Kansas: James Buescher preview

James Buescher Looking Forward to First Truck Series Race with Turner Motorsports

BUESCHER AT KANSAS... Buescher has made one previous start at Kansas Speedway, as he competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event last season (2009). The 20-year-old earned his career best Truck Series qualifying position, to roll off the starting grid from eighth-place. After severe thunderstorms and tornadoes moved through the area, Buescher and the rest of the field resumed racing on Monday, where the youngster finished in the 12th position, completing 100% of the laps competed (132 of 132).

TWO RACES, TWO STATES, THREE DAYS... This weekend, Buescher will pull double duty -- but not the double duty that most drivers will be doing. After the completion of the Nationwide Series race at Richmond, Buescher will fly to Kansas City, Kansas to compete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway. Practice and qualifying are scheduled for Saturday, with the race taking place on Sunday. For the first time this season, Buescher will pilot the No. 31 Wolfpack Rentals Chevrolet for Turner Motorsports.

SECOND START OF 2010... Kansas will mark Buescher's second start in the 2010 Truck Series season. Earlier this month, Buescher competed at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway in the No. 90 Great Clips Toyota for Stringer Motorsports. After qualifying for the race in the 20th position, Buescher put forth a solid effort as he crossed the finish line in 13th-place.

REARVIEW MIRROR... Buescher has competed in 27 Truck Series races in his short career. After making his first series start for Billy Ballew Motorsports at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2008, Buescher moved to Circle Bar Racing to compete full-time in 2009. In April, Buescher recorded his first start of 2010 for Stringer Motorsports and now moves to his part-time effort with Turner Motorsports. In those previous career starts, Buescher has scored one top-five, three top-10, and 14 top-15 finishes.

DID YOU KNOW?... This weekend's event will be the first time Turner Motorsports has fielded two entries in NASCAR competition. Buescher and his teammate Ricky Carmichael, who competes on a full-time basis in the No. 4 Monster Energy Chevrolet, will carry the flag for the first-year team.

CALLING THE SHOTS... Kansas also marks another first for crew chief Michael Shelton. Shelton will call his first race on top of the pit box this weekend. Before joining Turner Motorsports in October 2009, Shelton worked at Joe Gibbs Racing for three years, serving as the car chief on the No. 18 Nationwide Series entry for two years before moving to the front suspension and brake specialist on the No. 20 Chevrolet in the Sprint Cup Series. Buescher and Shelton have a past working relationship, as Shelton worked on the young gun's ASA Late Model in 2006, en route to the Championship and Rookie of the Year Award.

CHASSIS INFORMATION... Crew chief Michael Shelton has chosen Turner Motorsport chassis No. 11 for Buescher to run at Kansas this weekend. Chassis No. 11 is brand new, as Kevin Harvick Inc. put the body on the Leavitt chassis. This Chevrolet will see the track for this first time during the practice session on Saturday.

STAY UP TO SPEED... The O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 from Kansas Speedway will take the green flag this Sunday, May 2nd at 1 PM Eastern. Race coverage will be televised live on SPEED, beginning at 12:30 PM Eastern. In addition, Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio (Channel 128) will have the live radio broadcast, beginning at 1 PM Eastern.

BUESCHER (On racing at Kansas Speedway for Turner Motorsports): "I'm excited to finally get behind the wheel of the No. 31 Wolfpack Rental Chevrolet. The team has proved already this season that they put together fast trucks and can run up front each week, which makes me ready to go racing and work with these guys. They have worked hard the past few weeks to get trucks put together and I'm optimistic about our chances to compete with the veterans. Hopefully, Ricky and I can go out there and bring home two solid finishes for the Turner Motorsports team."

BUESCHER (On being teammates with Ricky Carmichael): "I started racing motocross as a kid. I raced locally but never really got anywhere. When I was 12, my parents decided they didn't want to worry about me getting hurt so they got me a race car. Now, I'm on the same Truck team as Ricky (Carmichael), who was winning races when I was a kid. Before I even started racing, we'd watch him and Jeremy McGrath -- he's definitely one of the best."

-source: tms