RFK Racing Teammates Battling Themselves, Others On Playoff Bubble

Bob Pockrass

FOX Motorsports Insider

NEWTON, Iowa — RFK Racing has two drivers fighting for a NASCAR Cup Series playoff spot on points.

That would be great — except they’re fighting against each other.

With three spots currently available by points, Chris Buescher leads Ryan Preece by 23 points for the final spot. If there is a new winner in the final three races, they could both potentially miss the playoffs.

Chris Buescher waves to fans as he walks onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350

That almost happened on Sunday at Iowa Speedway when their teammate and team co-owner, Brad Keselowski, challenged for the win before winding up third.

At one point relatively late in the race, Preece could have held up Keselowski but knew Keselowski had the better car. He likely would have tried to put another driver passing him in a more precarious position, but he knew what was at stake.

“Brad caught me, and I figured even though I hate losing another spot in the points, I knew it was the right thing to do with how fast he was at the time and how many laps he led,” Preece said.

“He’s my teammate and my owner. He’s part of the group that signs my check. It was the right thing to do for the company.”

Brad Keselowski (right) and Chris Buescher walk the grid during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350

It also kept Preece from potentially putting himself in a precarious situation and losing even more spots as he had a loose car. If he had tried to hang on to the position, he risked wrecking himself.

“If I didn’t get as loose as I did, and I felt like I could challenge the [leaders] for the win, I would have raced the s— out of him,” Preece said. “But at that point in time, it was damage control, and try to not lose more time to anybody behind us.”

Preece finished fifth and cut 20 points off the margin to Buescher, so he sits 23 points behind.

With the final three regular-season races being Watkins Glen (road course), Richmond (short track) and Daytona (superspeedway), there are opportunities for strategy to come into play.

Drivers might pit before a stage end for track position or they might try to pit just outside a fuel window and stretch it to the end. Or at a place like Richmond, they might opt to cut a stage in thirds instead of half and hope that fresher tires will make the difference.

Ryan Preece gets introduced before the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350

In some racing series, an organization might direct the drivers to use different strategies, in hopes that one of them can win the race for whichever strategy works the best with the way the race plays out.

Keselowski, who faces the possibility of seeing none of his cars make the playoffs or possibly two of his cars make the playoffs (all three could if each of them won in the final three regular-season races), said he would not give such directives to his drivers.

“The crew chiefs have the ultimate level of autonomy at RFK to be able to make the calls that they feel are best for their team,” Keselowski said prior to the Iowa race. “But certainly you like to be smart at it from a company perspective.

“Right now, where we’re at, seemingly at least two or three teams need to win a race to get a win. But we’re very competitive. There’s a realistic potential to do that.”

NASCAR has relatively strict rules to limit teams from manipulating a finish to benefit a specific driver as they are directed to get the best finish possible. But teammates do work together at certain places, such as at Daytona when it comes to working in the draft or fuel mileage.

“We do try to push those things from time to time,” Keselowski said about strategy directed by the organization. “But the ultimate reality is you can’t tell somebody to take a low percentage shot and ruin their day just so you feel better about it. There’s certainly a balancing act.”

Both Buescher and Preece could look at moments this season with frustration considering they haven’t solidified a playoff spot.

(L-R) Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher walk the grid prior to practice for the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in February

Buescher was docked 30 points for a rear bumper cover violation at Kansas. Preece was disqualified from a second-place finish at Talladega for too many shims on the rear spoiler, which cost him 39 points.

Right now, the playoff bubble — with three spots currently available for winless drivers — has Tyler Reddick up by 122 points, Alex Bowman with a 63-point cushion and then Buescher (+23).

Preece joined the team this year and the group has made steady progress, so just the fact they have a shot at the playoffs on points is somewhat of a surprise.

“If we were to get in the playoffs, we could be a threat, especially at this point in the season where we’ve spent 20-something races together and gaining a notebook of our own and understanding things that I key off of or what I want in a race car,” Preece said.

“We’ve been super consistent. We’ve been top 10. When we execute races, we’re top five. We’re developing into a team that can lead laps and win races. It’s going to take a win … to lock ourselves in. But at the same time, we’ve been doing a good job of executing races and putting ourselves in position, so that’s all you can do.”

For Buescher, the feeling is all too similar to one he has had in recent years battling for a playoff spot until late in the regular season. He has won at Watkins Glen, Richmond and Daytona over the last couple of seasons. He missed the playoffs last year.

“There’s always different circumstances, and somehow or another, we always end up there [on the bubble],” Buescher said. “We have to figure out how to win our races earlier in the season.

“But we’ve had some speed and some good runs … and we’ve been in the hunt at a lot of different races.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.