“It just hurts.” Chris Buescher’s three-word admission one year ago hid enormous feelings of heartbreak. In fact, those feelings still linger for the RFK Racing driver. The No. 17 Ford has dazzled several times in the NASCAR Cup Series, holding six race trophies. He fetched his latest win in September 2024, winning in Watkins Glen International to take his first road course victory. However, what happened in May 2024 at Kansas Speedway still haunts him, now even more so as the same racetrack is next on the schedule.

The Cup Series grid is heading to Kansas Speedway this weekend. The grip, the progressive banking, and the drafts all make the 1.5-mile track perfect for the Next-Gen car’s features to shine. Chris Buescher mastered the venue last year, but so did Kyle Larson. So Buescher is extra cautious this time.

Chris Buescher relives a painful loss

Well, wrecks and technical mishaps can ruin the days of capable racers. But what makes up for the most painful heartbreaks are probably close calls. The runner-up finishers who almost had it all. Chris Buescher was one such second-place finisher at the 2024 Advent Health 400 race. He admittedly enjoyed taking his No. 17 Ford Mustang out to the tri-oval and navigating it.

He shed light on the flexibility in Kansas recently: “You can change your day without having to wait 50 laps to come in, pit, and throw a wrench in the rear glass or throw air pressure to it.” Being able to change lanes easily, Buescher engaged in a wild drag race towards the end of the 2024 race. However, right before crossing the start-finish line, he failed to choose the right lane. So Kyle Larson overtook him and won by just 0.01 seconds, the closest finish in NASCAR history. Buescher reflected on it recently, saying, “We basically have a trophy for being the closest loser ever in NASCAR, so it’s not a good trophy to put up on the shelf.”

The sting of that ridiculously close call still feels fresh to Chris Buescher. In a recent interview with Steve Letarte, the RFK Racing personality reflected on what he could have done differently. “Obviously, a lot of thought went into that one, the week after… If we had it to do all over again, we would’ve run a little bit higher in (Turns) 1 and 2 and ultimately kept the momentum up there. I think that would’ve been the way to go; we had been really good at running the bottom at Kansas than most, and on that last run to the end, I thought we’d be able to keep the momentum up. Ultimately, it wasn’t the case there.”

Drivers can usually practice in racing simulators ahead of a weekend. But no amount of simulation can help someone prepare for that final race run. Chris Buescher can only rely on his muck-up last year to improve his 2025 chances. So he reflected more on the final turn that axed his chances against Larson: “I think we came off of (Turn) 4 there and had his quarter-panel and were going to be able to switch the momentum around… When we got door-to-door there, that big hit turned us really sideways. It just killed our momentum there, as much as we thought we were going to be OK. The first (hit) didn’t help, but the second one right here is where it took all of our speed away.” 

Chris Buescher is brooding over how Kyle Larson’s excellence toppled him. In the meantime, the latter is also contemplating the bevy of drivers who might be his rivals this weekend.

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Measuring each other’s strengths

As aforementioned, Kansas Speedway is a sweet haven for the Next-Gen car. It can display its features best at the Kansas City racetrack. However, one OEM has performed remarkably at the intermediate oval track over the past few seasons. Last year in Kansas, the three podium finishers were all Chevrolet. But a strong group of Toyotas trailed them – Martin Truex Jr, Denny Hamlin, and Christopher Bell.

Before 2024, four different Camry drivers won four straight races at the track. They were Kurt Busch, Bubba Wallace, Hamlin, and Tyler Reddick. Bell makes a strong case for 2025, as he has won the pole for the last three races at Kansas and also led each of the six races in the Next Gen era. Hamlin has seven consecutive top-10 finishes at Kansas.

All these stats might make even Kansas defending winner Kyle Larson a bit nervous. The Hendrick Motorsports star admitted recently: “The Toyotas – they’re still the best there, I think. We’ve chipped away at it and gotten better, I think. I’ve led a lot of laps there since we’ve gone there with the Next Gen. I just hadn’t gotten the win until last year. But you always work to get better every time you go to a track.”

Larson also reflected on his close finish with Chris Buescher last year. His words exuded humility: “Whether I won or I didn’t, it was really neat to be part of a finish like that. So obviously, I was happy to come out a thousandth ahead, but still, to be part of a finish like that was pretty neat.”

Evidently, even Kyle Larson looked back at last year’s Kansas race, albeit with emotions different from Chris Buescher’s. Let us see what the 2025 event holds in store for them.