“They Are Getting Better”: Denny Hamlin Predicts How Far Chris Buescher Will Go Into the NASCAR Playoffs

Who would’ve thought that Chris Buescher would win back-to-back in NASCAR? Not many. But as we are today, that is a fact. Buescher won at Richmond, entered the playoffs, and followed that up with a win at Michigan seven days later. But just how far can the #17 driver go into the playoffs? Denny Hamlin has an answer.

Hamlin recently shared his take on how far he sees Buescher going into the playoffs. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver also revealed why, what he considers Buescher’s ceiling in the next stage of the season, could be penetrated by him.

Along with that, Hamlin also revealed whether he was surprised by Buescher’s back-to-back wins.

Denny Hamlin predicts how far Buescher will go into the playoffs

During a recent episode of his podcast show, Hamlin was asked by his co-host Jared Allen what his outlook is on the #17 entering the playoffs considering two weeks ago, they were pointing themselves in, and now they have two wins and 11 playoff points. Allen asked Hamlin, “Is it a deep playoff run?”

Hamlin replied, “I think it depends on schedule setup for them. I would’ve certainly said that this is a team that certainly is consistent enough to make the Top 12. The Round of 8 would be a stretch, but they are getting better. So you can’t discount, you can’t just put aside the 8 most popular drivers that historically have made the top 8, which is to say, ‘That’s your final 8 right there.'”

“But so much can happen as we’ve seen year in year out, you always have one or two real contenders drop out early because of trouble. So certainly that leaves a big hole there for the #17 and possibly the #6 to fit in.”

Hamlin wasn’t surprised by Buescher’s back-to-back wins

At one point in the podcast, Hamlin also revealed a question that was posed to him after the race in Michigan about Chris Buescher. “Someone asked me after the race, ‘Are you surprised that Chris Buescher won two in a row?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know how to answer that,'” Hamlin revealed.

“Because on talent? No. Been very capable. We all know he is very capable as a racecar driver. Do we think in a year Ford’s been off just slightly? I mean, you can argue they’re starting to get better for sure. Did we see RFK, the combination of RFK, Chris Buescher, and Ford winning two in a row? No, I don’t think anyone saw that coming for sure.”

“But it’s been a slow, steady climb for that organization and it just seems like the #17 just got a little bit over the #6 right now,” he claimed, adding that the two of them, Buescher and Keselowski, are “very strong,” and arguablythe best Fords at the moment.