RELATED: Watch Buescher's Talladega tumble
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Chris Buescher's Sprint Cup restrictor plate racing career has started off with a pair of loud bangs, and they weren't Victory Lane fireworks.
The Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate took a hard hit in the 2016 season opener at Daytona International Speedway, with a nose-first crash into the SAFER barrier. Afterward, Buescher said it was the hardest hit he had ever taken in racing.
Then last week in the GEICO 500, the 23-year-old Front Row Motorsports driver went rolling down the backstretch of Talladega Superspeedway after his No. 34 Ford made contact with Kyle Larson's No. 42 Chevrolet.
"It's been a little bit of a rocky start to the season with a couple accidents and a little bit of bad luck," Buescher told NASCAR.com on Friday, assessing his 2016 season so far.
Seven cars wound up being caught up in that second accident in Talladega, which was triggered by contact between Austin Dillon and Jamie McMurray just past the halfway mark of the race.
Buescher says the Daytona hit was exponentially worse.
"There was no sudden loss of momentum at Talladega," Buescher said. "It looked spectacular. But it did not have near the impact."
Carl Edwards and Brian Scott both became up-close spectators for Buescher's wreck last weekend.
"I went by (Chris) Buescher flipping down the back straightaway and I just -- I mean, he was flipping the entire time I was going by and I thought, 'Man, I hope nobody hits him in the roll cage,' " Edwards said Friday at Kansas Speedway. "I went and looked at his car afterwards and those are very risky situations."
Buescher said that Scott was going to be the car that hit him if the No. 44 driver couldn't get his Ford slowed down fast enough behind the tumbling No. 34.
"Brian Scott was right behind us the whole time as we were flipping and was like, 'Man, it's amazing how quickly your car slows down as it's flipping through the air.' He said, 'I'm on the brakes, I'm downshifting, doing everything I can to slow down and I'm still catching you.' "
Buescher said he has been upside down once before, but that was in a Legends car, and he actually finished that race in the top 10.
"It was a much lazier flip, and it just kind of on its roof all the way around the corner. We just flipped it over and finished like sixth or something like that. It wasn't a big deal."
Another wreck illustrating the difference between force and optics came later in the Talladega race, as Matt Kenseth's No. 20 Toyota went up in the air but Danica Patrick's No. 10 Chevrolet went directly into the SAFER barrier, leaving the Stewart-Haas Racing driver bent over against the inside wall and experiencing a pinch when she breathed. Patrick had chest X-rays in the Talladega care center and was cleared.
Kenseth was unhurt, and Patrick said Friday that she "got a couple bruises but I feel really good. I think I'm very fortunate that I'm short. I'm lucky there was a SAFER barrier. And you gotta thank the man above for an accident like that and not having any problems."
Patrick said the steering wheel and the pedals all came crushing in toward her. Buescher said that the way he has seen and heard Patrick talk about handling major wrecks helped him.
"I tried to tuck in," Buescher said of his 'Dega barrel roll. "Danica might have been the first one that I realized starting doing it, just tucking in during situations where you've lost all hope of saving it.
"I was just hoping no one was going to hit us. It's that second impact that's really gonna hurt."
Scott did get slowed down, the rest of the field avoided them, and Buescher's Ford landed on all four wheels, the driver quickly radioing, "I'm OK." Buescher was not injured in the wreck.
"I actually didn't have anything afterwards. Went to the chiropractor just to check up on everything. I had to go a lot more after Daytona."
Buescher was ultimately scored as finishing 37th at Talladega and 39th at Daytona. He enters Saturday's GoBowling 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in 34th place in the standings and looking to top his series-best finish of 20th as his Front Row Motorsports team continues to jell.