Fantasy NASCAR Racing

victory lane in their first start together at Watkins Glen.  He became full time crew chief in 2013 in the Cup Series working with Ricky Stenhouse.  They posted one Top 5 finish; coming at Talladega where he finished third.  In 2014 Roush sent him down to the Xfinity Series to work with up and coming driver Chris Buescher.  They won once that season and finished seventh in the points.  They followed that up with two wins in 2015 and won the Xfinity Championship.  Fresh off the heels of their championship; Graves left Roush Racing in 2016 to go to Joe Gibbs Racing and lead rookie Daniel Suarez.  They had three wins, and added 19 Top 5 and 27 Top 10 finishes in the 33 race schedule.  They also won the season Championship.  After a sudden retirement by Carl Edwards, Suarez was moved up to the Cup Series and Edwards crew chief assumed the crew chief duties for Suarez. (Dave Rogers had been Edwards crew chief).  Five races into the season, Rogers announced he was stepping away from his crew chief duties and taking a personal leave of absence.  Scott Graves took over on top of the pit box for the #19 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team.  When Rogers decided to leave, Suarez had posted two Top 10 finishes in the seasons first five races.  With Graves at the helm the remainder of the year Suarez was able to record one Top 5 and ten Top 10 finishes.  Gibbs decided to leave the pair together for 2018.  The duo did have one second place finish at Pocono and a total of three Top 5's; but overall was a disappointment.  With only nine Top 10 finishes on a team where the rest of the drivers made the Chase. At the end of the season Suarez was let go, while Graves left to go to work for Roush Fenway Racing and call the shots for new Roush driver Ryan Newman.  Newman and Graves got off to a slow start in 2019.  It took until the eighth race of the season at Bristol before they were able to get a Top 10 finish. By mid-season they only had a best finish of seventh and finally broke through for their first Top 5 at Daytona in July. Their best run of the season came at Talladega where Ryan Blaney edged out Newman by a bumper for the win. Newman did make the Chase via points but was eliminated after the first round. They ended the season 15th in the points standings.  Graves and Newman paired together in 2020, and the Daytona 500 was almost tragic.  Newman had a horrific crash and flip as they took the checked flag.  Newman was cut out of his car and rushed to the hospital and the media was very closed-mouth about his condition.  The next day it was announced he was alert and conscious.  The following day he walked out of the hospital under his own power.  Truly amazing for the crash he suffered.  Newman missed three races while recovering from a concussion.  It would have been many more races, except for the coronavirus had NASCAR racing shut down for two months.  He returned to racing on May 17, which was race five of the season.  Normally this would have been 13.  Ross Chastain drove Newman's car while he was out of action.  Newman had a rough season, posting only two Top 10 results.  Newman and Graves hooked up again in 2021.  They could only muster two Top 5 and four Top 10’s in the first 31 races.  After that a change was made and Graves was sent to lead the efforts of Newman’s team mate Chris Buescher; perhaps as a rehearsal to get ready for 2022.  Newman was losing his ride in the #6 because Brad Keselowski was buying part ownership in Roush Racing, and would also be a driver.  In their first race together Buescher would finish third; and before the season ended, he added a top ten.  Graves and Buescher was together in 2022.  This was a reunion of sorts, since Graves led Buescher in 2015 to the Xfinity Championship.  Graves has been a full time crew chief in the Cup Series for Jack Roush since 2017.  Unfortunately this is about the time RFR started to struggle and not be able to field race winning cars.  Brad Keselowski had bought a part ownership win Roush-Fenway Racing as it became FRK Racing.  Both Keselowski and Buescher still struggled as they worked to elevate the performance of both teams.  They would both run mid-pack; but also show flashes of brilliance doing the season.  Graves led Buescher to only three top ten finishes in the first 14 races.  But on the road course at Sonoma; Buescher surprised as he started third; ran in the lead pack, and almost pulled off the win, as he was only bested by Daniel Suarez, coming home second.  The next road race saw Buescher finish sixth; and he added another top ten on the road course at Indianapolis.  He had a third on the tight short track at Richmond; and added another top ten at Watkins Glen.  They failed to win during the regular season, and as we had 16 different winners; they did not advance to the play-offs.  But that didn't mean their season was a total failure. Graves led Buescher to a win at Bristol as he led 169 laps; including the last 61.  It was Graves first win at the Cup level; and the second for Buescher.  The duo was back together again in 2023.  Brad Keselowski moving to RFK Racing and becoming part owner seemed to help both he and Chris Buescher.  This would prove to be Buescher’s best season at the Cup level to date.  Graves led Buescher to a fourth place finish in the season opening race at Daytona.  The team ran well with very few finishes outside the top 20.  They broke through and got a win at Richmond to lock themselves into the Chase.  The next week they won again at Michigan.  They closed out the regular season with a win at Daytona.  Good run in the first two rounds of the playoffs saw him advance to the Round of 8.  At 21st place finish at Homestead saw then fail to get enough points to advance to the final round to run for the Championship.  They ended up seventh in season points.  For the year they combined for three wins, nine top five and 17 top ten finishes.  They will be back together again in 2024.  He also lead Daniel Suarez to the Xfinity series Championship in 2016.  He has eight wins in the Xfinity Series.