg at MIS as well. Whenever Ford has their flag out we have managed more times than not to rise to the occasion. I wish we had a Cup championship or manufacturers championship opportunity but we missed that this year and will have to satisfy ourselves with the drivers championship with Chris and hope for the best next year.”

 

 

 

Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes

 

Ford EcoBoost 300 – Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

Saturday, November 21, 2015

 

Page 12

 

CHRIS BUESCHER – No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang – TALK ABOUT THIS TITLE?  “It’s obviously pretty big.  This is the biggest moment in my career.  It’s just an awesome year for our organization, for our team.  The guys did a tremendous job – no DNFs all year, no mechanical failures, nothing that we beat ourselves on.  We were flawless in that regard and it put us in the position to go out and win this thing like we did today.  We didn’t have to go out there and win the race in order to bring the championship home.  We had to make sure we finished and did just that.  I’m just so proud of the guys.  Thank you to Ford and all of our sponsors, Fastenal and Roush and AdvoCare and everyone that came on board and helped this year.  I think we ran 11 different paint schemes to make it to the end, so it was a tough year, but I’m so happy we were able to pull it off and, again, so proud of my team.  They really stepped up to the occasion and made sure this happened.”

 

ARE YOU GOING TO CHANGE YOUR TWITTER PROFILE NOW?  “I might have to modify that a little bit.  I may or may not have thought about that already (laughing).”

 

WAS IT AS HARD AS YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE TO WIN THE TITLE?  “It’s every bit as stressful as I thought it would be.  It’s always difficult.  There is tremendous depth of talent through the XFINITY Series and all the NASCAR Series right now and I think that makes it that much more special, knowing that we beat some of the best guys coming up through this sport right now and able to pull it off here at the end.  It’s a very special, very humbling experience, but it’s not easy.  This is a very difficult thing to get to and it was a lot of hard work, a lot of time put in, a lot of after hours by the guys at the shop in making sure we did everything we could to be here.  When everybody is willing to do it and they have that drive and everybody is happy and works well together, it puts together an awesome team that has the willpower to go do this.  It was hard, but we did it better than anybody else and that’s why we get to sit here right now.”

 

DID YOU EVER THINK ABOUT TRYING TO SCARE YOUR CREW?  “I had a panic moment for them.  I got three-wide one time and their voices elevated over the radio.  It was something like, ‘Three wide, middle – MIDDLE – BACK OUT.’  I was like, ‘That’s enough.  Be careful.’  We had to come out here.  I can’t tell you how many times I was told to keep that right side clean just knowing that last year here a couple guys got into the fence with the right side and actually cut tires down.  I don’t think that we had any of that in this race.  A lot of guys hit the fence, but I don’t think any of them ended up cutting a tire because of it.  So it wasn’t an issue like it was last year, but I made sure we didn’t get any right side damage to make it to the end and the guys were on my case the whole time making sure I didn’t.”

 

 

 

Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes

 

Ford EcoBoost 300 – Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

Saturday, November 21, 2015

 

Page 13

 

CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED -- TALK ABOUT THE TRANSITION GOING FROM TEXAS TO NORTH CAROLINA?  “I was very fortunate that I met the Ragans when I was racing Legends cars.  From Texas we raced Legends cars out on the east coast three months every summer.  That’s what I spent my summer vacations as a kid doing.  We traveled out to Charlotte.  We raced 40-60 races in that period of time and we stayed very busy, worked very hard to make sure that we were able to be competitive in all those races and through that and through a black flag I received for rough driving one week, I was fortunate enough to meet Ken Ragan and got to know David at the same time as David was getting his break over at Roush and started driving the 6 truck with Mark Martin on that part-time basis.  It got to the point where we got to be good friends and Ken got to a point where he said, ‘Man, we want to help you.  We’d like to see you make this.  I think you can do it, but you’ve got to move to Charlotte.’  He told my family that and I’m like, ‘We can’t.  I have two younger sisters out in Texas, both very heavily involved in after school activities.  Their lives are out there and I can’t expect them to uproot for me.’  So my parents told me we weren’t gonna be able to do it and Ken said, ‘Why don’t you just move in with us?  David just moved out and you can just take his bedroom and just keep up with the yard and make sure it’s mowed and kept up nice and we’ll see what we can do to give you a hand.’  So I left the house just before 16 years old and moved out to Charlotte.  I home schooled through what was left of my high school years.  I went and got a GED and pretty much did whatever I could to stay racing.  I worked in David Ragan’s shop.  I helped on his late model Legends cars and they really helped me get to this point.  They really gave me an opportunity that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.  I’ve got to thank my parents for being gracious enough to let me move away from home at 16 years old.  That was not tough on them, but I think after today they know it was well worth it.”

 

JACK SAID HE’S NOT SURE ABOUT WHAT YOU’LL DO NEXT YEAR.  WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED TO LEARN BEFORE BEING A FULL-TIME CUP DRIVER?  “I think if you look and realize that Cup drivers come down to the XFINITY level every race there’s always something to be learned.  They know that and that’s why they do it.  To me, that’s part of just seat time.  You’ve got to learn everything you can every race.  There’s always something different about a race track.  There are similarities between the two race cars now.  Like Jack was talking about with the rules as close as they are now, there are things we can bounce back and forth.  There’s always something to learn.  Everytime you get in a race car you figure out something.  I’ve been clear.  I’m not in a rush.  If it comes around, that’s the first I’ve heard of it by the way, so it’s kind of like the radio interview where Jack said something four months ago and I found out from my dad.  If that’s what it brings, then I’ll do my best to prepare for it and be ready and if not, we’ll go try and double up on these XFINITY championships.  Right now, we’re living in the moment.  It’s a big weight off our shoulders.  We get to calm down a little bit and get to celebrate and enjoy the banquet – do some off-shore fishing while we’re out here in Florida – and we’ll go back and gear up for 2016.”

 

YOUR THOUGHT ON KYLE LARSON NOT DOING A BURNOUT BECAUSE IT WAS YOUR DAY?  “I noticed that.  I never heard him do anything and that’s a class act right there.  That’s pretty neat.  In the same sense it was his weekend too.  His isn’t over and he earned the right to do whatever he would have liked.  I really appreciate it, but he did a heckuva job.  They were fast today and they showed that they were able to pull this thing off, so congratulations to him on winning the race.  That’s neat to hear.  I didn’t realize that.”

 

 

 

Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes

 

Ford EcoBoost 300 – Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

Saturday, November 21, 2015

 

Page 14

 

CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED -- CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHEN YOU WON THE ARCA TITLE IN 2012 AND HOW DID THAT HELP GET YOU TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?  “I think at the time ARCA was the best stepping stone to get into one of the three NASCAR major series.  I learned so much racing with the Roulo brothers.  We worked 90 hours a week during the summer months trying to make sure we had race cars on track ready to go.  Something we learned from the two full-time years was just making sure we were there every race.  You can’t go to a race track and have a malfunction.  You can’t afford to skip over something in the shop.  You can’t afford to make a stupid mistake and find yourself three laps down.  Our championship year in 2012 in ARCA we finished every lap of competition that there was to be had.  We never finished a lap down.  We never had a DNF, and that made us realize real quick that is a huge part of points racing.  In the grand scheme of things, it’s a huge part of racing in general.  You can’t afford to wreck race cars.  It doesn’t do anybody any good for points or for that race, so there are times to be patient and times to get aggressive and I learned real quick there was a difference in those periods.  We had to make sure we were smart about it all year in 2015 to get to where we’re at now, so just so much little stuff like that as I was growing up in the sport and learning how to drive stock cars.  I learned from the Ruolo brothers at that time period.  I’m pretty confident to say I could disassemble a race car down to a bare chassis and put it back together because of it.  It’s all things that you learn and understand and it makes you appreciate the amount of work that goes into these race cars, the amount of time to get a car ready for a race weekend is just unreal.  When you know all that, you try really hard not to wreck them.”

 

DID YOU HAVE AN ANXIOUS MOMENT WHEN THE THREE GUYS TOOK THE WAVEAROUND AND YOU PITTED?  “A little bit.  I did know that they took a very different strategy and looking back at it it was them on older tires.  We had our stickers and honestly the 42 was so fast there wasn’t a huge chance of them being able to pull off the victory and get the bonus points that would have put us in jeopardy.  Even with us being on a different lap, I think we were still 11th on that restart and there was only one other car we were racing for the lucky dog, so we would have been 12th at worst in that scenario and our clinch spot was 13th, so from a points standpoint, no, it wasn’t that bad.  I knew we were in decent shape.  I was just trying to get them to feed me as much information as possible, so that I knew where we were at and what we needed to do, who we needed to race.  That was probably the toughest part with the pace that Kyle set, both Kyles.  It was hard to figure out who was one lap down, two and on the lead lap.  It was a very fast-paced race.”

 

 

 

Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes

 

Ford EcoBoost 300 – Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

Saturday, November 21, 2015

 

Page 15

 

CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED -- CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE BLACK FLAG STORY?  “I don’t know how in-depth I want to get in this story.  It wasn’t that bad.  I got black-flagged one week for rough driving at Charlotte Motor Speedway – quarter-mile frontstretch, Legends cars.  Everyone knows it’s a contact sport there.  You’ve got to do all you can do to make spots up.  It was not the only time I got black-flagged for rough driving there.  I got sat out a week later on, maybe the next year.  I got to sit in the tower and watch the race.  I said, ‘Man, if I’m not allowed to race can I come and sit with you guys in the tower?’  I don’t think they liked me asking that, but they let me.  The original incident, I don’t remember exactly what happened.  It was a heat race and I went over to 600 and my crew chief at the time was already good friends with the Ragans, had grew up with them and knew them.  I think Ken might have dropped a bug in his ear.  He said, ‘You need to bring him over and let me talk to him.  I’ll settle him right down,’ and that he did.  After a several hour conversation, which conversation would imply that I was getting to talk back, but it was a learning experience.  For me, I was 12 or 13 right then.  It made me realize that there’s time to go and there’s a time to be patient.  From there on out, I got a little bit cleaner.  I was still able to be aggressive but knew the time and place.  I think that helped a lot and got to be good friends with the Ragan family from there.  Like I said, when I moved in with Ken and Beverly, David’s parents, and his older brother, Adam, basically let me fit right into the family and go work at David’s shop.  I had to be home at 7:30 to eat dinner every night.  David’s shop was 300 feet down the road, so I either had to walk or ride a bike, but it was fun.  That’s what everyone wants to do right there is do everything they can to get to this point and I enjoyed every second of it.”

 

 

 

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