James Buescher’s headed home to Texas with a brisk tailwind.
Expected to be a championship contender in preseason polling, Buescher failed to qualify at Phoenix International Raceway in February, dropping the Plano, Tex. native to 24th in the standings. Three months later – on the strength of four top-five finishes – the 21-year-old competitor has driven back into the thick of the championship picture to stand seventh behind leader Johnny Sauter.
Sauter retook the points lead with a second-place finish at Kansas Speedway. Sauter’s lead of 12 points over Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Cole Whitt is the largest of the season.
Buescher scored his latest solid finish – fourth – in Kansas while leading for the fourth time in the season’s seven races. “We are really building momentum heading into the meat of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season,” said Buescher, who posted a pair of sixth-place finishes at Texas Motor Speedway in 2010. “If we continue to run in the top five week in and week out the wins will come.”
And so will the points.
“We have had a couple setbacks but have been able to bounce back and continue to move forward,” said Turner Motorsports owner Steve Turner, also a native Texan whose team has a pair of NASCAR Nationwide Series victories in 2011. “The sign of a great team is their ability to handle adversity. I think we handled it well and took the opportunity to refocus and improve as a group. We are knocking on the door of our first win and I hope it comes this Friday night at the Texas Motor Speedway.”
Friday’s race has other Texas connections:
• Houston’s David Starr will make his 26th consecutive NASCAR Camping World Truck Series appearance at the 1.5-mile speedway; Starr has seven top-five finishes and made his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at TMS in April.
• Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex residents Ron Crosby and Joey Sonntag have entered a pair of Chevrolets with NASCAR Sprint Cup veteran JJ Yeley due to drive Sonntag’s No. 73 County Building Centers/Trans Pecos Trucking truck. The driver of Crosby’s No. 65 truck has yet to be determined.
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