It’s the first time that’s happened in nearly a decade, and further proof to the team’s continued improvement.
Although Victory Lane eludes RFK Racing so far in 2023, they still have plenty to be proud of. Brad Keselowski sits ninth in the regular season standings, and teammate Chris Buescher is 12th.
At the same point one year ago, Buescher was only 19th and Keselowski even further behind due to an early-season penalty.
Dover’s race was not without setbacks, despite the positive outcome. A pit road penalty sent Keselowski from second to the very rear of the field at one point, but he still rebounded for an eighth-place finish. Buescher was ninth.
“We had a good recovery,” said RFK co-owner Keselowski. “Had top-five in the first stage, had a pit road issue, and we recovered from that. Solid top-10 day – drove back through. We’re not far off here. Just looking for a little more, and I felt like we were pretty close. Excited about that, proud of our day – especially Chris [Buescher] running well. Just a strong showing.”
He later added: “It was just a big day for us. We’re just grinding. The whole company is just grinding and committed to taking us to the next level to get both these cars in the playoffs.”
Chris Buescher, RFK Racing, Fastenal Ford Mustang
Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images
Buescher is the most recent driver to win for RFK, taking the checkered flag in the Bristol Night Race last September. He too was satisfied with the team’s showing at the ‘Monster Mile.’
“Yeah, it was a solid day,” said Buescher post-race. “I’m really proud of our group. This Fastenal Mustang had good speed in it all day – probably fifth to 10th is probably where we were going to be. Ended up ninth with the late restart, and had a lap-down car racing us pretty hard. Jacked us up there, but at the end of the day it was solid. Everyone did a good job on pit road, kept track position, worked hard on-track, and it’s a solid one. Just wanted to be a little more free on that last race restart to see if we could drive forward a little bit more, but it was good to stay up there all day and in contention.”