RFK Racing driver Chris Buescher’s season hasn’t turned out as he and his #17 team would have liked. After 21 starts in 2024, the Texas native is still searching for his first win, ensuring his qualification for the playoffs. What has only added to his woes is the fact that Buescher has been fairly unlucky on multiple occasions where he could’ve easily won the race.

He had a heartbreak, finishing second at the Kansas Speedway in NASCAR’s closest-ever finish. And the very next race, when he was in contention at Darlington, he was taken out of commission by Tyler Reddick in a battle for the lead. Two weeks in a row, he had clear opportunities to get that vital result, but he somehow ended up on the bitter end of things.

Despite these tough breaks, though, Chris Buescher didn’t hesitate to label himself the ‘Lucky Dog’ of NASCAR while talking to EssentiallySports at Pocono this past weekend.

Initially, it was surprising to hear the driver, who is yet to catch a break, call himself lucky. But as we talked to him, we understood that he had a good reason for this verdict.

Chris Buescher turns the clock a few weeks to justify his ‘Lucky Dog’ of NASCAR crown

The Ally 400 race was one of the most chaotic yet entertaining Cup races of the season so far. It was a wreck fest that most of the drivers couldn’t avoid. After 15 cautions, 5 overtime runs, and multiple cars running out of fuel, it was Joey Logano who secured his first victory of the season. Managing to escape the carnage and being caught in the multiple wrecks, Chris Buescher got himself a solid P5 finish.

Having the topsy-turvy race still fresh in his memory, Buescher knew what he was going to say when NASCAR Journalist Bharat Aggarwal from EssentiallySports asked him who he thinks is the ‘Lucky Dog’ of NASCAR.

Buescher answered, “There’s an amount of luck in our sport right? but it’s hard to tell for sure. If you’d asked me after Nashville, it would have been us because we narrowly avoided like four accidents, so after last week, there’s probably a lot of cars. Anybody that finished last week without damage was probably lucky, considering how the race played out.”

In total, 12 race cars ended their day with a DNF finish, including the likes of Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain. It has to be noted that, alongside Buescher, these two drivers are also in the race to make it to the playoffs.

What’s good is that the 31-year-old seems to have hung onto his luck as he continues to make gains in the points standings following the end of the Pocono race.

Others’ misery worked wonders for Chris Buescher at Pocono

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The race at Tricky Triangle was the first of the last six attempts for the drivers to seal their playoff berth. At a time like this, pressure alone can get the best of a driver. And that is arguably what we saw happening with Ross Chastain, who lost control of his race car early in the race and rammed the No. 1 Chevy hard into the safer barriers.

With a broken suspension, he was done for the day. Moreover, Kyle Busch, who was also looking to disrupt the standings, was taken out of the race by Corey LaJoie in a late-race restart. Now all Chris Buescher needed to do for a decent finish was to keep himself out of trouble. And that is exactly what he did, bagging a P11 result, creating a points gap between him and others.

Buescher toppled the Melon Man from the 12th spot in the standings. Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace also sneakily made gains with a top-10 finish. However, given the speed and consistency the #17 team has shown so far, they would like to snag a win or two rather than relying on points to make the playoffs.