Team: No. 17 Violet Defense Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Twitter: @RFK17Team, @RFKRacing and @Chris_Buescher
Race Format: 300 miles, 400 laps, Stages: 70-160-170
Practice – Saturday, April 2 at 10:30 a.m. ET on FS1, SiriusXM Channel 90
Qualifying – Saturday, April 2 at 11:15 a.m. ET on FS1, SiriusXM Channel 90
Race – Sunday, April 3 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
Weekend Format
· Practice and qualifying are back in the weekend schedule for the NASCAR Cup Series, which this weekend features a pair of group practice sessions Saturday morning, immediately followed by single-car qualifying.
· 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 Richmond Raceway
· Buescher makes his 12th start at Richmond on Sunday where he has a 26.3 average finish. He finished 24th in the most recent race last fall.
· He also made five NXS starts for Jack Roush from 2011-15, earning three top-10s with a best finish of seventh (2014).
· Buescher’s best qualifying effort came back in the 2019 spring race, lining up seventh.
Scott Graves at Richmond Raceway
· Graves will be atop the box for his 12th Cup race Sunday afternoon. In 11 prior starts he has a best finish of fifth, which came with Ryan Newman in the 2019 fall race.
· Prior to that he also finished ninth with Newman in the spring, and most recently ran 20th last fall.
· Graves’ top qualifying effort of 11th came with Daniel Suarez back in the 2017 spring event as he has a 21st average starting position overall.
QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Richmond:
“It’s no secret that Richmond is one of those places I’ve struggled to figure out in the past. But, having said that, we found something that worked out in Phoenix, so we’re hopeful that type of run will carry over to this weekend. It has been up and down for us thus far, but the goal is to obviously keep it on the upswing. We’re excited to be back in the Violet Defense colors this weekend, and can’t wait to see two matching Ford Mustangs ripping around the track.”
Last Time Out
Buescher finished 21st in the Fifth Third Bank Ford last weekend at COTA.
On the Car
Violet Defense makes its first appearance with the No. 17 team this season, the first of two scheduled races with the Indianapolis Road Course race being the second. Both Buescher and teammate Brad Keselowski will run matching schemes throughout the weekend, with the number as the only difference on the purple machine.
About Violet Defense
Violet Defense uses UV disinfection to protect everyday spaces from harmful pathogens by killing up to 99.9% of E. coli, Salmonella, MRSA, C. diff., Norovirus, C. auris, and coronavirus. Violet Defense’s technology is the only known Pulsed Xenon solution that can be installed into a room full-time, creating a continuous way to address disinfection needs of all types of settings. For more information, visit www.violetdefense.com or follow us on Facebook or LinkedIn (@violetdefense).
