Buescher Used Pit-Strategy En route to 14th-Place Finish at Kentucky

The RAB Racing No. 99 Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky Inc. (TMMK) team came into Friday night’s race at Kentucky Speedway with a little extra motivation to perform in front of many Georgetown, Kentucky’s Toyota team members. James Buescher placed the No. 99 TMMK Camry in the 19th starting position for Friday night’s John R. Elliott Hero Campaign 300. After moving up just a couple positions during the first half of the 200-lap event, Buescher found himself running in the 17th position with his Camry that was loose entering the corner and tight center/off. The No. 99 TMMK team took advantage of multiple opportunities during the first half of the race to adjust the handling on their Camry. It was just past the half-way mark when the third yellow flag of the race was displayed. Crew chief, Matt Lucas made a quick call to bring his Texan driver down pit road and for a different pit strategy than the lead pack. That call eventually paid off when the ensuing restart lead to long green-flag run causing many of the 40-car field to make green-flag pit stops. Running on a different strategy than much of the field, the No. 99 TMMK team were able to stretch it further on this green-flag and drive all the way up to the fifth position when another yellow flag slowed the field on lap 157. Buescher would go on to battle for a top-10 running position the remaining 39-laps, however multiple restarts during the latter laps of the race hurt the 24-year-old who was dealing with a loose-handling Camry in traffic. Buescher eventually crossed the finish line just inches in front of the No. 6 to take home 14th-place.

 

James Buescher Quote:   

Our Toyota Motor Manufacturing Camry was driving ok, we adjusted on it all night. The first adjustment we went way too far and we had to take some of that back out during our second stop to find the happy medium with our loose entry and tight exit. We got on a different strategy when we came in and got fuel only when a quick caution came out. During the green-flag stops we gained a ton of track position and it was a good call by Matt Lucas to get us on that different strategy. We were lacking speed all weekend so to get up there and try to hold everyone off till the end was our best play. All those late-race cautions hurt us by bunching everyone back up. I was just really loose in the pack on those restarts. Overall we made good progress as we got more drivability in our Camry, we just got to find some more speed.”

 

RAB Racing PR