Chris Buescher admits this week was a little unreal.
Coming off his first career Sprint Cup win — and that one in a race that ran at Pocono Raceway last Monday — he had little time to let that victory sink in.
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"I don't think it has yet just because of how busy we have stayed," said Buescher, a Cup rookie. "I really haven't had time to just relax and settle in yet. I haven't really gotten to go see any of my friends that would usually be talking about it or pumped up about it. It has been from one outing to the next and all about trying to make sure we are better for the Glen here this weekend."
He said all the Roush Fenway Racing drivers, as well as he and Landon Cassill of Front Row Motorsports, were in Utah "practicing and doing some shifting in some Mustangs" to prepare for this weekend's road-course race. He spent Wednesday and Thursday on the phone doing interviews, which is a "really good problem to have. I killed my phone battery twice in one day, which is a new record for me."
He hasn't even had time for lunch with friends to rehash that win. That will have to wait until after the racing this weekend.
Right now, his focus is more specific.
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Chief on his list this weekend will be getting into the top 30 in the points standings. Buescher's win will put him into the 16-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup field if he moves into the top 30.
He must be in that group five races from now, when the last "regular season" race at Richmond is completed.
As he talks about it, Buescher is more surprised that they are not already in the top 30 in points.
"I absolutely think we can get into the top 30," he said. "We really shouldn't have been out of it."
He points to three races that he failed to finish — two in which he says his car just got hit. So taking that into account, he's confident he can move into the top 30 in the standings over the course of the next five races and join the Chase contenders.
"If we look at it now, we are in good shape to be heading forward," he said.
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As he looks over his season, and the races to come, Buescher is confident that he can move into the Chase field. The work toward that starts this weekend.
"As we go forward, we have had pretty awesome support from Roush Fenway this year," Buescher said. "A lot of the races we have been kind of half-and-half on what we are doing but as we look at the Chase coming up here I think we will be able to try to step up our program as much as possible. I know when we landed from Utah, our 34 team was still in the shop at 10:30 at night to make sure we had the best piece possible for the Glen this weekend. I know the team is working as hard as they possibly can to make sure we are running better."