Team: No. 17 AutoTempest Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Luke Lambert
Twitter: @17RoushTeam, @RoushFenway and @Chris_Buescher
EchoPark Texas Grand Prix – Sunday, May 23 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
NASCAR Set for Inaugural Race at COTA
- This weekend serves as one of the most anticipated on the 2021 NASCAR slate, which features a record-breaking six road courses, including the inaugural event at the 3.41-mile long Circuit of the Americas.
- The course is the only circuit in the United States to annually host both F1 and MotoGP.
- With the new track, the weekend schedule features both practice and qualifying, a rare occurrence in the 2021 campaign. Teams will practice for 50 minutes at 10:05 a.m. ET Saturday morning. Qualifying takes place Sunday at 11 a.m. ET, just prior to the race rolling off at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Buescher at Road Courses
- Buescher has 14 starts on road courses in the NCS with one top-10, which came last season in the inaugural event at the Daytona Road Course. He followed that up with an 11th-place run at the same track this February.
- Buescher fared particularly well on road courses in the Xfinity Series with one win, four top-10s and three finishes inside the top five in six races. His win came at Mid-Ohio in 2014 in the No. 60 entry, and he followed that with a fourth-place run at the same track a year later. He finished third at WGI in 2015, and also ran ninth at Road America in 2015.
- Buescher is the lone driver in the current NCS field to hail from The Lone Star State, and will make his 12th start in Texas this weekend.
- Sunday also marks a bit of a milestone for the 28-year-old, as he is slated for his 200th NASCAR Cup Series start in his sixth full-time season in the series.
Luke Lambert at Road Courses
- Lambert will call his 20th road course race as a crew chief this weekend, with three top-10s and one top five on road courses in 19 prior starts.
- Most recently he led Buescher to the fifth-place finish last season in Daytona, and followed that with 11th-place run in February.
- Lambert has three Xfinity Series road course races under his belt over the years, with a best finish of fourth with Elliott Sadler in 2012.
QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at COTA:
“I am very excited to get to a new track this weekend, one that we’ve really spent a lot of time preparing for both in the simulator and as a team. I think we’ve shown that road courses can be a highlight for our 17 team, and we’ll use some of our most recent experiences to try and unload a step ahead this weekend. It’s sort of a home race for me, so that’s always an added bonus when you get to go home, and we’re proud to have AutoTempest back on board for their second race, and look forward to a good day come Sunday.”
Last Time Out
Buescher earned stage points after finishing ninth in the opening segment, before going on to finish 17th in the Fastenal Ford.
Where They Rank
Buescher is inside the playoff picture in 14th in points through 13 races in the 2021 campaign.
On the Car
AutoTempest, an aggregator of online classified advertisements specifically for cars, returns for its second race aboard Buescher’s Ford this weekend at COTA.
About AutoTempest
AutoTempest.com, founded in 2008, is a powerful car shopping website that simplifies consumers’ search and shopping experience by gathering results from top websites such as eBay Motors, Cars.com, TrueCar, Carvana, Cars & Bids, and more. It also offers free and helpful shopping tools and guides. It is simply the best way to find that perfect car – AutoTempest.com: All the cars. One Search. To learn more about AutoTempest, please contact us at contact@autotempest.com, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @autotempest.
