08/29/2015
Roush Fenway Ready for Final Road Course Challenge
Roush Fenway Racing heads to Road America this weekend for the final road course race of the season. The team has seen these courses, with their right and left turns, as some of its strongest on the NASCAR XFINITY circuit.
After last week’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Chris Buescher comes into the Road America 180 as the XFINITY Series championship points leader. He is currently 19 points ahead of second place Ty Dillon, with hopes of maintaining and extending that lead with another strong road-course performance. Prior to the XFINITY Series Buescher excelled at Road America in the ARCA Series, posting three top-five finises, including a victory in 2013.
Buescher’s first win in the XFINITY series came at Mid-Ohio during the 2014 season. A strong drive, excellent car and bold fuel strategy all came together to see Buescher take the checkered flag in first place. He has continued to show finesse at road course races this season, scoring two top-five finishes in both road course races this season. He drove home third in Watkins Glen and then rolled home fourth at Mid-Ohio. With drives like this, it’s no surprise that Chris has come to enjoy racing at these tracks.
“I’m not a road racer by trade, but it’s definitely a form of racing that I’ve really grown to enjoy,” said Buescher. “Fortunately, Roush Fenway has given me great cars at the road courses we go to, so it’s usually a good time, too. I enjoy the road races on the schedule; I think it’s a welcome change of pace.”
Buescher’s teammate Bubba Wallace will be head to Road America for the first time. In his first XFINITY season he has already faced two road courses, both of those bringing positive experiences and progress. Wallace’s first road course race took place at Watkins Glen where he ran well, ultimately finishing 16th. Using the knowledge gained there, he turned in an eighth-place finish at Mid-Ohio later in this season. Wallace and the No. 6 team will look to build on that momentum at Road America.
Rounding out the road course savvy team at Roush Fenway are Ryan Reed and Elliot Sadler. In the last three years, Sadler has finished in the top-ten three times at Mid-Ohio. Reed finished a solid 12th at Mid-Ohio in 2014 and ran a strong race with a top-10 in 2015, only to be caught up in an incident towards the end of the race.
With a strong track record of solid finishes at road courses, Roush Fenway Racing heads to Road America confident that the talent and experience it brings to the track will produce another positive result.