Team: No. 17 LeBron James Family Foundation Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Twitter: @RFK17Team, @RFKRacing and @Chris_Buescher
Race Format: 400 miles, 200 laps, Stages: 30-65-65
NASCAR Cup Race at Michigan – Sunday, Aug. 7 at 3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
Weekend Format
· The traditional weekend format is on tap this weekend with practice split into two groups Saturday afternoon, immediately followed by group qualifying.
Buescher at Michigan International Speedway
· Buescher will make his 12th Cup start at MIS this weekend. He has a career-best sixth-place run back in 2017 and overall has a 20.5 average finish.
· Last season he ran 15th, one of his three top-15s in his 11 starts.
· By way of the starting lineup metrics used during the COVID season (2020), Buescher started on the pole in the second race of a doubleheader that summer. Otherwise, he carries an average starting position of 19.8.
· Buescher also made three NXS starts at MIS and finished top-10 in all three with a best finish of P4 in 2015.
Scott Graves at Michigan International Speedway
· Graves will call his 12th Cup race from Michigan where he has one career top-10 – a P8 finish with Ryan Newman back in 2019. He has a 20.2 average finish overall.
· Graves has been to victory lane at MIS in the Xfinity Series, winning with Daniel Suarez in 2016 after starting sixth.
QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Michigan:
“Michigan is really fast and can get really spread out in terms of how the racing plays out. For everyone in our camp, it’s obviously a big weekend every year with Jack’s history at the track and in the area, as well as being in the backyard of Ford. We’re looking forward to the opportunity, and glad to carry the LeBron James Family Foundation on our No. 17 Ford this weekend and represent their great initiatives.”
Last Time Out
Buescher overcame an early fire and fought back from two laps down Sunday at the Indy road course to finish 10th in the Violet Defense Ford, his third-straight top-10 on a road course.
On the Car
RFK will highlight the LJFF and its work to uplift communities and create generational change with a special scheme on the No. 17 this weekend. The scheme spotlights LJFF and its I Promise program, which serves more than 1,600 students and their families with the fundamental resources, wraparound supports and family programming needed for success in academics and beyond. The detailed design on the No. 17 features the LJFF’s green and gold colors along with its signature crown logo, I Promise phrase, and ‘est. Akron’ as a nod to its hometown. The Foundation’s guiding philosophy, “We Are Family” also appears on the rear of the car, signifying its unique approach to community building.
About the LeBron James Family Foundation
With a commitment to redefining community and building stronger families, The LeBron James Family Foundation invests its time, resources and passion into creating generational change for kids and families through a focus on education and co-curricular educational initiatives. With its foundational I PROMISE Program, LJFF serves more than 1,600 students and their entire families by providing them with the fundamental resources, wraparound supports and family programming they need for success in school and beyond. In 2018, the Foundation built all of its family-first programming and academic interventions into the groundbreaking I PROMISE School that has created a new model for urban, public education. The Foundation has layered in additional resources including higher education and family supports at the I PROMISE Institute, transitional housing at the I PROMISE Village, long-term affordable housing at the upcoming I PROMISE Housing, job training and financial health programming at House Three Thirty, medical, mental and behavioral health resources at I PROMISE HealthQuarters, and several hands-on supports in between. These life-changing resources, combined with the Foundation’s “We Are Family” philosophy, are redefining what a family and community looks like.
To learn more about our story, visit https://www.lebronjamesfamilyfoundation.org.
