Buescher runs up front until blowout ends his NCWTS night

[NickHolt]

James Buescher Iowa Speedway Recap

 

James Buescher and the No. 31 AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet Silverado team moved to the ninth race on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule on Saturday evening at Iowa Speedway. The state-of-the-art facility outside of Des Moines is known as one of the best short tracks in Middle America, and Saturday night’s 200-lap race certainly did not disappoint. Buescher had the truck to beat, but a tire failure after the halfway point relegated them a 30th-place result.

 

Throughout the two practice sessions, Buescher fought a tight-handling condition in his AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet Silverado. The crew went to work making changes to both the front and rear suspension of their Chevrolet hoping to find a combination which was both comfortable and fast. With each run, the team picked up speed and by the end of “happy hour” practice, the team posted the seventh fastest time and was confident they had a machine capable of running up front on Saturday night under the lights.

 

Buescher started the race from the fourth spot and was immediately on his way to the front. By lap three, he had No. 31 AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet in second and was tracking down the leader. He radioed to his crew chief Michael Shelton on lap eight, explaining the truck was loose-handling in the middle of the short track corners, Shelton started to concoct a plan of attack for the changes he would make during the first round of pit stops.

 

By lap 10, Buescher was atop the leaderboard and started to inch away from the rest of the field. The 22-year-old Texas native pulled out to over a two-second lead over the rest of the 36-truck field.

 

When the caution flag was displayed to the field for the third time on lap 49, the Turner Motorsports pit crew prepared to see Buescher roll down the pit lane. The No. 31 AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet hit pit road on lap 52 for service. The team went to work efficiently changing four tires and filling their machine with Sunoco racing fuel. They also made both chassis and air-pressure adjustments trying to keep up with changing track conditions.

 

Buescher restarted the 200-lap event on lap 56 in the runner-up position. He informed his crew that the adjustments helped the truck rotate and he was really able to be aggressive with the accelerator. It took only 12 circuits around the Iowa short track for Buescher to regain the lead and start to again pull away from the competition.

 

By the halfway point in the American Ethanol 200, Buescher had pulled out to over a one-second advantage over second place competitor. He radioed to the crew explaining he was trying to not abuse his Goodyear Wranglers and he was continually running the fastest times on the track.

 

On lap 135, with no warning, the right front tire exploded on the AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet coming out of turn two, sending Buescher hard into the outside retaining wall. The damage to the No. 31 Turner Motorsports machine was too extensive to fix, ending the team’s day.

 

“The tire let go with absolutely no warning. We had the truck to beat tonight. [Crew chief] Michael [shelton] and all the guys on the AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet team brought a truck that should be sitting in victory lane. This is going to be a tough pill to swallow, but we will regroup and be ready to go in Chicago next Saturday. We are a resilient group and will rebound.”

 

The No. 31 Turner Motorsports team will return to action next Friday night at 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway. The American Ethanol 225 can be seen live on SPEED on July 21st with coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. The event will also be aired on both MRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio channel 90.