Sunday, April 22, 2012

Buescher Scores First Truck Series Win

It’s been a long time coming for James Buescher, but his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory could not have been more sweet. 

Buescher won Saturday’s SFP 250 at Kansas Speedway in dominant fashion, leading 103 laps en route to the checkered flag and making the decisive pass on NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start Brad Keselowski with just 15 laps remaining. It was the second consecutive Truck Series win for Turner Motorsports, after Kasey Kahne scored a week ago at Rockingham Speedway. 

Buescher started on the outside of the third row, but immediately charged to the front. By lap 10, he had his Progenex Chevrolet up to fourth, and was running lap times faster than the leader. He advanced to the runner-up position following the first round of caution flag pit stops, and needed only 10 more laps to overtake point leader Timothy Peters and claim the top spot.  

Buescher ran at the front of the pack the rest of the way, surrendering the lead only briefly to make a pair of scheduled green-flag pit stops. Keselowski bumped Buescher from the top spot by taking just two tires on his final pit stop, but Buescher ran him down quickly and regained the lead with a pass in Turn Two with 15 laps remaining. He pulled away to a convincing, 5.320-second victory over Peters, who passed Keselowski for the runner-up spot with three laps left.  

“What a day,” said Buescher in Victory Lane. “We have been so close so many times, and we finally closed the deal. I knew we had a great truck yesterday in practice, but I knew I had to be smart all day to have a chance to win.”  

Keselowski admitted he had nothing for Buescher in the closing laps, saying, “James was just lightning quick. We needed a little more to be able to run with him. He did a great job all day, hats off to his team and James himself.”
With the win, Buescher jumps to second in the championship standings, four points behind Peters.

No comments:

Post a Comment