It is so hard to believe that there are only two races to go for this season of NASCAR! This weekend, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will head to the desert to ISM Raceway (formerly Phoenix International Raceway) for the Bluegreen Vacations 500, which you can catch at 2:30 Sunday afternoon on NBC. This race will determine the four guys that will race for a championship the following weekend at Homestead Miami Speedway. Martin Truex Jr and Kevin Harvick are locked into the Championship Four, due to their Round of Eight wins at Martinsville and Texas respectively. This weekend at Phoenix will determine the other two guys to make the Championship Four. Eligible drivers include Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, who are currently above the cut line, plus Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, and Chase Elliott. Chase is in a must-win situation, but as we've seen this season, anything can happen, so I wouldn't count any of these six guys out until the checkered flag flies at Phoenix!
It's always so cool to hear a driver's perspective going into this season, and Chris Buescher was kind enough to call and chat racing. Buescher sits 20th in points and did not make the playoffs this season, but next year could quite possibly be a different scenario for him. In 2015, Buescher won the Xfinity Series Championship running for Roush Fenway Racing. In 2016, he landed a Cup Series ride with Front Row Motorsports. He moved over to JTG Daugherty in 2017, where he has raced ever since, and then in September, it was announced that Buescher would be heading back to Roush Fenway beginning in the 2020 season. He will be taking over the 17 cup car from Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: Stenhouse Jr. will move to JTG Daugherty to take over the #37 currently driven by Buescher. Here is my chat in it's entirety with Buescher, where we talk his move, racing at Phoenix, and lots of other fun stuff!
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Charlotte, NC-January 30: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Chris Buescher poses for a portrait during the NASCAR Production Photo Days at Charlotte Convention Center. Photo Credit 359998 Chris Graythen/Getty Images