Team: No. 17 ITsavvy Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Twitter: @RFK17Team, @RFKRacing and @Chris_Buescher
Race Format: 500 miles, 325 laps, Stages: 105-105-115
Practice – Saturday, March 18 at 5 p.m. ET on FS1, SiriusXM Channel 90
Qualifying – Saturday, March 19 at 12:30 p.m. ET on FS1, SiriusXM Channel 90
Race – Sunday, March 20 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
Weekend Format
· With practice and qualifying back on the horizon for the NASCAR Cup Series, with it comes a unique format. For Atlanta, teams will practice a full 50-minute session Friday evening, followed by a qualifying session Saturday midday.
· Qualifying will again be split into two groups with the top-five fastest cars in each group transferring to the final round. The final round of qualifying to determine the pole sitter will feature 10 cars, as all qualifying this weekend will include just one lap per car.
Buescher at Atlanta Motor Speedway
· Buescher makes his eighth start at Atlanta this weekend where he has two top-10s and a best finish of seventh (2021 – fall). He also finished ninth in the 2019 event.
· Last season Buescher ran 16th, and overall has an 18.7 average finish.
· Buescher has a career-best qualifying effort of 13th in 2020.
· He also finished fourth in the Xfinity Series there in 2015, one of his three NXS starts for RFK.
Scott Graves at Atlanta Motor Speedway
· Graves will be atop the box for his seventh Cup race Sunday. He has an average finish of 16.5 with two 13th-place runs, both of which came with Ryan Newman. Outside of last fall’s race, Graves has finished 16th or better five times.
· Graves has one career pole at his first-ever Cup race in Atlanta, which came with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
· Graves also called three NXS races in Atlanta, earning a P4 finish in 2015 with the No. 60 team.
QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Atlanta:
“This weekend is going to definitely be interesting, for sure. I’m fortunate enough to be one of the guys that got to test there before, so hopefully that turns out to be an advantage for us. It is going to be unlike any other Atlanta race we have ever run, and it sounds like it is going to no doubt be a blast and fast. I’m a little anxious, but looking forward to the weekend and a full practice Friday in the ITsavvy Ford.”
Last Time Out
Buescher earned his first top-10 of the season, and first at Phoenix, last weekend, driving from the 16th position on the final restart to finish P10.
On the Car
ITsavvy makes its second-straight appearance on the No. 17 car this weekend. The brand initially joined the RFK family in 2021 as a primary on the No. 6 car.
