02/11/2021

Lambert, Buescher Confident in Repeat of Daytona Performance

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 11, 2021) – As the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season kicks off this week, crew chief Luke Lambert begins his sophomore season with Chris Buescher at the Daytona 500 – a track where the pair is no stranger to success. 

 “We felt like we were poised to be in the right position at Daytona last year and really at a lot of the other speedway races,” Lambert explained. “At the 500 we were in the top-three for most of the closing laps. As it wound down, we were in the spot to take the win and it didn’t quite play out like we needed it to. Everything got crazy and unfortunately, we had that very bad crash that scared all of us with Ryan.”  

The duo ultimately finished third in last year’s Daytona 500 and recorded three of their eight top-10 finishes at Superspeedways on the rest of the schedule.  

“We definitely felt like the No. 17 Fastenal Mustang was a hot rod and I feel confident that we can repeat that this year,” Lambert explained. “We’ve been able to keep the same race car intact and ran it in all four speedway races last year. Chris has done a fantastic job with those tracks and I think we can be in contention and have a shot at it.” 

In his nine years as a crew chief in the Cup series, Lambert boasts 26 top-fives, 80 top-finishes and one win. He hopes to both expand on his record this season and help Roush Fenway improve as an organization under the new leadership of Jimmy Fennig. 

“Jimmy brings a lot to the table in the way of being a hard-nosed racer and really being relentless,” Lambert said. “He leaves no stone unturned. He’s a racer and true racers always figure out a way to excel in every environment. He’s one of those and we’re looking forward to having that opportunity to work with him this year.” 

Speedweeks continues tonight with the Duel qualifying races. Buescher and Lambert will compete in Duel Two. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. EST on FS1, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.