Team: No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Luke Lambert
Twitter: @17RoushTeam, @RoushFenway and @Chris_Buescher
Race Format: 400 miles, 160 laps, Stages: 50-50-60
Coke Zero Sugar 400 – Saturday, Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
Buescher at Daytona International Speedway
· Buescher makes his 12th Cup Series start at Daytona on Saturday, where he’s seen success at with five overall top-10s and three finishes inside the top five.
· He finished ninth in this race a season ago, and ran third in the 2020 edition of the Daytona 500. He also finished fifth in back-to-back races in 2018.
· Since rejoining RFR in 2020, Buescher has three top-10s in six Superspeedway events. He also finished second in Jack Roush’s No. 60 entry at Daytona in 2015 in the Xfinity Series.
Luke Lambert at Daytona International Speedway
· Lambert will call his 18th Daytona Cup race Saturday, where he has six top-10s dating back to 2013. He most recently led Buescher to two-straight top-10s at the track in 2020.
· Lambert – previously paired with Ryan Newman at RCR – had four top-10s in the No. 31, including a fifth-place run in the 2017 summer race, and three eighth-place finishes (2015 – one, 2018 – two).
· Lambert also called two NXS events with Elliott Sadler at Daytona in 2012 finishing third and sixth, respectively.
QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Daytona:
“We’re in a must-win situation. We know that and we pretty much figured it for a few weeks now, but when I look at the standings and where everybody is at, you’re looking at two drivers — teammates — that are sitting there and honestly racing on maybe a slightly conservative points situation. And then you have everybody that’s locked in that’s going for those playoff points and go after a trophy or a steering wheel, and then you have everybody from us back that is sitting there saying the same thing — it’s trophy or steering wheel. It’s that one last shot and nothing else really matters at this point.”
Last Time Out
Buescher navigated the late race incident in Sunday’s race at Michigan to bring the Castrol Ford home 15th.
Where They Rank
Buescher’s final shot at advancing to the 2021 NASCAR Playoffs comes Saturday as he sits 17th in points.
On the Car
Fifth Third Bank makes its fifth appearance on board Buescher’s No. 17 Ford this season. The company is celebrating its 10th season as a partner with Roush Fenway in 2021 as the partnership began back in 2012 with Matt Kenseth.
As part of its primary activation around the No. 17 this weekend, Fifth Third Bank is on a tour across the Southeast – Durham to Daytona – making stops at various Fifth Third branches with the No. 17 show car. The appearances began Monday in Durham, N.C., and will culminate Saturday with Chris Buescher in attendance at the Daytona Beach branch before he hops in the Fifth Third Ford that night at ‘The World Center of Racing.’
For a complete rundown of the week’s appearances, visit 53.com/momentum.
About Fifth Third Bank
Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio and the indirect parent company of Fifth Third Bank, National Association, a federally chartered institution. As of June 30, 2020, Fifth Third had $203 billion in assets and operated 1,122 full-service banking centers and 2,456 ATMs with Fifth Third branding in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina. In total, Fifth Third provides its customers with access to approximately 53,000 fee-free ATMs across the United States. Fifth Third operates four main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending and Wealth & Asset Management. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of June 30, 2020, had $405 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $49 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for-profit organizations through its Trust and Registered Investment Advisory businesses. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at www.53.com. Fifth Third’s common stock is traded on the Nasdaq® Global Select Market under the symbol “FITB.” Fifth Third Bank was established in 1858. Deposit and Credit products are offered by Fifth Third Bank, National Association. Member FDIC.
