DOVER, Del. (May 16, 2021) – After earning stage points in the first stage of racing, Chris Buescher and the No. 17 Fastenal team finished 17th at Dover International Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Buescher rolled off the grid in 10th and was up to ninth when the competition caution flag waved at lap 35. The team took four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment before getting back on track to restart fifth. The driver stayed inside of the top-10 for the majority of the stage, falling to ninth with 11 laps left in the stage. Buescher took the green-white checkered flag for stage two in ninth, earning two stage points.

At the stage break, Buescher pitted for four tires and more adjustments to free up his car. The driver restarted fifth after the choose cone and was quickly shuffled back to ninth when a caution flag waved at lap 171. The team restarted eighth, but fell down to 14th as the No. 17 machine handled tighter as the laps of the stage wound down. The Prosper, Texas native finished stage two in 15th.

The 2015 Dover Xfinity Series winner pitted at the stage break for a track bar adjustment, fuel and more fresh tires, holding track position until dropping back to 19th around lap 267. The stage’s first caution flag waved a few laps later and the team elected to stay out for track position to restart 15th.

Soon after the race went back to green, another caution flag waved for debris. Buescher came down pit road for fuel, air pressure adjustment and more tires before restarting 15th. The final caution of the day came soon after going green again at lap 325. Scored 18th, the team pitted for four fresh tires and restarted 18th. As the final 75 laps ticked by, the driver was able to pick up one more spot to take the checkered flag in 17th.

Team:                   No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang
Crew Chief:         Luke Lambert
Twitter:                @17RoushTeam, @RoushFenway and @Chris_Buescher
 
Drydene 400 – Sunday, May 16 at 2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
                                                                                                                                                                 
ADVANCE NOTES
Buescher at Dover International Speedway

• Buescher makes his 11th Cup start at Dover this weekend. In 10 prior events he has a best finish of 14th, which came in the second race of last season’s doubleheader. He finished 16th in the first 2020 race, and overall has a 22.8 average finish.
• Buescher is a former winner in the Xfinity Series at ‘The Monster Mile,’ having won in 2015 in the No. 60 entry. He started second and led the final 10 laps en route to one of his two wins that season and the series title.

 
Luke Lambert at Dover International Speedway

• Lambert will call his 17th Cup race at Dover on Sunday. In 16 prior events he has an average finish of 16.9 with two top-10s.
• Lambert’s best finish came in 2017 when he led Ryan Newman to a fourth-place run, and prior to that the duo finished eighth in 2014. Most recently, Lambert guided Buescher to the 16th and 14th-place finishes in 2020.
• He was also the crew chief for Elliott Sadler in a pair of NXS races in 2012, finishing seventh and fourth.

 
QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Dover:
“I’m really proud of the effort of this team through the first 12 races, and excited about where we stand currently but more excited about what we’re still capable of doing in the weeks to come. Dover starts a stretch of fun race tracks that provide their own sets of challenges, but we’re up for the task at hand and know what we need to do. Momentum is key in this thing, and it’s our intent to keep that rolling come Sunday in our Fastenal Ford at Dover.”
 
Last Time Out
Buescher piloted his Fifth Third Bank Ford to a ninth-place finish Sunday at Darlington, his second-straight top-10 and third such finish on the season.

Where They Rank
Buescher is 13th in points through 12 events, as the race for the top-16 spots in the standings heats up through the second quarter of the season.

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 Honeywell, Ingersoll Rand, Superior Glove, Lista and Metabo 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.