Within the first laps of Thursday’s practice sessions, Buescher felt that the team had a drivable race car and felt the most comfortable he had all season behind the wheel of the Great Clips / AccuDoc Solution Chevrolet Impala. With the car being impounded after qualifying, the team focused on race set-up in both practice sessions. Without making a mock qualifying run, Buescher posted the 17th fastest time in final practice.
Buescher started the Dollar General 300 in the 18th spot just behind teammates, Justin Allgaier and Brad Sweet. Friday evening’s race was slow to start as an incident brought out the yellow before the first lap was complete. After a lengthy clean up, Buescher went right to work, going from the 18th position all the way up to 12th, when a heads-up move on the front stretch helped Buescher avoid the two competitors that came together directly in front of the No.30 Great Clips/AccuDoc Solutions Chevy. This incident brought out the second yellow flag of the evening.
When the race restarted, Buescher was 12th and went stalking the top-10 as the field strung out. Buescher, however continued to stay up on the wheel and battle with the 10th through 13th-place competitors with Buescher cracking the top-10 by lap 34. On lap 53 Crew Chief Mike Hillman Jr. called his driver down pit road for a green-flag pit stop, taking four tires, Sunoco fuel and a track bar adjustment to help the car with its tight-handling condition.
The field would eventually cycle through the pit stops, putting Buescher in the 11th spot. Buescher reported back into the crew that the track bar adjustment didn’t work and he’d rather they just make air pressure adjustments under the next stop. During the race’s long green-flag stretch, the race leaders caught the top-10 and put Buescher down a lap. With the no-quit attitude, Buescher and the Turner Motorsports team continued to fight to stay in the “lucky dog” position as a timely caution came out, which allowed Buescher to return to the lead lap. Hillman Jr. called his driver back down pit road for four tires, and another track bar adjustment to loosen the Great Clips/AccuDoc Solutions Chevy up.
Another quick yellow flag flew after the restart allowing for the No.30 to play a little strategy and top off the fuel tank. Just as the half way mark hit, Buescher was chasing down the top-10 once again with three competitors directly in front of him. Buescher continued to run good, consistent laps as the crew continued to encourage him. Buescher radioed back to the crew “We’re just a tick tight, but it’s drivable and that’s what we need.”
On lap 131 Buescher hit pit road for the team’s last tire stop of the evening. Hillman Jr. also ordered an air pressure adjustment to help the car get off the splitter. The crew had a great pit stop gaining the No.30 two spots on pit road, putting their driver in the ninth position. Hillman Jr. asked his driver to save them some fuel knowing that they would be eight laps short, however much of the field was in this same position.
For the final laps, the field spread out once again with Buescher fighting to finish in the top-10, after a quick two-second fuel splash and go with nine laps remaining, Buescher was able to pass two more cars in the final laps, giving the No.30 Great Clips/AccuDoc Solutions Turner Motorsports a hard-fought ninth-place finish.
“I’m so proud of this team. We struggled in practice and changed a lot of things it’s great to come out and reward the team, Great Clips and AccuDoc Solutions with a hard fought ninth place finish. I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car next week at Kansas where we’ll have a lot of practice to work on our car and hopefully better our finish with a top-five. “
The NASCAR Nationwide Series will be back in action next Saturday at 3pm from Kansas Speedway for the Kansas Lottery 300. This event can be seen live on ESPN.
Source: Turner Motorsports Press Release
The post A great ninth-place finish for James Buescher at Charlotte Motor Speedway appeared first on Catchfence.
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