09/20/2015
Seventh-Place for Chris Buescher in Chicago
JOLIET, Ill. (Sept. 19, 2015) – Chris Buescher overcame a pit road penalty in Saturday evening’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Chicagoland Speedway to finish seventh in his Fifth Third Bank Ford, his 16th top-10 finish of the 2015 season. With the finish, Buescher maintains his lead in the driver point standings with just seven races left in the season.
“It was a good points night when it was all said and done,” said Buescher. “Our Fifth Third Bank Mustang was good at the end and had good speed. I think we used it up a little early. We didn’t have much left at the end when it was time. We made a lot of adjustments today and really tuned on it. We don’t want to be seventh and be happy with it, but we are making progress.”
A three round knockout qualifying session on Saturday afternoon netted Buescher and the No. 60 team an eighth-place starting position for the 200-Lap, 300-Mile race.
After settling into 10th on the opening run of the race, Buescher came down pit road for the first time of the day under caution on Lap 23 for four tires, fuel and a slight chassis adjustment to help his tight Mustang.
Buescher’s pit crew held serve, putting him in 10th for the restart. Just a few laps into the next run, the driver radioed to the team that the adjustments had not helped enough.
Another opportunity to adjust on the Fifth Third Mustang came on Lap 75 when Buescher made a scheduled green flag pit stop for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. Buescher returned to the track in 12th, one lap down to the leaders.
When the caution flag flew a few laps later crew chief Scott Graves opted to take the wave around instead of visiting pit road. The strategy put Buescher back on the lead lap in 12th for the Lap 92 restart.
A caution 10 laps later allowed Graves to call his driver down pit road for four tires and fuel along with spring rubber and track bar adjustments to further help the tight handling condition. After the stop, Buescher and the No. 60 team were hit with a pit road penalty for crew members over the wall too soon.
After the penalty, Buescher lined up 19th for the Lap 108 restart. By Lap 117, Buescher found himself up to 12th. The sophomore in the NASCAR XFINITY Series was happy with the handling of his Mustang when he came down pit road on Lap 133 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment.
When the No. 60 Mustang returned to the track, Graves instructed Buescher to save fuel. A caution on Lap 141 eliminated the need to save fuel, as Buescher visited pit road for a splash of gas to make it to the end.
Buescher lined up 11th for the final restart of the day on Lap 146, gaining four positions to close the day in seventh. With the result, Buescher maintains a 25 point lead over second place in the series point standings.
NEXT UP:
VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300
1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway
Sparta, Ky.
Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015
8:00 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network and PRN
RACE SUMMARY
Chris Buescher
Started: 8
Finished: 7
Complete Race Results:
POINTS SUMMARY
Chris Buescher
2015 Season Total: First with 945 points
2015 SEASON SUMMARY
Chris Buescher
Starts Wins Top-Fives Top-10s Poles
26 2 11 16 0
