Bristol: James Buescher preview

BUESCHER AT BRISTOL- Buescher has made three career starts at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway - two in the USARacing Pro Cup Series (2007, 2008) and one in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (August 2009). In August 2008, Buescher started from the 13th position and brought home a solid finish as he captured a third-place effort in the Pro Cup Series event. Last season at "The World's Fastest Half-Mile," the Texas native began the 200-lap Truck Series race from the 22nd position and battled to a 13th-place finish. Saturday's event will be Buescher's first at BMS in a Nationwide Series car.

LEADER OF THE CLASS- Through the first three races of the 2010 season, Buescher has recorded one top-10 finish and two top-15 finishes, with a highest finish of eighth at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway where the 19-year-old captured Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors. With these impressive stats, Buescher currently leads the Rookie of the Year point standings - holding a four point lead over second-place Brian Scott.

POINTS CHECK- Heading into Thunder Valley, Buescher currently sits in the 11th position in the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship driver point standings. Buescher continues to be the highest ROY contender in the standings. The youngster is 77 points behind fifth-place Kyle Busch and only 12 points behind 10th-place Scott Riggs.

LOOKING BACK- Three weeks ago at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, Buescher started the Sam's Town 300 from the 16th position and quickly moved within the top-15, where the rookie continued to run for the first half of the 200-lap race. On lap 71, Buescher received contact from a fellow competitor, which cut down the left rear tire of the No. 1 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet. The Texas native made it safely to pit road, but lost three laps in the process of coming to pit road for fresh tires. Over the next 70 laps, Buescher made up significant ground and was in the 21st position when he received contact from another competitor, causing the No. 1 Chevrolet to hit the wall. Buescher continued to run, but a handful of laps later, lady luck struck once again as the tire blew, sending the car hard into turn four wall and ending the day early on lap 167.

DID YOU KNOW?... During Buescher's first off-week, the part-time Truck Series driver attended the Camping World Truck race at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway to support his Turner Motorsports' teammate Ricky Carmichael, who scored the team's first top-10 finish.

TWEET OF THE WEEK- With the Nationwide Series coming off a two-week hiatus from racing, Buescher tweeted on March 7th, "spent a lot of time on the simulator today! It's still not the same as being in the car but I guess it's as close as I can get on off-weeks." When spending time in North Carolina, Buescher logs laps on the racing simulator, familiarizing himself to upcoming tracks on the schedule. To stay up-to-date with the Texas native, follow driver Buescher (@JamesBuescher) on Twitter.

MEET THE DRIVER- On Friday, March 19th, from 7-8 PM, James Buescher and other Nationwide Series drivers will be at the NNS Merchandise Trailer in the Midway display area at BMS to sign autographs for fans.

STAY UP TO SPEED- The Scotts Turf Builder 300 from Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway will take the green flag this Saturday, March 20th at 2:30 P.M. Eastern. Race coverage will be televised live on ABC, beginning at 2 PM Eastern. In addition, Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio (Channel 128) will have the live radio broadcast, beginning at 2 PM Eastern.

FROM BEHIND THE WHEEL:

BUESCHER (On racing at Bristol Motor Speedway): "Bristol is one of the most exciting tracks that we go to on the Nationwide Series schedule and I'm really looking forward to getting there this weekend. There is always a lot of action and the cars get around there very quick, so you always have to be up on the steering wheel and paying attention to everything around you. It is really easy to get caught up in someone else's problems, so each driver has to rely on their spotter for a lot of information. But short tracks are what we all grew up on and I can't wait to get our first short track race under our belts. My Phoenix Racing team has done a great job so far this season with providing me good cars when I get on the track and I know we are going to have another good one for Saturday's race. It's all about going back to the basics when racing on short tracks and hopefully we can contend for a top-five finish."

-source: jbr