RFK Racing achieved something important this week by signing Chris Buescher to a multi-year extension. As it turns out, the team did not have the easiest time accomplishing this.
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They had to fret about other teams who recognized Buescher's ability to contend for race wins.
"There was a lot of competition for Chris and a lot of teams in the garage area that wanted him," team co-owner Brad Keselowski said on Friday at Naval Base Coronado.
"It was not a layup for us to re-sign him, but we feel fortunate that he felt our commitment was strong enough to want to stay with us."
Buescher has been a member of the team since he was a teenager, albeit with some gaps. He won an O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship with RFK Racing — then Roush Fenway Racing — before spending the first part of his Cup Series career with Front Row Motorsports and JTG Daugherty Racing.
The Prosper, Texas, native reunited with RFK Racing in 2020, and he has remained behind the wheel of the No. 17 Ford ever since. He has won five races and drawn attention as someone who can consistently contend for top-five finishes and wins.
Buescher hasn't won won since Watkins Glen International in 2024, but he has still performed consistently while continuing to post top-10s. This includes eight in the first 16 races this season.
The Texas native is seventh in the Cup Series standings with 10 races remaining in the regular season, and he has an average finish of 13.2. This is the second-best mark of his career, only behind the 2023 season (12.1) when he won three races.
Losing Buescher would have potentially posed significant problems for RFK Racing, but the team avoided this outcome by taking care of business and locking him down for the foreseeable future.
"Chris right now is obviously a cornerstone of our company," Keselowski said. "He's delivered results. He puts us in a position to win and compete that I'm really proud of.
"He's doing all the work he needs to do to be successful. He's taken his lumps, paid a lot of dues, and we just want to give him the best car we can give him so he can win races."
