Buescher Ties for XFINITY Points Lead with Third-Place Finish at Bristol

Chris Buescher drove his No. 60 Roush Performance Parts Mustang to a third-place finish Saturday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway.  The finish was Buescher’s best finish at Bristol and puts him in a tie for the XFINITY points lead.  In just four career XFINITY starts at the half-mile track, Buescher now has one top five and three top-10 finishes. 

“That was a lot of fun,” said Buescher.  “That was the best we’ve run at Bristol since I’ve been doing this the last four or five attempts here, so it was a good day for us.  The guys did a good job.  It was tough today.  The line moved up, especially those last 30 laps.  I think it moved up all the way up to the fence and just made it really hard to pass there at the end. 

It was kind of unfortunate, but track position was a big key here today.  We were able to stretch it on a set of tires there somewhere close to the halfway point and really made a good run out of it, so it’s a big gain.  We’re tied for the points lead, which is pretty cool.  I wish we could have gotten just one more, but it was a really good day.”

Buescher started the 300-lap race at Bristol Motor Speedway from the 14th position and quickly began to advance through the field.  On his first pit stop under caution, Buescher needed only four tires and fuel. On the restart, a car ahead of him missed a shift jumbling the field costing Buescher seven hard earned spots on the track. 

It didn’t take long for Buescher to earn back the lost track position and with the help of four tires and a right rear wedge adjustment after his next opportunity to pit he cracked the top five.  Multiple cautions kept setting Buescher up on the less desirable bottom line for restarts but he was still able to maintain his track position. 

Buescher finally lined up on the top line in fourth for the final restart with just over 10 laps remaining and was able to advance one position, while challenging for second, ultimately crossing the finish line third and tying for the XFINITY points lead.

RFR PR