Chris Buescher says Sunday’s race could reminiscent of the wild, wild west

FORT WORTH, TX - MARCH 29: Chris Buescher, driver of the #37 Kroger Speed Up Your Cleanup Chevrolet, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on March 29, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images)

Chris Buescher doesn’t have a bag of tricks to deploy at Texas Motor Speedway.

But the introduction of a new aerodynamic package on a surface that was paved two years ago just might help.

The Prosper, Texas, native knows it takes more than magic to run well at his home track. Since the 1.5-mile venue was repaved in 2017, the surface has been lightning fast. Fortunately, the advances JTG Daugherty Racing has made this season have bolstered Buescher’s confidence entering this Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“Everybody has been trying to work with this package, and we spent a lot more time and resources getting everything ready to hit the ground running,” Buescher said. “We don’t have to spend all the resources that we don’t have trying to find all these tricks and things. It has been a way for us to try and get closer to the field.

“I don’t think it took and changed the running order. I think we still see the dominant cars are the dominant cars, but we are just a lot closer. We have gotten into the next group of cars and I know the work that we have put into it and everybody back at the shop has, has paid off.”

Comparing Buescher’s last five starts of this season to the same timeframe last year and the driver of the No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has improved by an average eight positions on the race track.

Buescher is looking for similar improvements at Texas. He scored his first top-15 finish in the spring race last year in his sixth career start.

“Since the repave, I have actually enjoyed Texas quite a bit,” Buescher said. “I liked it before, but we have run better with it the way that it is. And I don’t really have an explanation why, it really doesn’t make sense. The track being so different from one end to the other it has been a big challenge for us set up wise.

Buescher wouldn’t be surprised if Sunday’s action in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race is reminiscent of the wild, wild west as drivers running wide open with this package. He’s predicting cars barreling into Turn 1 five-wide on the restarts and more side-by-side racing with the additional downforce and slower entry speeds.

“With (turns) one and two being as wide as they are, it’s going to be wild, wild restarts,” Buescher said. “The groove has not come in yet. So, I don’t know how that is going to work. (Turns) 3 and 4 was pretty close to wide open with the old package. Lots of grip over there and lots of banking, very fast.

“So, with this one, I know we will be wide open. I just don’t know, being that there is enough banking to hold it, it might widen out better than it has in the past. That is my hope. I think you are going to see a different race at Texas than we have had with the other package. In my mind, it should maybe change a little bit more than the others have.”

He’ll roll off 19 Sunday.

Greg Engle