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The resurgence of Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing was one of the more surprising stories in NASCAR last season.
It had been a while since anyone considered a Roush-backed team to be a legitimate threat to win races, but we were all proved wrong last year, as Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski combined for 33 top-10 finishes (up from a combined 16 the year prior) while Buescher found victory lane three times--the same number of wins that the entire organization had won over the previous eight years combined.
Keselowski knocked the door of victory lane a few times last season--particularly at Daytona, Atlanta, Richmond, and Michigan--but Buescher was the true shining star for the Roush-Fenway Keselowski organization.
In addition to the three race wins that the driver of the No. 17 Ford collected, he also posted the second-best average finish in the series last year (12.1 over the 36 races, a career-high by a mile) and had career-highs in top fives (nine) as well as top 10s (17).
It was, without a doubt, a breakout season for Chris Buescher last year. Now the question is, can he build on that success as we enter the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season?
Buescher's True Chance To Become A Great Driver
The combination of the NextGen car and Brad Keselowski's investment in the company has allowed Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing to emerge as a true contender once again. And what this finally does is open the door for Chris Buescher to showcase his talents to everyone, really for the first time ever.
Buescher raced for underfunded teams for most of his career, starting with Front Row Motorsports in 2016 before jumping over to JTG-Daugherty Racing for the three seasons after that. In 2020, Buescher moved over to what was then Roush-Fenway Racing, which had regressed mightily from its heyday in the mid-2010s. Roush was just another underfunded organization at that point in time.
Chris Buescher is a very talented racecar driver--remember, he won the Xfinity Series championship over Chase Elliott in 2015--and this finally feels like his opportunity to shine. Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing has shown over the last year and a half that they can bring very fast race cars to the track, and Buescher has shown that he can get those hot rods to victory lane, as he did at Richmond, Michigan, and Daytona last season.
It's already safe to say that Buescher is firmly the third-best driver in the Cup Series when it comes to those who drive Fords, and the only two above him are last year's Series champion, Ryan Blaney, and his Penske teammate, Joey Logano, who has won two Championships.
Will he be able to have another multiple-win season in 2024 and advance deep into the Playoffs? Absolutely, and for those fans who are desperate for the days of Roush being relevant again, you have a great driver to root for on Sundays.
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