08/26/2020
Chris Buescher – Daytona Advance
ADVANCE NOTES
Dramatic Daytona Set to Cap Regular Season Saturday Night
- For the first time in the sport’s current playoff format, the NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season will culminate Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway, which is expected to be a high drama event as drivers have one last chance to lock themselves into the 2020 Playoffs.
- This marks the second trip to Daytona in as many weeks, as the series visited the Road Course Aug. 16. With 10 drivers with at least one win in 2020, three additional drivers have locked themselves into the playoff grid. A win by a non-locked in driver would punch their ticket into the 10-race playoffs, which begin Labor Day Weekend at Darlington.
- NASCAR will continue to use three competition-based performance metrics to determine the starting lineup and pit selection order for each race, replacing the random draw procedure.
- NASCAR will reward both season-long and single-race performance to determine the lineup and pit selection, using owner points position, the finish and fastest lap from the most recently completed race. Beginning with the NASCAR Playoffs at Darlington, playoff cars will fill the top starting positions starting from the Round of 16, all the way through to the Championship 4.
- Four weeks of NASCAR action were initially completed prior to the COVID-19 hiatus with races at Atlanta, Homestead, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega, Dover and Martinsville postponed before the schedule later picked back up in mid-May.
Buescher Historically at Daytona
- Buescher makes his 10th Cup start at Daytona on Saturday, where he has four top-10s and three top fives.
- Most recently, Buescher finished third in February’s Daytona 500, his best finish on the Oval in his Cup career. Looking back at the Daytona summer races, Buescher has a best finish of fifth, which came in 2018, the same year he also finished fifth in the 500.
- Going back to 2015, Buescher finished second in the season kickoff race in the Xfinity Series, and followed that with a 12th-place run in the summer.
Luke Lambert Historically at Daytona
- Lambert will call his 16th Cup race atop the box Saturday at the Daytona Oval, where he has five top-10s and two top five results. Most recently, he led Buescher to a third-place run in the 2020 Daytona 500.
- Three of Lambert’s four top-10s all came in the Daytona summer events, where he led Ryan Newman to and eighth-place run in 2015. He went on to finish fifth in 2017, and eighth again a season later.
- Lambert also called two Xfinity events with Elliott Sadler in Daytona in 2012, finishing third and sixth.
QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Daytona:
“Saturday is obviously going to be crazy, possibly one of the wildest Superspeedway races to date, with so many guys going for a playoff spot. We feel confident in our Superspeedway cars that Jimmy Fennig and everyone at Roush work so hard on, and I think we’ve shown that recently at Daytona and Talladega. As everyone always says, it’s about being in the right place at the right time, so we’ll look to keep the fenders clear as much as we can early, and be there at the end.”
Last Time Out
Buescher finished 16th in the first of two races in Dover last weekend, and backed that up with a 14th-place result a day later.
Where They Rank
Buescher is 21st in driver standings through 25 events.
On the Car
Fifth Third Bank returns to Buescher’s No. 17 machine this weekend in Daytona. Smart AutoCare, a Texas-based vehicle service contract company, will also appear on the decklid of the No. 17 Ford Mustang as a participant in the Fueled by Fifth Third program.
About Fifth Third Bank
Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio and the indirect parent company of Fifth Third Bank, National Association, a federally chartered institution. As of June 30, 2020, Fifth Third had $203 billion in assets and operated 1,122 full-service banking centers and 2,456 ATMs with Fifth Third branding in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina. In total, Fifth Third provides its customers with access to approximately 53,000 fee-free ATMs across the United States. Fifth Third operates four main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending and Wealth & Asset Management. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of June 30, 2020, had $405 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $49 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for-profit organizations through its Trust and Registered Investment Advisory businesses. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at www.53.com. Fifth Third’s common stock is traded on the Nasdaq® Global Select Market under the symbol “FITB.” Fifth Third Bank was established in 1858. Deposit and Credit products are offered by Fifth Third Bank, National Association. Member FDIC.
