Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing, will make his 400th NASCAR Cup Series start in Sunday’s XFINITY 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
The Prosper, Texas-native will look to join an elite club of drivers who have gone to Victory Lane in their 400th start at NASCAR’s top-level, a club that includes Dale Earnhardt, Dave Marcis, David Pearson, Jimmie Johnson, and Lee Petty.
Buescher, throughout his 11-year tenure competing in the NASCAR Cup Series, has made starts for three organizations: RFK Racing (252 starts), JTG-Daugherty Racing (108 starts), and Front Row Motorsports (42 starts).
Five of Buescher’s six NASCAR Cup Series victories have come while driving the No. 17 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing (formerly Roush Fenway Racing), the most recent of which came at Watkins Glen in the Fall of 2024, 78 races ago.
In the NASCAR Cup Series, everything started in the Spring of 2015. Buescher, a full-time driver for Roush Fenway Racing in what is now known as the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, got a phone call from Robbie Reiser (GM for Roush) asking him to fill in for Brett Moffitt in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports entry.
The opportunity arose after Kyle Busch broke his leg in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event at Daytona in February of 2015. Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) tapped David Ragan to drive the No. 18, with Brett Moffitt shifting into the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 55, and leaving a vacancy for multiple drivers in the Front Row Motorsports No. 34.
Buescher finished inside the top 20 on that afternoon, earned five more starts with the Beb Jenkins-owned team, and then, on loan from Roush, got a full-time ride in the No. 34 for the 2016 NASCAR Cup Series campaign. In his 27th NASCAR Cup Series start, Chris Buescher and Front Row Motorsports found Victory Lane in a fog-shortened event at Pocono Raceway.
Fast-forward to the present day, and Buescher has six NASCAR Cup Series victories and has been a member of RFK Racing’s driver lineup, piloting the historic No. 17 Ford, since rejoining the organization in 2020.
Having just signed a multi-year contract extension in June, there’s no telling what milestone Buescher will reach with RFK Racing in the future.
“It’s cool to say that you’ve earned your place and have the right to be here for 400 starts,” Buescher says, explaining that his next milestone start may come as much of a surprise to him as this one has. “Whether it’s another 100 or 400. We’re not gonna count them down. I’ve not counted them to this point, and I’m not going to count them beyond.”
The XFINITY 500 will take place Sunday, November 1 at 2:00 PM ET on NBC.
Photo: Rory Malloy
