LOUDON, N.H. (Aug. 2, 2020) – After battling a tight handling Fastenal Ford and an unpredictable track condition, Chris Buescher finished 25th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
Buescher rolled off the grid 24th but worked his way up to 21st in the first three laps.
The caution flag waved at lap 15 and the team decided to head down pit road for tires and an air pressure adjustment. The team restarted 21st but fell back to 27th as Buescher reported a tight handling Ford Mustang. At the competition caution, the team elected to stay out for track position and restarted 14th. The adjustments from the prior pit stopped helped for a while, but by lap 48 the driver was running 29th and struggling while trying to drive through traffic. Without enough laps in the stage to test the adjustments, Buescher finished stage one in 26th.
The Prosper, Texas native stayed out during the stage break to grain track position. The team restarted 19th and held that position until a caution flag was displayed briefly for rain. At lap 96, the team pitted for tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment to tighten up No. 17 machine under caution. After restarting 24th at lap 100, Buescher held track position for a while but ultimately fell a lap down to the leaders. Fortunately, a caution at lap 171 enabled the team to take the wave around and get their lap back. Buescher pitted once more with another caution at lap 178 and gained two positions on the restart to finish stage two in 22nd.
Buescher and the team stayed out on track again during the stage break and restarted 18th for the final stage of racing. Two caution flags waved early in the stage, but the team stayed out on track to gain track position and to save a set of tires. At lap 203, the team pitted during a caution for fresh tires and fuel, then had to come back down pit road to replace lugnuts on the left front tire and top off on fuel. Buescher restarted 27th but was able to gain track position when the caution flag waved seven laps later. The team stayed out to restart 18th but fell back to 25th during the restart. The driver held track position for the majority of the stage as the race stayed green and the team took the checkered flag in 25th, one lap down.
Buescher and the No. 17 team return to action next weekend for a double header at Michigan International Raceway. The first race begins Saturday, August 8 at 4 p.m. EST on NBC Sports Network, MRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.
