Buescher dominates Truck Series race at Kentucky
As mercury had climbed, so did the confidence of James Buescher. Buescher had held lead for most of way for temperatures coming close to 100 F, fending off the challengers for winning race of NASCAR Truck Series recently @ Kentucky Speedway. Asked regarding oppressive heat, and Buescher tried very hard to not smirk. He said that he is from Texas and he is used to it.
Buescher, had started night fourth in this season standings, had taken lead in the Turner Motorsports Chevrolet for 1st time in about 27 laps in to race of 150-circuits & had dominated rest the way. He got on top for about 119 laps. It was the 2nd career Truck Series victory of his, following one win in this year @ Kansas. He won season-opening race of Nationwide @ Daytona. Steve Turner, the team owner, says that for James dominating like this, is really awe some. He feels as if they have become dominant on mile-&-half track.
Temperature was about 98 degrees on track and it went up to 117 after race started. This heat had contributed to some of trucks getting very loose in turns. There were around 7 periods of caution covering about 31 laps. Matt Crafton , the pole-sitter, had led @ outset before Buescher had taken over & did not let go. He says that this is 3rd time in this year that they have raced on this particular truck & 2nd time that we have won along with it. This truck was quite phenomenal. They have made few changes in the practice in this morning & this truck had come to life. He knew half way through 1st practice that they had truck which was very capable in running on the up front. They then made a couple of changes & then it was better.
Brad Keselowski, the driver of Sprint Cup had started on 17th but had steadily climbed back for finishing 2nd, about 3.805 seconds behind Buescher. He was not surprised for seeing #31 truck control race. Keselowski said that he is good driver and has matured over past couple of years. He is competing for all the 3 races of NASCAR in this weekend at Kentucky. He also said that he has plenty of opportunities coming up. They are all really interested in seeing how he is going to come out. He isn’t winning the races because he is bad driver that is for sure.
Ty Dillon was the third, Crafton the fourth & Timothy Peters the fifth. Peters had accumulated enough of points for taking over lead in standings. Peters says that it is really cool for leaving here as points leader. They were out in the left field @ start of the qualifying in this morning, but guys had got us back in the correct field. Leading race of points is certainly morale booster.
Kyle & Dillon Larson, who had finished tenth in the first start of the national series, had to start from back of pack due to blowing the engines in qualifying. He said that today was all regarding me learning what trucks feel like. He has never been on track of 1.5-miles before this. Dillon had started 32nd but he was solid in the night, picking steadily off the trucks which were in the front. He says that for coming last to the 3rd was some thing. Rounding out top ten amongst the thirty six entries were Ron Hornaday Jr., Joey Coulter, Johnny Sauter, Jason Leffler, & Kyle Larson.
Nelson Piquet Jr., coming from victory in the last week @ race of Nationwide Series @ Road America, was seen running amongst leaders till he had bumped in to wall. This Brazilian, who is son of 3-times champion of Formula One, got sidelined on 70th lap after he was pushed out side as Justin Lofton and Todd Bodine had made contact. Lofton, who is #1 driver in standings that are coming in, had finished 14th. He had dropped to 2nd behind Peters in rankings, along with Dillon now in 3rd and Buescher at 4th.
In spite of he running well, Buescher said that he had never really felt @ ease. He said that post few starts he got in the front of 2 trucks & he was looking for putting a gap on the 2nd place. However, he said that any thing may happen. You do not go through any of the race uncontested & feeling as it nothing will ever happen to you. Apart from that the people of Texas really love heat.
