Team: No. 17 SunnyD Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Luke Lambert
Twitter: @17RoushTeam, @RoushFenway and @Chris_Buescher
Race Format: 500 miles, 188 laps, Stage Lengths: 60-60-68
YellaWood 500 – Sunday, Oct. 4 at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
Sweet Home Alabama, Talladega On Deck
· The final Superspeedway race of the 2020 season is on tap for this weekend, as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega for a Sunday afternoon event. It marks the second race in the Round of 12, with the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway next weekend as the cutoff race.
· The starting lineup will continue to be set by three competition-based metrics, rewarding both season-long and single-race performance. Sunday’s lineup will be announced later this week prior to the action-packed racing on Sunday.
· Four weeks of NASCAR action were completed prior to the COVID-19 hiatus with races at Atlanta, Homestead, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega, Dover and Martinsville postponed before the schedule later picked back up in mid-May.
Buescher Historically at Talladega
· Buescher makes his 11th Cup start at Talladega on Sunday, where he has an average finish of 20.3 with one top-10. He led four laps en route to a sixth-place run back in the spring, for his first top-10 at the track.
· Buescher has two Xfinity Series starts at Talladega with a runner-up result in 2014, followed by a sixth-place run in 2015.
Luke Lambert Historically at Talladega
· Lambert will be atop the box for his 17th Cup event from Talladega this weekend, where he has an average finish of 14.2 with seven top-10s.
· In addition to leading Buescher to the sixth-place run this spring, he also led Daniel Hemric to a fifth-place finish last spring, and was paired with Newman for a runner-up run in the 2017 fall race. In his first-ever Cup event in Talladega, he led Jeff Burton to a second-place finish after leading 26 laps.
· Lambert also called one Xfinity race with Elliott Sadler in 2012, where he started from the pole and finished 10th.
QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Talladega:
“Our Superspeedway program has shown what it is capable of, thanks to Jimmy Fennig and all his guys in the shop. We survived the chaos back in the spring to finish sixth, and also ran top-10 at Daytona just a couple months back. There will be a lot happening with the playoff guys, so our goal is to be patient and hang around until the end, which is key in these races.”
Last Time Out
After a flurry of late-race cautions in Sunday’s race from Vegas, Buescher held his ground inside the top-10 for multiple restarts, before going on to finish ninth in the SunnyD Ford.
Where They Rank
Buescher is 20th in driver standings through 30 events.
On the Car
Iconic brand and thirst-quenching favorite SunnyD returns to the No. 17 machine this weekend in Talladega. The #SUNNYDouble race weekends mark the third time in NASCAR Cup Series history that the No. 17 SUNNYD Ford will hit the track in back-to-back races. Roush Fenway Racing and SUNNYD will partner to give fans an exclusive content shared across the Roush Fenway and SUNNYD Racing Facebook, Twitter and Instagram platform for two weeks of SUNNYDynamic action.
During #SUNNYDouble race week, fans will have the opportunity receive a virtual photo with Buescher and their very own personalized SUNNYD bottle. Fans will also have the chance to win spectacular SUNNYD giveaways like lanyards, t-shirts, hats, laptop stickers and more.
Driven for a Cause
Throughout the month of October, Roush Fenway Racing will show its support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month by running special pink numbers on its Ford Mustangs. In addition, Roush Fenway Fords will sport pink ‘Driven for a Cause’ ribbon decals on its Ford Mustangs.
About SunnyD
The iconic SunnyD® brand is owned by Harvest Hill Holdings, a Brynwood Partners owned beverage company. The 54-year-old SunnyD® brand is a leading chilled juice drink in the U.S. In addition to the SunnyD® brand, the company markets the Juicy Juice®, Little HUG®, and Daily’s® beverage brands. Harvest Hill’s products are widely distributed through leading retailers in the U.S. and Canada.
