​BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 29, 2021) – Chris Buescher ran for much of Monday’s delayed event on the Bristol dirt in the top-10, with his Fastenal Mustang advancing as high as sixth midway through the race. The Texas native picked up a stage point in the first segment, but a flat right rear tire midway through stage two halted his progress. He would ultimately finish 14th as he battled back from the damage.
 
With Saturday’s heat races rained out, NASCAR set the field by the formula it has used for other events this year. Buescher began the day from the 11th spot and would maintain that position during a chaotic opening green flag run. The first caution of the day on lap 40 for a pileup in turn 2 brought out a red flag, and Buescher sustained slight damage on the restart. Though he dropped just outside the top-15, another caution quickly flew and allowed cars to hit pit road for the first time in the event.
 
A unique feature of the event had teams perform controlled and timed pit stops, with three minutes to change tires and repair any damage with no positions to be gained or lost on pit road. The Fastenal team quickly corrected the fender damage and made adjustments to give the Ford Mustang more life on short runs.
 
The changes quickly paid dividends as Buescher vaulted to the 11th  position in just a few laps. As the end of stage one neared, he engaged in a back-and-forth battle with the No. 9 car for the 10th spot and the crucial stage point that came with it. With just over a lap to go in the segment, Buescher completed the pass and took the position at the stage break.
 
Another pit stop brought more slight changes to dial in the handling of the Fastenal Ford, and Buescher continued his forward momentum early. He was trying to make a pass for the 8th spot at lap 140 when contact with a competitor pinched his right rear fender. The damage slowly drained the life from his tire, and the driver did everything he could to keep the car on the track until the second competition caution of the day at lap 150. By then, he was scored 22nd as cars hit pit road once again.
 
Damage repairs and a fresh set of tires did the trick, as Buescher would continually pick off positions despite three more cautions displayed before the end of stage two. By that time, Buescher had advanced back to 14th and wouldn’t fall outside the top 15 the rest of the way.
 
The final 50-lap shootout nearly ran green the entire way until the final yellow of the day flew with just four to go, setting up a chaotic final restart and green-white-checkered finish. Buescher held serve on the restart, taking the checkered flag 14th.

Team:                   No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang
Crew Chief:         Luke Lambert
Twitter:                @17RoushTeam, @RoushFenway and @Chris_Buescher
 
Qualifying Heat Races – Saturday, March 27 at 6 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
Food City Dirt Race – Sunday, March 28 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
                                                                                                                                                                 
ADVANCE NOTES
Buescher at Bristol Motor Speedway

• Buescher makes his 12th Cup start at Bristol on Sunday, where he has two top-10 finishes, most recently an eighth-place run last fall.
• Buescher’s best finish at ‘The World’s Fastest Half Mile’ came in 2016 when he ran fifth.
• In five Xfinity starts at Bristol, Buescher has three top-10 runs, including a career-best third in 2015.

 
Buescher on Dirt Elsewhere

• While not as experienced on dirt as his teammate, Buescher is fresh off his first experience on the Bristol dirt track with last week’s Bristol Dirt Nationals.
• Buescher competed in the 604 Late Model Class last week, and prior to that also turned laps on separate dirt tracks, all in an attempt to prep for Sunday’s Cup race.
• He also ran select dirt events in the ARCA Series during the early days of his career, notably winning one dirt race at DuQuoin Fairgrounds in Illinois in 2011.

 
Bristol Dirt Formats

• The NCS will run practice sessions and qualifying heats that will determine the starting lineups for the main event. The lineup for each of the four qualifying heats per series will be determined by random draw.
• Passing points – a common theme across weekly dirt track racing – will also play a role this weekend. Passing points are the amount of points collected based on how many cars drivers are able to pass during a qualifying heat. Those points will help determine the starting lineup for the main event.
• As for the qualifying heat races, the Cup Series will run four 15-lap heats with 9-10 cars in each race.

 
Luke Lambert at Bristol Motor Speedway

• Lambert will be on the box for his 18th Cup race at Bristol. In 17 prior starts, he has five top-10s with a career-best fifth in the 2015 spring race. His average finish is 15.1.
• Dating back seven events at ‘The World’s Fastest Half Mile,’ Lambert has three top-10s and five finishes inside the top-12.
• Lambert is a former winner at Bristol in the NXS, bringing home one of his four career Xfinity wins back in the 2012 spring race. He and Elliott Sadler started fourth in the No. 2 machine and led the final 36 laps for the victory.

 
QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Bristol Dirt:
“I think a lot of it is going to be survival, trying to do decent in the heat races to get a good starting position. I don’t completely understand the system, but I haven’t done much dirt racing in my past at all, so, like I said, we’ll work on practice, we’ll get it driving decent, we’ll go into the heat and try to get some points without tearing our race car up and that way we’ll find ourselves ready for a really long dirt race.”
 
Last Time Out
Buescher secured his first top-10 of the season last weekend at Atlanta with a seventh-place run, and scored stage finishes of ninth and eighth along the way.

Where They Rank
Following his top-10, Buescher is 16th in driver points through six events.

On the Car
Fastenal returns to the fold at Roush Fenway for its 11th season in 2021. They spent three years on the No. 99 before jumping to the No. 17 Cup Series entry, and were the primary partner on the No. 60 Xfinity team that captured the owner’s championship in 2011.

Fastenal will feature top suppliers Ansell, Duracell/Procell, Master Lock, Go-Jo/Purell and Krylon on Buescher’s Mustang as he competes this weekend. For more information on these suppliers, visit Fastenal.com, and stay up-do-date on social @FastenalRacing, @Fastenal.

About Fastenal
Fastenal [Nasdaq: FAST] is North America’s largest fastener distributor and a ‘one-stop’ source for hundreds of thousands of OEM, MRO and Construction products. With more than 2,600 stores worldwide, the company supports B2B customers with tailored local inventory and dedicated personnel, who visit regularly, quickly respond to emergency needs, and provide efficient inventory management solutions. Fastenal’s service-oriented business network includes the world’s largest industrial vending program, 14 regional distribution centers, 8 custom manufacturing facilities, thousands of delivery vehicles, and industry-leading sourcing, quality and engineering resources.