James Buescher: “I was really surprised by the length of the green flag runs”
Salem, Indiana
Sep 18, 2007
Country Joe Racing
After finishing ninth the night before in the NASCAR Busch East Series (NBES) event at New Hampshire International Raceway (NHIS), ARCA rookie James Buescher was feeling pretty good about his chances at Salem Speedway.
After all, the Plano Texas native made his Salem Speedway debut this past April with a thrilling sixth place performance. Back for more, Buescher and his Country Joe Racing team set sights on their second win of the season.
Unveiling the same Dodge the team won with at USA International Speedway (Lakeland) in March, Buescher headed into practice looking to storm to the top. During the hour and a half session, Buescher was able to record a lap of 18.065 seconds at 110.601 MPH grabbing second only beaten by Dexter Bean.
Climbing from his machine, Buescher was feeling good, real good.
“The car is fast and I’m excited, ” said Buescher, who scored the ARCA victory at USA International Speedway (Lakeland) earlier this year. “The guys on the Country Joe Racing team have once again given me a great car to drive and I thank them for that. We have a pole contending car, but I think everyone is going to pick up the speed, we just have to give it our best. ”
Buescher nailed the bullet when referring to the time and speed increase. Heading into ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying, the rising star knew he had a car capable of taking the top spot.
During his two lap hustle around the legendary short track, Buescher posted a time of 17.791 seconds at 112.304 MPH good enough for third fastest.
“I’m pretty happy with that, ” Buescher stated. “The car is going to be very quick in the race and I know we’ll be a factor. ”
At the start of the Eddie Gilstrap Motors ARCA Fall Classic by Advance Auto Parts, Buescher kept the leaders in his sights.
Sitting comfortably in the top-three for much of the first fifty circuits, Buescher would put on a great battle with eight time ARCA RE/MAX Series champion Frank Kimmel approaching half-way.
Surprisingly long green flag runs would keep Buescher on his toes but in the hunt. Still battling the top-five contenders, Buescher would make his lone pit stop approaching lap 114 when the yellow flag flew on lap 112.
Dropping down to pit road, the team changed four Hoosier tires and added Sunoco Racing fuel before sending Buescher back into battle.
On the restart solidly in the top-five, Buescher would ride knowing he didn’t want to tear up his piece settling in for the last quarter of the event.
Making his move towards the top-three, the caution flag would fly again when leader Brian Keselowski lost a tire in turns three and four sending out the yellow flag.
While many of his fellow competitors elected to pit, the Country Joe Racing team planned to stay out hoping that success would strike twice when they played the same strategy with Joey Miller in 2005 which allowed him to take the win.
Back to green, Buescher would lead 16 laps but unable to fend off a hard charging Justin Allgaier, Frank Kimmel and Michael McDowell who all pitted during that caution period.
Unable to have the grip they had, Buescher decided to play his game smart and duck in behind them comfortably sending the CJR driver into his third top-five finish of the season and his fifth top-10 in six starts this year.
“We opted for track position at the end of the race and couldn’t hold off those guys, but we made them work for it, ” explained Buescher who finished fourth. “It just proved that newer tires equal success here. We had a good pit stop and the car never fell off. I was really surprised by the length of the green flag runs, I wasn’t expecting that, but it was nice. I still really would like another win and we have one more shot together to do it at Toledo, so we’ll see if we can close out the season on a high note. ”
Nate Thiesse, Director of Operations for Country Joe Racing offered, “Once again, James has come to battle for this team. He was a factor all night. We led the race, just didn’t have the newer tires in the end to hang on. I know James wants to win again, so hopefully we can all deliver that at Toledo here in a couple weeks. ”
Next up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is the final superspeedway event of the season from Talladega Superspeedway on October 5.
