Chris Buescher – Atlanta Advance
Team: No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Luke Lambert
Twitter: @17RoushTeam, @RoushFenway and @Chris_Buescher
Race Format: 500 miles, 325 laps, Stage Lengths: 105-105-115
Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 – Sunday, June 7 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
NASCAR Returns to Action
· NASCAR returns to the track where the schedule originally left off prior to sweeping changes from COVID-19, with all three national series (NCS, NXS, NGROTS) heading to Atlanta Motor Speedway.
· The Cup Series will run 500 miles on Sunday in the sixth event since NASCAR’s return to the track on May 17 in Darlington. Following Atlanta, the NCS will hit Martinsville (June 10), Homestead (June 14) and Talladega (June 21).
· Four weeks of NASCAR action were completed prior to the hiatus with races at Atlanta, Homestead, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega, Dover and Martinsville postponed.
Bristol Recap, Sunday Preview
· After a promising start with another stage point earned in Sunday’s race from Bristol, Buescher made contact and ultimately cut a tire midway through before finishing 23rd.
· Sunday’s starting lineup at Atlanta will once again be determined by a random draw based on teams’ order in owner points. Buescher and the No. 17 team are 21st in owner points, meaning they will draw for a starting spot in positions 13-24.
Buescher Historically at Atlanta Motor Speedway
· Buescher makes his fifth Cup start at Atlanta on Sunday, a track he has one top-10 at with an average finish of 21.5.
· The 27-year-old is coming off a ninth-place run in the No. 37 machine last spring, a huge improvement after starting 30th. Prior to that, Buescher’s best finish was 24th in the 2017 event.
· This won’t be the first time Buescher pilots the Fastenal machine in Atlanta, as he carried the brand to a fourth-place run in the Xfinity Series back in 2015.
Luke Lambert at Atlanta Motor Speedway
· Lambert will be atop the box for his ninth Cup event on Sunday. In eight prior starts he has two top-10s, both in back-to-back seasons with Ryan Newman in 2014 (seventh) and 2015 (10th).
· Lambert and Newman put together some solid qualifying runs at Atlanta in years past, with an average starting spot of 12.8, including five top-10 starting spots – two of which were outside front row in 2017-18.
· Lambert also called one Xfinity race with Elliott Sadler in 2012, finishing fourth after starting seventh.
QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Atlanta:
“We’re looking for a bounce back run this weekend in our Fastenal Ford. I had a solid run there a year ago, and it makes for a fun yet challenging 500 miles with options to run the wall, or keep the car down on the line. We’ve had our high points in the last four weeks, we just need to finish one off with a solid run this weekend.”
On the Car
Fastenal celebrates its 10th season with Roush Fenway Racing in 2020. The Minnesota company 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.
MCR, Honeywell, Norton, JET JPW, and Walter Surface will be the Fastenal suppliers to ride aboard the No. 17 this weekend.
· MCR, a leader in the field of personal protective equipment (PPE), will be on the hood.
· Honeywell, now headquartered in Charlotte, will ride on the TV panel.
· Norton, a Saint-Gobain brand, will ride on the deck lid.
· JET, with 50 years’ experience in the industrial tool category, will be on the lower rear quarter.
· Walter Surface, a leader in surface treatment technologies, will ride on the B-post.
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.
