XFINITY SERIES CAMPING WORLD TRUCK

10/30/15

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES

A Closer Look At Roush Fenway Racing’s Potential Champion – Chris Buescher

With a 27-point lead over second-place Chase Elliott in the NASCAR XFINITY Series standings, Chris Buescher is on top of the world with just three races remaining in 2015. But who is Chris Buescher?

Buescher, 22, grew up in Prosper, Texas. He enjoys fishing, ATV and motorcycle riding, movies and fabrication work. Buescher is also the cousin of former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion James Buescher.

In 1999, at the age of six, Chris Buescher started racing motorcycles, but it wasn’t long until he moved to four wheel vehicles. He went on to win the Bandolero Series Nationals in 2004 at the age of 12. The following year, Buescher competed in the Legends Car Series, becoming the youngest winner in the Pro Division at the age of 13.

While driving in the Legends Car Series, Buescher made his first connection to NASCAR in 2007, when he signed as a development driver for David Ragan Racing after he purchased his first late model from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver.

Buescher then dabbled in ASA Late models and ASA Speed Trucks before getting a shot in the ARCA Series where he won the Rookie of the Year honors with three wins. Buescher would go onto win the ARCA Series championship in 2012.

Roush Fenway Racing picked Buescher up on a part-time basis in 2011 and 2013. He ran a total of nine races and posted two top 10s. RFR then signed him full-time in 2014 to drive the No. 60 Ford. He ran 32 races that season, finishing seventh in points with one win (Mid-Ohio), five top fives and 16 top 10s.

This season, Buescher has upped his game again. In 30 starts, he has posted two wins (Iowa, Dover), 11 top fives, and 20 top 10s.

Buescher needs to finish fourth or better in the next three races and he will win the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship no matter what any other driver does.

Jack Roush: A Fountain Of NASCAR Talent

While nothing is set in stone as of yet, Roush Fenway Racing does have a high probability of winning the organization’s fifth NASCAR XFINITY Series driver title this season. The credit of masterfully assembling these winning teams goes to RFR owner Jack Roush; who has proven over his tenure in NASCAR that he has an eye for young talent by paving the way for the careers of Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and now Chris Buescher.

Roush’s gift for eyeing talent really developed into success with Biffle. Biffle brought Roush Fenway Racing its first XFINITY Series title back in 2002 after he began racing for Roush in 1997 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS). The Washington native now competes full-time for RFR in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in the No. 16 Ford.

Next, Roush stumbled upon a young man by the name of Carl Edwards, who happened to give him his business card when they first met. Roush was impressed by Edwards on and off the track and signed him in 2003 to drive in the NCWTS. It wasn’t long until Roush moved Edwards up to the NASCAR XFINITY Series and from there he blossomed. Edwards captured the series title in 2007. He now competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Joe Gibbs Racing, but drove for RFR in the series from 2004-2014.

Roush’s most successful NASCAR XFINITY Series driver in terms of titles is Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who captured back-to-back championships in 2011 and 2012. He started driving part-time for Roush in the NXS in 2009, but went full-time in 2010. Stenhouse struggled at first, but found his groove in 2011. He now competes in the NSCS for RFR in the No. 17 Ford.

Roush’s next protégé is Chris Buescher and only three races remain to find out if his eye for talent to win titles will be on par with those of the recent past.

Who That Rookie? The Spotlight Turns To Daniel Suarez

Not only can he steer a 3,450 lbs. NASCAR XFINITY Series Toyota around with ease, but the Joe Gibbs Racing Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate, Daniel Suarez, can also speak two languages (Spanish, English), which is more than most can say in the NXS garage. But who is this international driver that has commanded our attention?  

Suarez, a Monterrey, Mexico native, currently leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings in the NXS with just three races remaining and could become the first Hispanic and Mexican-born driver to win the series honors.

Suarez got his start in motorsports back in Mexico where he raced go-karts as young boy. In 2007, he won the national karting championship and from there he started working his way up to competing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West in 2011. He also competed in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East from 2011 – 2014 finishing a series career-best third in the 2013 standings. Suarez also competed in the NASCAR Mexico Series from 2011 – 2014, finishing a series career-best second in the points in 2013. 

In his rookie season in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, the 23-year-old driver has posted seven top fives, 15 top 10s an average finish of 12.3.

This weekend, the young JGR talent will be strapping into the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 Toyota for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday.

Young Talent Holds Strong In 2015

At the beginning of the season everyone was talking about the young talent at the top of the series standings when the average age of the top five in points was 21.2. Now, with 30 races in the books, the young drivers haven’t waivered to their veteran counterparts and the average age (23.6) continues to be on the younger end of the spectrum proving a wave of solid young talent has washed ashore.

The youngest of the top five in points is the 2014 series champion Chase Elliott, 19, who is currently second in the 2015 point standings. Elliott’s sophomore season has seen one win (Richmond), 11 top fives and a series leading 24 top 10s.

The next two youngest are standings leader Chris Buescher and Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Darrell Wallace Jr., both 22. Buescher has posted two wins (Iowa, Dover), 11 top fives and 20 top 10s. Wallace is fifth in points after posting three top fives and 12 top 10s.

Ty Dillon, 23, is the third youngest of the top five in points. The Richard Childress Racing driver is currently fourth in points after posting 10 top fives and 22 top 10s this season.

Last but not least, the elder statesman of the five is Regan Smith at the grizzled age of 32. Smith is currently third in the series points, 33 points back from Buescher. Smith has made 30 starts this season posting two wins (Mid-Ohio, Dover), 11 top fives and 23 top 10s.  

NASCAR XFINITY Series Etc.:

Tweet, Tweet: Ryan Reed will be live tweeting the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway from the @NASCAR_XFINITY Series Twitter handle this weekend. The race is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 1 on NBCSN at 1:15 p.m.

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

Talladega Tim: Peters Wins At 2.66-Mile Behemoth … Again

Timothy Peters led 23 laps, including the final one, to win Saturday’s fred’s 250 at Talladega Superspeedway – his second consecutive victory at the 2.66-mile behemoth.

Peters might be turning into a superspeedway ace now. Three of his nine career victories have come at Talladega (two) and Daytona.

The No. 17 Red Horse Racing driver is also on fire with four top-five finishes in his last five races (first at Talladega, second at Las Vegas, fourth at New Hampshire, third at Chicagoland). He has moved from seventh to fifth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings since the beginning of the streak.

This Saturday, the Danville, Virginia native heads to his home track – Martinsville Speedway – for the Kroger 200 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1). Martinsville is the site of Peters’ first career victory. In 19 career starts at the famous short track, Peters boasts one win, six top fives and 12 top 10s.

Ross Kenseth Readies For Trucks Debut At Paper Clip

Ross Kenseth is set to make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut in Saturday’s Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway. He will pilot the No. 18 Aisin-AW Toyota Tundra for Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE).

Kenseth, the son of 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth will try to accomplish what his father has never done at Martinsville – win a race there.

The younger Kenseth, 22, has made just one NASCAR national series start before, finishing sixth in the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Chicagoland Speedway in June. He has built an impressive resume of Late Model victories and won his first ARCA race this season at Michigan International Speedway in just his third series start.

Austin Cindric To Make NASCAR Debut For Brad Keselowski Racing

Austin Cindric, 17, will hop behind the wheel of the No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford in Saturday’s Kroger 200 at Martinsville for his first NASCAR national series start.

Cindric, whose father is Team Penske President Tim Cindric, has a wealth of experience across various forms of motorsports despite being so young. This year, he has visited Victory Lane four times in Global Rallycross and once in IMSA. He became the youngest ever IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge winner when he took the checkered flag at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in July.

A student at Cannon School in Concord, North Carolina, Cindric medaled at the X-Games in the Red Bull Global Rallycross Lites Series and claims the title of youngest race winner in the Historic Sportscar Racing Series.

The No. 29 won at Martinsville in March behind the talents of Joey Logano, who earned his first NCWTS victory.

Jones Takes Commanding Lead In NCWTS Championship Race

Heading into last Saturday’s race at Talladega, Erik Jones held a four-point lead over second-place Matt Crafton in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points standings. He left the Alabama track a hefty 18 points ahead of new second-place contender Tyler Reddick and 23 points in front of Crafton, the two-time defending series champion.

Jones placed fourth at Talladega, followed by Reddick in fifth. Crafton finished 24th after he was unable to avoid a 10-truck wreck late in the race.

Four races remain in the season, beginning with Saturday’s Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway.

In four career starts at The Paperclip, Jones claims two top-five and three top-10 finishes. He placed third in the spring race there.

Crafton won last year’s spring race at Martinsville and has placed no worse than third in four of his last five starts there.

Reddick has made three starts at Martinsville, posting two top-10 showings and producing an average finish of 9.0.

NASCAR Next Swarms Martinsville

A wave of NASCAR Next drivers will attempt to master the ins and outs of Martinsville Speedway in Saturday’s Kroger 200.

Current members of the NASCAR Next program Austin Hill, Dalton Sargeant, Cole Custer and John Hunter Nemechek are all on the entry list. NASCAR Next alumni set to compete at the short track include: Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, Gray Gaulding, Cameron Hayley and Ben Kennedy.

Custer (Gateway) and Nemechek (Chicagoland) both have won NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races this season, while Sargeant placed in the top 10 in his first two career NCWTS starts (2015, Bristol and New Hampshire). Hill placed third in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East standings this season and will look to improve on his career-best 16th-place Truck Series finish.

Darrell Wallace Jr. is the only NASCAR Next member/alum to win at Martinsville. He took the checkered flag in the last two fall races at the .526-mile track.

Suarez Back Behind The Wheel For KBM

Could this be the weekend Daniel Suarez notches his first NASCAR national series win?

The Monterrey, Mexico native will pilot the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota in Saturday’s Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway. KBM has won the last four fall races at Martinsville with Darrell Wallace Jr. (twice) and Denny Hamlin (twice).

In nine NCWTS start this season, Suarez has failed to place in the top 10 just once and has posted five top-10 finishes. He has finished runner-up twice (Dover and Texas) and placed fourth in his last series start at Chicagoland.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series etc.

Eldora runner-up Bobby Pierce, 18, will attempt to make his second career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start this weekend for MB Motorsports. …  Ray Black Jr. will run a special Halloween paint scheme on the No. 07 Chevrolet on Saturday.