Catchfence

PREVIEW: JAMES BUESCHER (NO. 1 PHOENIX RACING CHEVROLET)

VENUE: RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY (.75-MILE D-SHAPED OVAL)

CIRCUIT: NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES (RACE 9 OF 35)

DATE: APRIL 30, 2010 (250 LAPS, 187.5 MILES)

BUESCHER AT RICHMOND… Friday night’s race at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway will be Buescher’s first start at the Virginia short track. The 20-year-old rookie will see the D-shaped oval for the first time on Friday morning as the NASCAR Nationwide Series embarks on their one and only practice session.

ONE DAY SHOW… The Nationwide Series will embark on their second one day show of the season at Richmond, as the teams will practice, qualifying and race all on Friday. This makes for a long day for the teams and drivers, but having a full season of Truck Series competition under his belt, Buescher is used to one day shows.

NOT YOUR TYPICAL DOUBLE DUTY… This weekend, Buescher will pull double duty – but not the double duty that most drivers will be doing. After the completion of the Nationwide Series race at Richmond, Buescher will fly to Kansas City, Kansas to compete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway. Practice and qualifying are scheduled for Saturday, with the race taking place on Sunday. For the first time this season, Buescher will pilot the No. 31 Wolfpack Rentals Chevrolet for Turner Motorsports.

REARVIEW MIRROR… Buescher has had a bad luck streak follow the rookie the last handful of weeks, but despite the situations out of the young driver’s hands, he has captured one top-10 (Daytona) and three top-20 finishes in the first eight events of the season. Buescher has completed 74.4% of the laps competed (1128 of 1517) and remains competitive each weekend.

CLOSE COMPETITION… The Raybestos Rookie of the Year battle continues to be close at the end of eight races. Buescher currently sits second in the standings for the prestigious award, only seven points behind leader Brian Scott. The Phoenix Racing driver holds a one-point lead over third-place Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Also, only the top 16 finishing results of each driver’s season will count towards their total score, so Buescher has plenty of chances to knock out some of his bad luck finishes.

POINTS CHECK… After the completion of the first eight races, Buescher currently sits in the 20th position in the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship driver point standings. The young gun is 73 points behind 15th-place Jason Leffler and only 12 points behind 19th-place Joe Nemechek.

LOOKING BACK… Last week at Talladega Superspeedway, Mother Nature once again played havoc with the Nationwide Series, as heavy thunderstorms moved into Alabama, postponing the race until Sunday after the Sprint Cup Series event. The 43-car field took the green flag shortly after 5:45 PM Eastern, with Buescher starting from the 12th position. Quickly the field began racing two and three wide around the track, and Buescher moved from the high, middle, and low lines to find the right lane to move to the front of the pack.

Running in the eighth-place on lap 13, Buescher was in a solid position coming to the competition caution on lap 20. Unfortunately, as the field was slowing in preparation for the upcoming caution, contact was made at the front of the field, sending a car spinning and creating a melee. With nowhere to go, Buescher was collected in those involved in the wreck. The Phoenix Racing team worked hard to get Buescher back onto the track for a few laps, before ending the day with a 37th-place finish.

DID YOU KNOW?… Although Buescher has never raced at Richmond, the rookie has competed and had success at another .75-mile oval – Memphis Motorsports Park. In his first start in the Birthplace of Rock ‘n Roll, Buescher earned his first career Nationwide Series pole position (2008).

TWEET OF THE WEEK… How did Buescher spend Saturday at Talladega with no on-track activity? On April 24th, Buescher tweeted “Been a long fun day in the motor home, board games, rain, tacos, rain, movies, rain, and more rain.” The youngster went to the movies, played board games, ate one of his favorite foods, tacos, and watched it rain all day. To stay up-to-date with the Texas native, follow driver Buescher (@JamesBuescher) on Twitter.

STAY UP TO SPEED… The Bubba Burger 250 from Richmond International Raceway will take the green flag this Friday, April 30th at 7:30 P.M. Eastern. Race coverage will be televised live on ESPN2, beginning at 7 PM Eastern. In addition, Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio (Channel 128) will have the live radio broadcast, beginning at 7 PM Eastern.

QUOTES FROM BEHIND THE WHEEL:

BUESCHER (On racing at Richmond International Raceway): “I’ve never raced at Richmond before, so I will have to take a little bit of time at the beginning of our practice session to get used to the track. I’m excited that we are going back short track racing – that’s what we all grew up racing on so it’s like going back to where you started. My Phoenix Racing team has done a great job so far this season, but we can’t seem to shake this bad luck that’s following us. If we continue to keep doing the right things, the luck will turn around and we will get the finishes that we deserve. Once we get back on track, I really think we can make some moves and compete for wins.”

- James Buescher Racing Press Release