03/22/2015
Buescher Leads Roush Fenway With Top-5 Finish In California
FONTANA, Calif. (March 22, 2015) – Chris Buescher earned his third top-five finish of the season after a strong performance in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Auto Club Speedway propelled the No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang to a fifth-place finish. Buescher has not finished outside of the top-15 so far this season.
“That was a pretty good day,” said Buescher. “That’s more than I expected out of this Fastenal Ford Mustang today. These guys worked really hard this weekend and made a ton of changes, so I’m really proud of them. They did a nice job.”
The Prosper, Texas native, who will make his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start Sunday at Auto Club Speedway, lined up 14th for the 150-Lap, 300-Mile NASCAR XFINITY Series race.
From the start of the race, Buescher began to work his way forward, climbing to eighth by the time the first caution flag of the day flew on Lap 34. Crew chief Scott Graves called Buescher down pit road for four tires and fuel, along with a track bar adjustment to help a tight handling Mustang.
A penalty for an uncontrolled tire during the first pit stop of the day forced Buescher to restart at the tail end of the field in 25th. Buescher wasted little time working his way through traffic, climbing to 13th within four laps of the restart.
When the caution flag waved again on Lap 47, Buescher informed his team that his car was decent, but just a little tighter in traffic than he preferred.
Buescher lined up 11th for the restart on Lap 51 and continued racing for position inside the top-15 as the race approached halfway.
Graves called his young driver down pit road for the second time of the afternoon under green flag conditions on Lap 78. The team took four tires and fuel, along with another track bar adjustment.
After exiting pit road in 15th, Buescher steadily worked his way through traffic, breaking into the top-10 by Lap 91. He continued to work his way forward, radioing to the team on Lap 93 as he took over eighth-place, that his Fastenal Mustang was really good.
Buescher used the closing 50 laps of the race to gain a few more positions, crossing the line in fifth in just his second NASCAR XFINITY Series start at Auto Club Speedway.
With the result, Buescher remains second in the NASCAR XFINITY Series point standings, just five points behind leader Ty Dillon.
NEXT UP:
O’Reilly Auto Parts 300
1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas
Friday, April 10, 2015
8:30 p.m. ET on FOXSPORTS1 and PRN
