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[/media-credit]Claiming the victory last night at Kentucky Speedway, James Buescher and the No. 31 Fraternal Order of Eagles (F.O.E.) team completed a sweep of the 2012 Kentucky races, en route to the team’s fourth victory of the season. After coming off a tough week at the short track in Iowa, Turner Motorsports brought back chassis TMS-214. This is the same chassis that had visited victory lane on three different occasions prior to the Kentucky 201. After a race that took a while to get momentum with numerous yellow flags, Buescher continued to show his dominance on the 1.5- mile intermediate ovals with a decisive victory.
Buescher and the Turner Motorsports team rolled into Kentucky Speedway as one of the heavy favorites and that was visible throughout practice on Friday. After some slight tweaks to tighten the truck up and help Buescher roll through the bumps in turns three and four, they were confident they had a great truck heading into the race.
The No. 31 Fraternal Order of Eagles (F.O.E.) Chevy rolled off the grid in the eighth starting position. Attempting to pick up right where he left off from the June race at Kentucky, Buescher quickly cracked the top-three by lap three.
For the second straight week, the race was slow to get going, with numerous caution flags waving throughout the night. Once the race consisted of some green-flag runs, the racing was full of action. Crew Chief Michael Shelton came over the radio to remind Buescher of the team’s strategy.
“If you get out front, try to save me some fuel,” he told his driver.
Early going in the race, on lap 34, Buescher grabbed the top spot on a restart. It was on lap 42, after another yellow flag, that Shelton called Buescher in for some attention from the F.O.E. Turner Motorsports crew for their first stop of the race. He called for four tires, two cans of Sunoco fuel and an air pressure adjustment to help Buescher with the loose condition he was feeling. With a handful of teams rolling the dice and gambling by taking just two tires, Buescher was put further back in the field in the seventh position on the restart. Buescher stayed positive on the radio to the crew.
“We’ll be alright. We’ll get it back up there.”
Buescher stuck with the team strategy and stretched his fuel mileage until lap 81 when a yellow flag waved again for the fifth-place truck spinning into the frontstretch infield. With just over fifty laps remaining, Shelton called his driver back to pit road, gambling with a two-tire stop that left Buescher with the lead. Buescher never looked back on his way to victory lane.
“Iowa was rough for us, Buescher said after the race. “We had a fast truck there. We’ve had some tough breaks this year but when you have the opportunity it’s really cool. Michael Shelton made an awesome call to take two tires at the end and get the track position. The clean air was really important. The Fraternal Order of Eagles (F.O.E.) Chevy out front it was on a rail.”
The No. 31 Great Clips Chevrolet of James Buescher and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be back in action next Saturday night at 8pm at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Smith’s 350 Live on SPEED.
First Practice Position: 11th Laps: 15 Fastest Lap: 30.921
Final Practice Position: 3rd Laps: 33 Fastest Lap: 30.514
Qualifying Position: 8th Fastest Lap: 30.867
Race Position: 1st Laps Completed/Total Laps: 134/134 Laps lead: 64
