Team: No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Twitter: @RFK17Team, @RFKRacing and @Chris_Buescher
Race Format: 500 miles, 334 laps, Stages: 105-105-124
NASCAR Cup Race at Texas – Sunday, Sept. 25 at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
Weekend Format
The traditional weekend schedule is on tap this weekend with practice and qualifying on deck for Saturday in group format, which will determine the starting lineup for Sunday.
Buescher at Texas
Buescher returns to his home state this weekend for his 13th Cup race from Texas. He has a 22.8 average finish and a best finish of 15th (2018).
His average qualifying effort is 24.3 with a career-best 10th-place start last fall.
Buescher also made five Xfinity starts at Texas with a best finish of ninth (2015).
Scott Graves at Texas
Graves will be atop the box for his 11th Cup race at Texas on Sunday. He has a best finish of 11th with Ryan Newman in the 2019 spring race.
Graves has three career top-10 qualifying efforts at TMS including a career-best sixth in 2017, and a 15.9 overall average.
Graves also called six Xfinity races at Texas with two top-10s and a best finish of fifth in 2016.
QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Texas:
“We’ve had a great week celebrating and taking in everything associated with the Bristol win, but I’m just as excited to get back to my home state of Texas and see friends and family, and give our Fastenal Mustang another good run this weekend. We put together a solid plan for the All-Star Race this spring and had good success, so our goal is to capitalize on that even more and keep the train rolling this weekend.”
Last Time Out
RFK dominated the Bristol Night Race leading a combined 278 laps, with Buescher leading 169 en route to his second NASCAR Cup Series victory. It marks Fastenal’s first win in the Cup Series, and snapped a five-year winless streak for the company.
On the Car
Fastenal, in its 12th season with RFK in 2022, makes its 16th appearance with the No. 17 this weekend. In its early days with RFK, Fastenal originally was a partner with the No. 99 team before moving over to the No. 17 team since. They were also the primary partner on the No. 60 Xfinity Series entry that captured the owner’s championship in 2011.
Fastenal will feature top suppliers Honeywell, Seco Tools, Krylon, Mechanix Wear and Widia on Buescher’s No. 17 this weekend. For more information on these suppliers, visit Fastenal.com, and stay up-do-date on social @FastenalCompany.
RFK will participate in the Honor A Cancer Hero (HCH) Program this weekend at Texas, which benefits the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation (MTJF) and the NASCAR Foundation. Buescher will run the name of Reuben Heckenlaible on the driver side of his No. 17. Heckenlaible, a native of Pierre, South Dakota, passed away from cancer on April 14, 2014, and was nominated by his grandchild.
About Fastenal
Fastenal [Nasdaq: FAST] is North America’s largest fastener distributor and a ‘one-stop’ source for hundreds of thousands of OEM, MRO and Construction products. With more than 2,600 stores worldwide, the company supports B2B customers with tailored local inventory and dedicated personnel, who visit regularly, quickly respond to emergency needs, and provide efficient inventory management solutions. Fastenal’s service-oriented business network includes the world’s largest industrial vending program, 14 regional distribution centers, 8 custom manufacturing facilities, thousands of delivery vehicles, and industry-leading sourcing, quality and engineering resources.
