TIRE RUB CAUSES FIRE ABOARD NO. 10 FORD F-150
DATE: May 30, 2009
James Buescher
EVENT: AAA Insurance 200 (Round 7 of 25)
SERIES: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
LOCATION: Dover International Speedway (1-mile oval)
START/FINISH: 17th/24th (Running, completed 160 of 200 laps)
WINNER: Brian Scott of Xpress Motorsports (Toyota)
DOVER, Del. (May 31, 2009) – It wasn’t necessarily the first visit to Dover International Speedway in which James Buescher was hoping.
His No. 10 International MaxxForce Diesel Ford F-150 team, fresh off a 12th place finish in the friendly confines of Lowe’s Motor Speedway, took to the mile oval on Friday, qualifying 17th for the AAA Insurance 200, slated to be run early Friday evening. Unfortunately, rain pre-empted plans on Friday, moving the 200-lap race to Saturday.
Buescher moved up to the 14th position in the running order on the lap 11 restart following the race’s second caution. The handling condition of Buescher’s truck went from “stable” to “tight off” in the next green flag stretch—a problem that crew chief Jamie Jones helped relieve with a track bar adjustment on the first pit stop, forcing Buescher to restart the race in 26th on lap 21.
The Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate reached as high as sixth but during a lap 80 caution period, his right front tire blew, forcing him to bring the truck in for damage repair as the International MaxxForce team cut part of the right front fender off the ailing No. 10. Buescher brought out a caution when, on lap 102, he parked his truck in turn four after noticing a fire in the cockpit (from a continuing tire rub), earning the 19-year-old a brief stay in the Infield Medical Center. He was unharmed.
He rejoined the race on lap 137 and continued through to the finish, placing 24th at the drop of the checkered flag.
JAMES’S QUOTES ON DOVER
Your first visit to the Monster Mile was a prototypical one for rookies but you had a pretty solid run going on prior to experiencing handling difficulties. What did you think of the race?
“I think we have some work to do in making our team a top-ten team and we’ll continue making our Ford F-150s handle better and better until we can win one these races. I’m pretty sure everyone had tire problems today but I hate that we’re the only ones who had the truck catch on fire because of them.
“This International MaxxForce team is really good on intermediate tracks and those are our next two races, so I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.”
- Motorsports Management International, Press Release