Catchfence

James Buescher - (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images)

START: 2nd

FINISH: 3rd

A good weekend in Sin City brought James Buescher his sixth top-five of the year with a third-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

After two practice sessions, Buescher was once again atop the leader board as the fastest truck and qualified his Wolf Pack Rentals Chevrolet in the second-position.

Set for a solid run in the 146-lap race, the young driver remained in the top-five for the first 26 laps of the race.  Despite reporting that he was “loose in and tight off,” he stayed out when the first caution of the race was displayed on lap 11, and came in for fuel-only during the second caution period.

Though he dropped out of the top-five for just a few laps, Buescher remained solidly in the top-10 while battling tight conditions off of turn four.  When the third caution flag of the race flew on lap 38, he reported that he had lost all grip in the front and rear.  That didn’t stop the young driver from making his way into the first position and holding the race lead until the caution flew once again on lap 60.  He returned to the attention of his Wolf Pack Rentals team for a full tank of Sunoco race fuel and four fresh tires.

Buescher quickly returned to the top-three after the race’s re-start, where he remained for the next 30 laps when he came down pit road for fuel, four tires and an air pressure adjustment.  He took the race lead again on lap 101 and, by the sixth caution of the night, reported that his truck felt “balanced.”  That condition changed only 13 laps later when, while riding in the second-position, he felt that his No. 31 was “a little aero-tight,” but he continued to contend for the race lead.  By lap 131, Buescher felt his truck was “way tight on exit,” but was able to keep his Chevrolet with the leaders and crossed the finish line in third-place.

Austin Dillon was the race winner at Las Vegas.  Johnny Sauter, Todd Bodine and Matt Crafton joined Buescher to round out the top-five.

FAST FACTS:

The Turner Motorsports team will enjoy the next three weekends off and return to short track racing at Martinsville for the Kroger 200 on Saturday, October 23rd.  The race can be seen live on SPEED TV, or heard on MRN Radio beginning at 12:30 pm Eastern time.

JAMES BUESCHER: “The guys on the Wolf Pack Rentals team did a great job with my truck tonight.  I was able to run up front and felt like I had a solid chance to win the race.  We made a lot of progress in practice and I had another good qualifying run – I think this finish says a lot for this team and the progress we’ve made together.  I’m looking forward to the next Truck race at Martinsville and hopefully getting into Victory Lane before the season is over.”

- Turner Motorsports, LLC., Press Release