The last couple of years haven’t exactly been banner ones for Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing. Last season, his first as co-owner of the team, Brad Keselowski scored just one top five and one-10 finish.
The team’s second driver Chris Buescher did win at Bristol in the fall last season, which was a highlight for the team, but the co-owner’s on-track performance left the team with inconsistent results.
That might be changing.
So far this season, Buescher has two top-5 and four top -10 finishes through 11 races; Keselowski has two top five, and five top 10 finishes in the same time frame.
Monday at Dover marked the second race in a row that saw both RFK team cars finish inside the top 10.
Keselowski led the way finishing eighth.
“We had a good recovery,” he said. “Had top-five in the first stage, had a pit road issue, and we recovered from that. Solid top-10 day – drove back through. We’re not far off here. Just looking for a little more, and I felt like we were pretty close. Excited about that, proud of our day – especially Chris [Buescher] running well. Just a strong showing.”
Buescher finished ninth.
“Yeah, it was a solid day,” Buescher said. “I’m really proud of our group.
“This Fastenal Mustang had good speed in it all day – probably fifth to 10th is probably where we were going to be. Ended up ninth with the late restart and had a lap-down car racing us pretty hard. Jacked us up there, but at the end of the day it was solid.”
Buescher said that the team is looking for momentum, something he felt they didn’t have after their strong finish at Talladega where he finished third, and Keselowski fifth.
“We knew we were going to have fast cars at Talladega, and fortunately we were able to get the good result there that probably would reflect the speed in our cars,” he said. “But it’s hard to say if that’s the one you’re going to take momentum from.
“This one is. This was a really good day. Especially when it’s eight or nine cars on the lead lap at the end. We stayed in it that whole time. That’s strong. I think this was about the time we hit our stride last year. I feel like we’ve had a little bit of a stronger start to the season, but not always had the results. But, we have speed, and we were able to work steadily today and be solid. We got the result we deserve and worked for.”
Co-owner Keselowski is encouraged by the effort but isn’t celebrating too loudly, at least not yet.
“It was just a big day for us,” he said. “We’re just grinding. The whole company is just grinding and committed to taking us to the next level to get both these cars in the playoffs.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
- Biffle, Dorton, Sprague join NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2025 nominees for the first time - April 24, 2024
- NASCAR will experiment with different tire compounds for the first time at All-Star Race - April 23, 2024
- Legacy Motor Club reserve driver Corey Heim to sub for Erik Jones at Dover - April 23, 2024