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FORT WORTH, Texas — Points racing is an aspect of motorsports that drivers typically don’t cop to, even though it’s often the safest and most logical way to secure a championship as a season nears its closing races.
XFINITY Series standings leader Chris Buescher reluctantly admitted he spent Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge hoping to keep his points lead secure ahead of the season’s final two races, avoiding trouble when he could and driving defensively.
The Texas native would’ve loved to pick up his first home state win, but knows there’s a bigger task at hand.
“We had to points race a little bit today,” Buescher said on pit road after coming home 11th. “You get in situations where you come up on lapped traffic, which was extremely difficult today. Came up on situations where we were three-wide and you just have to ease up. Especially if somebody had caught us from any distance; just try and cut them some slack in order to preserve our championship hope. There was some points racing today, as much as I hate to admit it. It’s going to be part of our next two weeks.”
Buescher’s points lead now sits at a healthy 24 points over defending series champion Chase Elliott and 30 over Ty Dillon, both of whom are expected to move up to the Sprint Cup Series in 2016 while Buescher continues to sharpen his skills in the XFINITY Series for another season.
Considering he was already doing the math just minutes after stepping out of his No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang, don’t expect the strategy to change for Phoenix or Homestead — especially as the intensity mounts.
“It isn’t comfortable yet. I’m not using that word,” Buescher said. “It is a cushion that we have and I guess you average that out to 12 spots per race so if we go out and finish top-10 the last two, we should be in good shape. That would be cutting it too close for comfort but we need to just have some solid runs the next two weeks.”
Even though Buescher isn’t comfortable enough to shift into cruise control — figuratively speaking, of course — you’d think the pressure would be on those below him in the standings, whose best bet is to just capitalize on any mistakes he makes while needing to turn in their strongest performances of the year.
But is it?
“I know as the weeks go on, (Buescher’s) going to feel more pressure to make sure he doesn’t mess up and hopefully I’m there to capitalize,” said Dillon, who made up some ground as the highest-finishing series regular, in fifth. “I was just trying to win the race. We did the best that we could do today and with him finishing 11th, it was a good day for us. It’s going to take that mistake and he’s doing the right thing now and we’ve just got to keep managing our own race and try to get in Victory Lane and gain max points.
“… If I’m wasting my time focusing on what (Buescher’s) doing,” Dillon said. “I’m going to be in trouble.”