Last weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing team encountered trouble. During the race, Chris Buescher lost his entire wheel in a very dramatic fashion. As a result, two of his pit crew members would be ejected from the next two races, as per the NASCAR rules.

Of course, the RFK Racing team elected to appeal the decision and get their crew members back. The good news is that NASCAR listened to them and deferred the suspensions. In other words, Chris Buescher gets his crew back in full force for this weekend’s race at the Phoenix Raceway. The two members who were on the NASCAR chopping block were front tire changer Jakob Prall and jackman Nicholas Patterson.

The incident that earned Chris Buescher NASCAR’s scrutiny

The unfortunate accident took place barely 27 laps into the race after he made his first pit stop. A lug nut broke loose, and the entire wheel just popped out and made its bid for freedom. With that, the out-of-control three-wheeled wagon steered helplessly towards the outside wall. It is safe to say that the #17 driver got an almighty whack from the accident.

Buescher was physically fine, but he was forced to retire from the race with a badly damaged car. Overall, the #17 driver has had an up-and-down campaign with just three races down. Starting off on a relatively weak note at the Daytona 500 with 18th place on the track, it all picked up with a fine 9th place at Atlanta. Unfortunately, that good form came crashing down with the 37th-place classification at Las Vegas.

Is he about to undo all the progress made in 2023?

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It can be argued that 2023 was a breakout season for Chris Buescher. Three wins during that campaign and a deep playoff run are certainly proof of that, as he finished in a career-best 7th in the championship. Even teammate Brad Keselowski was able to sneak into the playoffs last year without the safety net of a Cup win. Unfortunately, at the rate at which they are going, a playoff berth for the second consecutive season could be a bit hard to come by.

READ MORE: RFK Racing Penalized for Loose Tire as Richard Childress Racing Walk Away Scott-Free After Pit Lane Fiasco

On the bright side, the 2024 Cup season is long, so there is plenty of time for redemption. However, Buescher and teammate Brad Keselowski have to capitalize on opportunities. There have been many on-track occasions where they crashed out in similar circumstances. Back in Atlanta, both drivers spun on their own on separate occasions, and for Keselowski, he took out two others. At least Buescher was lucky to not collect anyone else in his spin. The bottom line is that RFK Racing has to pull up their socks.