Kevin Harvick reacts to Chris Buescher post-race dejection following Michigan

It hasn’t been often this season that Chris Buescher has had a car capable of winning. Buescher finally had one during Sunday’s race at Michigan International Speedway.

The RFK Racing driver started sixth and led 13 laps at Michigan. Buescher had led just two laps all season before the race. He finished second, his seventh top 10 finish of the season. But after the race, Buescher was more disappointed than satisfied. Kevin Harvick understands where that frustration came from, he explained on Tuesday’s “Happy Hour” podcast.

“I get his disappointment,” Harvick said. “When you have a car like that and you don’t capitalize on it, you don’t get those very often. He saw that last year when he had those opportunities where he didn’t capitalize and it cost him the playoff position that he needed and didn’t get himself to where he ultimately wanted to be at the end of the year. He knows on those days when you have the capability and the car, that you’ve got to capitalize on it, and they didn’t.”

You have to think that what happened last season was on Buescher’s mind. Multiple wins got away from him. In the end, he failed to point his way into the playoffs. Fifteen races into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, Buescher is two spots safe from the postseason cutline.

Chris Buescher disappointed at missed opportunity at Michigan

But the gap between Buescher and several drivers behind him is thin. Everything can change with one bad race. A win at Michigan would have changed the outlook of his next 11 races.

“That was such a fast Mustang. I really appreciate everybody on this team working so hard to put us in this situation and to have a chance to win. I’m disappointed I didn’t get it done. It’s on me,” Buescher said. “I had a couple different decisions I would love to go back and make and ultimately should have had us ahead of the 11. We were faster on the day, and I didn’t do a good enough job. We’ll certainly take the good with it. We certainly need a little bit of good luck or fortune on our side.

“This is a day where we kind of made our own. We were really fast and worked hard to be there and just didn’t have any bad luck, so that put us with a shot to win. After the last handful of weeks with having speed in the first stage and qualifying and not being able to get the race finish that was certainly big, but it’s frustrating to be that close and to know that we had a car that was capable of winning. I just needed to do a better job.”