Chris Buescher: From ARCA Champion to RFK Racing Cup Driver

Christopher William Buescher is an American stock car driver who races in the NASCAR Cup Series for RFK Racing. He won the ARCA Racing Series title in 2012 and the NASCAR Xfinity Series title in 2015. He is also the cousin of James Buescher, the 2012 Truck Series champion.

Who is Chris Buescher?

Chris Buescher was born on 29 October 1992 and races a Ford Mustang Dark Horse with the No. 17 for RFK Racing. He is a regular in the Cup Series, and his career has run from Legends cars in Texas to the top tier of American stock car racing.

His rise came through the development ranks. He moved to North Carolina in 2008, and David Ragan, a Cup driver, became his mentor there. Roush Fenway Racing signed him as a development driver, and he began ARCA competition in 2009.

An ARCA and Xfinity champion with a rookie Pocono win and three wins in 2023 for RFK Racing.

Starting out in Legends cars and ARCA

Buescher began his professional career in 2005, racing Legends cars in Texas for Speedway Legends. He won more than one hundred races in those cars, which made him a prolific winner before he reached stock cars.

His time in the ARCA Racing Series started in 2009 and produced his first major title three years later.

How did Buescher win his first championships?

Buescher won the 2012 ARCA Racing Series championship, and no other driver had completed every lap of a season in that series. He then won the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series title, his first national crown in NASCAR, decided in November.

His Xfinity career began with two races for Roush Fenway Racing in 2011. He returned in 2013 for seven races, and in 2014 he moved full-time into the No. 60 Ford. That rookie season brought a ninth at Las Vegas, a seventh at Richmond and a second at Talladega before his first career win came at Mid-Ohio.

In 2015 he finished second to teammate Ryan Reed at Daytona and fourth at Atlanta, which put him level with Ty Dillon at the top of the standings. He then won at Iowa Speedway after passing Chase Elliott on the final restart, and at Dover, where contact with teammate Bubba Wallace near the finish drew a sharp reaction.

The title was settled at Homestead-Miami Speedway on 21 November 2015. Buescher finished eleventh after a Lucky Dog pass restored him to the lead lap, and he kept Chase Elliott, Ty Dillon and Regan Smith behind him in the title race.

The Front Row years and a rookie Cup win

Buescher made his Cup debut in 2015 at California, in the No. 34 car run by Front Row Motorsports, and he finished 20th. He ran five more Cup races for the team that year before a full-time ride was announced in December.

The 2016 season began badly. He crashed hard at Daytona and finished 39th, and at Talladega his car flipped three times in a barrel roll. The No. 34 team struggled with superspeedway wrecks, and he also crashed out of the summer Daytona race.

Things turned at Pocono. Late in the Pennsylvania 400 Buescher gained the lead through a different pit strategy, and then fog rolled across the circuit. After a long wait, NASCAR ended the race, and the result gave Buescher his first Cup victory.

The win was Front Row's second, and Buescher also became the first Rookie of the Year contender to win since Joey Logano in 2009. He also gave Pocono its first rookie winner since Denny Hamlin in 2006.

The Chase came into view at Richmond, where he locked in his place. Chicagoland, New Hampshire and Dover produced finishes of 28th, 30th and 23rd, and he was out after the first round.

The JTG Daugherty years

Roush Fenway passed the No. 16 charter to JTG Daugherty Racing in late 2016, and Buescher took over the new ride, announced as the No. 37. He began 2017 with a 35th-place finish in the Daytona 500, and his first top ten with the team came at Daytona later that season, when he finished tenth.

The 2018 season brought top fives at both Daytona races, in February and July. He finished 24th in the points, two places behind teammate A. J. Allmendinger.

In 2019 he scored consecutive top tens for the first time in his Cup career, including a sixth at the Coca-Cola 600. In September that year, Roush Fenway Racing announced that he was named to take over from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the No. 17 for 2020.

How did the RFK Racing era begin?

Buescher opened 2020 third at the Daytona 500, and he struggled initially after the pandemic break before scoring a top ten at Charlotte. The season ended 21st in points with eight top tens, a career high. The 2021 season was more consistent, and he stayed within the top twenty in the points.

In 2021 he finished second at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, but NASCAR disqualified him after his car failed post-race inspection for a rear sub-frame assembly violation.

His 2022 season opened with a sixteenth at the Daytona 500, followed by top tens at Phoenix, Atlanta and Dover. At Dover he earned his first career Cup pole. At the Coca-Cola 600 he was involved in a crash that left his car rolling five times, and he walked away under his own power.

The peak seasons from 2022 to 2024

Buescher missed the Gateway race after a positive COVID-19 test, and Zane Smith drove in his place. He returned to finish second to Daniel Suarez at Sonoma a week later, and he later led a race-high 169 laps before winning the Bristol night race.

That Bristol win was his second career victory. It ended a 222-race drought for him, and the team had waited five years for a win of its own.

The 2023 season began with a fourth at the Daytona 500. Buescher then won at Richmond, which secured his first playoff berth since 2016, and he won again the next week at Michigan. That made back-to-back wins for RFK Racing, the first pair since Carl Edwards closed out 2010.

He added a third win at the Daytona night race, reached the Round of 8 in the playoffs for the first time, and finished seventh in the points. His average finish of 12.2 was a career best.

In 2024 he was beaten by Kyle Larson at Kansas by only 0.001 seconds, the closest finish in Cup history. The following week he was walled by Tyler Reddick at the Goodyear 400. At Watkins Glen a late brush with the wall by Shane van Gisbergen opened the way for Buescher's win.

What went wrong with the 2025 penalty?

NASCAR penalised the No. 17 team at level L1 after its research staff found reinforcement behind the front bumper foam that exceeded two inches. The team lost sixty points in the owner and driver standings, plus five playoff points, and paid a US$75,000 fine, and crew chief Scott Graves was suspended for two races.

The National Motorsports Appeals Panel later ruled that the team had broken some of the rules named in the penalty, though not all. It reduced the points loss to thirty and kept the five playoff points, the two-race suspension and the US$75,000 fine.

Career milestones at a glance

What is Buescher's legacy?

Buescher is remembered for his 2012 ARCA and 2015 Xfinity titles, his rookie Pocono win and his steady run at RFK Racing. His 2023 season, with three wins and a seventh-place points finish, was his best in the Cup Series, and his 2024 Watkins Glen win added another.

In August 2025 it was announced that he would race a Truck Series event at Watkins Glen, in ThorSport Racing's No. 66 Ford.

In June 2026 he agreed a multi-year deal to remain with RFK Racing, keeping him in the No. 17 car for the years ahead.