Team: No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Luke Lambert
Twitter: @17RoushTeam, @RoushFenway and @Chris_Buescher
Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 – Thursday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
Daytona 500 – Sunday, Feb. 16 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
Buescher in the Duels
· After qualifying 19th on speed in this past Sunday’s Daytona 500 qualifying, Chris Buescher will line up 10th in Duel 1 Thursday night. It will mark Buescher’s fifth Daytona 500 qualifying race all-time with a best finish of ninth last season.
· The 2015 Xfinity Champion drove to a ninth-place result in his first-ever Duel in 2016 and also finished 10th in the 2018 event.
Buescher at Daytona International Speedway
· Buescher makes his ninth NCS start at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, and fifth Daytona 500 start.
· Overall at DIS, he has three top-10s and two top-fives with an average finish of 23.5.
· 2018 marked his best season at DIS when he finished fifth in the season opener, and followed that with another fifth-place result in the summer event.
· Buescher had better luck in his three Xfinity Series starts at Daytona, finishing runner-up in the 2015 kick-off race, and a pair of 12th-place results in the 2014 and 2015 summer races.
Luke Lambert at Daytona International Speedway
· Luke Lambert makes his Roush Fenway Racing debut with Buescher on Sunday, in what will be his eighth Daytona 500 atop the pit box.
· Overall at DIS Lambert has four top-10s – all with Ryan Newman – including three eighth-place finishes (2015 summer, both 2018 events) and a career-best fifth-place result in the 2017 summer race. Lambert also finished 11th with Newman in the 2016 opener.
· Lambert also called two Xfinity Series events at Daytona with Elliott Sadler in 2012, finishing third and sixth, respectively.
QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on the Daytona 500:
“I’m super excited to be back in the fold at Roush Fenway where we won an Xfinity title a few years back. There are still many familiar faces in the shop and on the team, which makes the transition pretty seamless. We were pleased with our Fastenal Ford last weekend in practice and qualifying, and our goal is to keep it clean Thursday night and see what we can do come Sunday for the Daytona 500.”
On the Car
Fastenal celebrates its 10th season with Roush Fenway Racing in 2020. 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.
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.