Chris Buescher

Buescher began his professional racing career in 2005 driving Legends cars in Texas for Speedway Legends, winning over one hundred races. In 2008 he moved to North Carolina to be mentored by David Ragan and signed as a development driver for Roush Fenway Racing. He began ARCA competition in 2009 and won the series championship in 2012, becoming the only driver ever to complete every lap in a season of competition in the series.

Buescher made his NASCAR debut for Roush Fenway Racing in 2011 in two Nationwide Series races, returning in 2013 for seven races alongside a limited ARCA schedule with Roulo Bros. Racing.

In 2014 he drove the No. 60 Ford full-time in the Nationwide Series. He finished second at Talladega and won the Nationwide Children's Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio on August 16, his first career win.

In 2015, now in the renamed Xfinity Series, Buescher started with a runner-up finish to teammate Ryan Reed at Daytona in the Alert Today Florida 300. He won at Iowa Speedway after passing Chase Elliott for the lead on the final restart — Elliott had led 114 laps. Two weeks later Buescher won at Dover International Speedway, making contact with teammate Bubba Wallace near the end to make the winning pass, which cut Wallace's tire. In the final race of the 2015 season at Homestead–Miami Speedway on November 21, 2015, Buescher won his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship, finishing eleventh in the race after receiving the Lucky Dog to return to the lead lap. He held off defending champion Chase Elliott, Ty Dillon, and Regan Smith in points to secure the title.

Buescher made his Cup Series debut in the No. 34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports at California in 2015, filling in for David Ragan, and finished 20th. On December 10, 2015, it was announced that Buescher would drive the No. 34 full-time in 2016 as Front Row entered an alliance with Roush Fenway.

Superspeedway wrecks plagued the No. 34. Buescher started 2016 with a hard crash at Daytona with Matt DiBenedetto, finishing 39th, describing it as "the hardest hit of my career." At Talladega on lap 96 his car entered a barrel roll, flipping three times before landing; he was not injured.

At Pocono, Buescher took the lead late in the Pennsylvania 400 on a different pit sequence. A massive cloud of fog then moved over the track; after an hour NASCAR called the race due to approaching severe weather, giving Buescher his first NASCAR Cup Series victory and Front Row Motorsports' first win in 118 races, going back to David Ragan at Talladega in 2013. Buescher became the first driver since Joey Logano in 2009 to win a race as a Cup Series Rookie of the Year candidate, and the first rookie to win at Pocono since Denny Hamlin in 2006. Despite the win, Buescher was outside the top thirty in driver points and thus not automatically guaranteed a Chase position. He finished fifth at Bristol to move to 30th, then passed teammate Landon Cassill for 29th at Richmond to lock in his Chase spot. He was eliminated after the first round with finishes of 28th at Chicagoland, 30th at New Hampshire, and 23rd at Dover.

On November 29, 2016, Roush Fenway announced the sale of its charter for the No. 16 to JTG Daugherty Racing, with Buescher taking over as the No. 37. Through 2017–2019 Buescher collected multiple top-tens. His season-best in 2017 was eleventh at Martinsville. In 2019 he scored the first consecutive top-tens of his Cup career — tenth at the Digital Ally 400 at Kansas Speedway followed by sixth at the Coca-Cola 600. On September 25, 2019, Roush Fenway Racing announced that Buescher would replace Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the No. 17 Ford for 2020.

Buescher started the 2020 season with a third-place finish at the Daytona 500, then scored a career-high eight top-tens across the season — including fifth at the inaugural Daytona Road Course — finishing 21st in points.

In 2021 Buescher finished second at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona but was disqualified when his car failed post-race inspection due to a rear sub-frame assembly violation.

In 2022 Buescher recorded his first career Cup Series pole at Dover. At the Coca-Cola 600 his right front wheel dug into the tri-oval grass after contact with Daniel Suárez, lifting the car and sending it into a barrel roll that rolled five times before landing upside down; Buescher walked out under his own power. He led a race-high 169 laps at Bristol's night race to score his second career Cup win, snapping a 222-race winless streak for himself and a five-year drought for the team.

In 2023 Buescher won at Richmond to make his first playoff appearance since 2016, then went back-to-back the following week at Michigan — the first time RFK Racing had won two consecutive races since Carl Edwards in the final two races of the 2010 season. A third win came at the Daytona night race. Buescher advanced to the Round of 12 and then the Round of 8 for the first time in his career, finishing a career-best seventh in the standings with three wins, nine top fives, seventeen top tens, and an average finish of 12.2.

In 2024 at Kansas, Buescher finished second to Kyle Larson by 0.001 seconds — the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history. At the Goodyear 400, Tyler Reddick dove to Buescher's left in Turn 3, drifted high, and contacted Buescher, who bounced off the SAFER barrier; Buescher shoved Reddick after the race and Reddick offered no defense and was apologetic. Buescher won at Watkins Glen after Shane van Gisbergen brushed the wall near the Bus Stop on the final lap.

In 2025 the No. 17 team received an L1 penalty at Kansas after R&D discovered reinforcement behind the front bumper foam exceeded two inches; the team was originally docked sixty driver and owner points, five playoff points, and fined US$75,000, with crew chief Scott Graves suspended for two races. After the National Motorsports Appeals Panel heard testimony, the penalty was amended to thirty championship driver and owner points, five playoff points, a two-race suspension for Graves, and a US$75,000 fine for RFK Racing.

Buescher is the cousin of 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion James Buescher. He married in 2018 during the Easter weekend in the NASCAR schedule. In December 2022, he and his wife Emma welcomed their first child, a daughter named Charley. They live on a micro-farm near New London, North Carolina and volunteer with the local humane society in Albemarle.

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