James Buescher

James Buescher (born March 26, 1990)^[1] is an American professional stock car racing driver, and the 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion.

Early career

Buescher's earliest racing success came in 2004 when he became a national champion in the Young Gun division of Bandolero racing at Texas Motor Speedway.^[2] He then moved on to the American Speed Association where, in 2006, he was named Most Popular Driver as well as winning the Late Model Series South championship. For 2007, James ran a part-time schedule in both the ARCA Series and the NASCAR Busch East Series. He became the youngest winner in ARCA series history when he won at USA International Speedway in his series debut.^[3] In six more races that season, he would earn an additional 5 top-10 finishes as well as finish in the top 10 in all 4 Busch East races he entered.

Nationwide Series

In 2008, Buescher signed with Braun Racing to run six races in the Nationwide Series. He made his debut at Phoenix International Raceway in the No. 32 Great Clips Toyota. He started 17th and stayed in the top 20 all race long, finishing 18th. He would earn his first top 10 at Gateway International Raceway (finishing 7th) and his first pole at Memphis Motorsports Park. He would spend most of the 2009 season in the Camping World Truck Series. Near the end of 2009, Buescher was announced as the 2010 driver for Phoenix Racing.^[4] To prepare for the season, he ran two races in the No. 1 Miccosukee Resorts Chevrolet, finishing 11th at Texas and 13th at Phoenix.

A week prior to the beginning of the 2010 season, it was announced that Miccosukee was dropping its sponsorship of all NASCAR teams, effective immediately.^[5] Despite this setback, Buescher responded with an 8th-place finish in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. On May 12, 2010 Buescher parted ways with Phoenix Racing and returned to the Camping World Truck Series. He made his return to the Nationwide Series at Kansas Speedway in September driving for Turner Motorsports in the No. 11 Great Clips Toyota. He ran four additional races for Turner, earning his 2nd career pole at Texas in the No. 30 Chevrolet.

Buescher in the No. 99 Nationwide car in 2014

For 2011, it was announced that Buescher would run part-time in the series, sharing the No. 30 Chevrolet with several other drivers. On February 25, 2012, Buescher won the season opener at Daytona, avoiding a massive crash on the final lap and coming from 11th to win, leading only the final lap.^[6]

After the 2013 season, in which Buescher finished third in Truck Series points, he announced that he would be competing for RAB Racing in the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series, driving the No. 99 Toyota.^[7]

Camping World Truck Series

Buescher made his Truck Series debut in the 2008 Ford 200, the season finale. Driving the No. 15 Ergon Hyprene Toyota for Billy Ballew Motorsports, he qualified 10th and finished 19th. Prior to the start of the 2009 season, it was announced that Buescher would be replacing Brendan Gaughan in the No. 10 International Maxx Force Diesel Ford for Circle Bar Racing.^[8] He found little success over the course of the season and finished 14th in points. In 25 races, he accumulated just three top-10s, including a 5th at The Milwaukee Mile. At the end of the season, Buescher left the team to focus on his new Nationwide Series ride.

2010–2013: Turner/Turner Scott Motorsports

It was also announced that he would return to the Truck Series for up to 19 races in 2010 with Turner Motorsports.

After running the April Nashville race in the No. 90 Great Clips Toyota for Stringer Motorsports, Buescher ran the balance of the 2010 season in the No. 31 truck. In 21 races for Turner, Buescher would earn ten top-10s with two finishes of 2nd. He narrowly missed a win at New Hampshire, giving up the lead to Kyle Busch on a green-white-checker finish. Despite not running the first three events of the season, Buescher finished 11th in the final points standings, just 16 points out of 10th.

"[W]e were all pretty shocked...At the time it was the worst feeling in the world, but looking back on it's probably a blessing in disguise because we were able to come on strong the rest of the season and make a run for the championship."

Buescher, on failing to qualify at Phoenix^[9]

Turner Motorsports announced that Buescher would return to the team for the 2011 season, running the full 25-race schedule. A promising start saw Buescher lead the first 55 laps at Daytona before his involvement in a multi-car crash on lap 97 left him ninth.^[10] However, Buescher failed to qualify for the next race at Phoenix.^[9] The No. 31 team was not yet guaranteed a starting spot because it had not attempted every event the previous season. Two races later, a wreck with Jeffrey Earnhardt at Martinsville dropped Buescher to 20th in the driver standings. Buescher responded to the setbacks with thirteen consecutive top-10 finishes including his first Truck Series pole position at Texas and a runner-up finish at IRP.^[9] A tenth-place finish at Atlanta gave Buescher the championship lead in a tight points battle with Austin Dillon and Johnny Sauter. Buescher lost the lead two events later but stayed competitive in the three-man race. He earned his second career pole at Talladega and was within eleven points of Dillon with two races remaining.

At Texas, Buescher won another pole position and led 56 laps, battling side-by-side with Dillon for much of the event. However, while running second, a caution waved on lap 142 for David Starr's blown engine. During the slowdown, Buescher ran out of fuel on the backstretch and had to be pushed to pit road.^[11] He lost fuel pressure and was lapped twice by the pace car before successfully re-firing his car. The 19th-place finish left Buescher with an outside chance at best for the championship finale at Homestead. There, despite scoring another pole, great runs by Dillon and Sauter and a run-in with Kevin Harvick solidified Buescher's third-place finish in the final point standings.

Buescher's 2013 truck at Rockingham Speedway

Buescher returned to Turner Motorsports for the 2012 season as a title favorite.^[12] After crashing on the final lap in the season opener at Daytona, he led 103 laps and earned his first career Truck Series victory at Kansas. He quickly followed with early-season wins at Kentucky and Chicagoland. The Chicago win began a run of nine top-ten finishes in ten races for Buescher. The streak, which included another dominating victory at Kentucky, secured a 21-point lead for Buescher over Ty Dillon, the younger brother of 2011 championship rival Austin, with three races remaining. Subpar finishes in the next two events, including a late-race blown tire at Phoenix, meant Buescher needed to score at least a seventh-place finish at Homestead to clinch the title over Dillon and Timothy Peters. Buescher struggled in the finale, but went on to finish 13th and claim the 2012 Truck Series championship by six points over Peters, the first such title for Turner Motorsports.^[13] He survived a final push from Dillon, who closed to within one point of Buescher but crashed with three laps remaining while battling Kyle Larson for second place.^[14] Buescher's four wins were the most for a Turner driver since the team's entry into the series in 2009.^[13]

2015: NTS Motorsports

After Buescher and RAB Racing parted ways in the Nationwide Series due to sponsorship in 2014, he was picked up by NTS Motorsports to drive the No. 31 Chevrolet Silverado full-time in 2015. Buescher began with a seventeen place finish at Daytona and collecting two top-tens at Atlanta and Martinsville. However, sponsorship has been a struggle with the No. 31 team which caused Buescher to be replaced by Scott Lagasse, Jr. with having his own sponsorship Alert Today at Kansas and Charlotte. He has not raced in NASCAR since.

Personal life

Born in Melbourne, Florida, Buescher was raised in Plano, Texas.^[15] Buescher has a cousin, Chris, who races in the Sprint Cup Series Front Row Motorsports. Buescher married Krishtian Turner during the 2011/2012 offseason, in a ceremony performed in Costa Rica.^[2] He is the son in law of former car owner Steve Turner. He has a son.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold − Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics − Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NNSC	Pts
2008	Braun Racing	32	Toyota	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	NSH	TEX	PHO 18	MXC	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN 14	MLW 14	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY 7	IRP 28	CGV	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM 19	TEX	PHO	HOM	56th	692
2009	Phoenix Racing	1	Chevy	DAY	CAL	LVS	BRI	TEX	NSH	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	IOW	GLN	MCH	BRI	CGV	ATL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CAL	CLT	MEM	TEX 11	PHO 13	HOM	90th	254
2010	Phoenix Racing	1	Chevy	DAY 8	CAL 13	LVS 29	BRI 36	NSH 34	PHO 28	TEX 17	TAL 37	RCH 12	DAR 31	DOV	CLT	NSH	KEN	ROA	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	IOW	GLN	MCH	BRI	CGV	ATL	RCH	DOV								36th	1347
	Turner Motorsports	11	Toyota																													KAN 35	CAL 17				PHO 22	HOM
		10	Toyota																															CLT 16	GTY
		30	Chevy																																	TEX 37
2011		34		DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI 13	CAL	TEX																														103rd	0¹
		30								TAL 23	NSH	RCH 23	DAR	DOV 8	IOW 9	CLT	CHI	MCH	ROA	DAY	KEN	NHA	NSH	IRP 2	IOW	GLN 17	CGV	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	DOV	KAN 18	CLT	TEX 17	PHO 30
		32																																			HOM 14
2012		30		DAY 1	PHO 12	LVS 14	BRI 14	CAL 12	TEX	RCH 12	TAL 7	DAR 9	IOW	CLT 7	DOV 9	MCH 2	ROA	KEN 10	DAY 34	NHA	CHI 15	IND 26	IOW	GLN	CGV	BRI	ATL 23	RCH 11	CHI	KEN 13	DOV	CLT 9	KAN 28	TEX	PHO	HOM			103rd	0¹
2013	Turner Scott Motorsports	34		DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	RCH	TAL	DAR	CLT	DOV	IOW	MCH	ROA 14	KEN	DAY 2	NHA	CHI	IND	IOW	GLN	MOH	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	KAN 15	CLT 11	TEX	PHO	HOM			99th	0¹
2014	RAB Racing	99	Toyota	DAY 16	PHO 12	LVS 18	BRI 13	CAL 16	TEX 13	DAR 25	RCH 10	TAL 29	IOW 19	CLT 11	DOV 15	MCH 15	ROA 17	KEN 14	DAY 14	NHA 22	CHI 23	IND 21	IOW 26	GLN 11	MOH 25	BRI 9	ATL 19	RCH 19	CHI 18	KEN 14	DOV 15	KAN 21	CLT 31	TEX 24	PHO 14	HOM 18			10th	868

Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	NCWTC	Pts
2008	Billy Ballew Motorsports	15	Toyota	DAY	CAL	ATL	MAR	KAN	CLT	MFD	DOV	TEX	MCH	MLW	MEM	KEN	IRP	NSH	BRI	GTW	NHA	LVS	TAL	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM 19	82nd	106
2009	Circle Bar Racing	10	Ford	DAY 25	CAL 13	ATL 14	MAR 11	KAN 12	CLT 12	DOV 24	TEX 18	MCH 33	MLW 5	MEM 20	KEN 8	IRP 6	NSH 17	BRI 13	CHI 20	IOW 14	GTW 23	NHA 17	LVS 13	MAR 11	TAL 15	TEX 17	PHO 23	HOM 18	14th	2884
2010	Stringer Motorsports	90	Toyota	DAY	ATL	MAR	NSH 13																						11th	2963
2010	Turner Motorsports	31	Chevy					KAN 16	DOV 2	CLT 4	TEX 6	MCH 16	IOW 5	GTY 12	IRP 5	POC 11	NSH 16	DAR 7	BRI 33	CHI 12	KEN 22	NHA 2	LVS 3	MAR 12	TAL 6	TEX 6	PHO 11	HOM 19	11th	2963
2011				DAY 9*	PHO DNQ	DAR 5	MAR 35	NSH 5	DOV 8	CLT 4	KAN 4	TEX 9	KEN 9	IOW 7	NSH 7	IRP 2*	POC 3	MCH 4	BRI 4	ATL 10	CHI 11	NHA 7	KEN 3	LVS 21	TAL 3	MAR 10	TEX 19	HOM 12	3rd	859
2012				DAY 17	MAR 3	CAR 2	KAN 1*	CLT 22	DOV 7	TEX 15	KEN 1*	IOW 30*	CHI 1	POC 2	MCH 5	BRI 7	ATL 3	IOW 17	KEN 1*	LVS 6	TAL 3	MAR 6	TEX 11	PHO 17	HOM 13				1st	808
2013	Turner Scott Motorsports			DAY 13	MAR 14	CAR 14	KAN 6	CLT 6	DOV 15	TEX 9	KEN 4	IOW 3	ELD 19	POC 21	MCH 1	BRI 7	MSP 9	IOW 1	CHI 8	LVS 9	TAL 26	MAR 10	TEX 6	PHO 9	HOM 13				3rd	761
2015	NTS Motorsports	31	Chevy	DAY 17	ATL 8	MAR 7	KAN	CLT	DOV	TEX	GTW	IOW	KEN	ELD	POC	MCH	BRI	MSP	CHI	NHA	LVS	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM			36th	100

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

References

↑ James Buescher Career Statistics
1 2 Blount, Terry (April 23, 2012). "Big-name drivers, teams absent from Victory Lane". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
↑ JAMES BUESCHER :: BIO
↑ Buescher doubles up for 2010
↑ Big sponsor ditches Phoenix Racing
↑ Hembree, Mike (February 25, 2012). "Buescher Wins Wild Series Opener". SPEED Channel. Fox Sports. Retrieved 2012-02-26.
↑ Pockrass, Bob (December 13, 2013). "James Buescher leaving father-in-law's team for RAB Racing". Sporting News. Retrieved 2013-12-14.
↑ James Buescher, Circle Bar Racing going Trucking in 2009
1 2 3 Breeze, Jarrod (2012-03-02). "Buescher returns to Phoenix older, wiser, humbler". NASCAR.com. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
↑ Jensen, Tom (2011-02-18). "TRUCKS: Waltrip Wins On Special Night". SPEED Channel. FOX Sports. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
↑ "Buescher's race, maybe title hopes run out". NASCAR.com. 2011-11-04. Retrieved 2012-11-22.
↑ Utter, Jim (2012-02-21). "2012 NASCAR Truck Series preview". ThatsRacin.com. Retrieved 2012-11-22.
1 2 "Steve Turner Owner Statistics". Racing-Reference.info. Retrieved 2012-11-22.
↑ Long, Mark (2012-11-16). "Buescher wins Truck Series title at Homestead". ThatsRacin.com. Retrieved 2012-11-22.
↑ DeCotis, Mark (February 26, 2012). "Melbourne native James Buescher avoids trouble, claims victory". Florida Today. Melbourne, FL. Retrieved 2014-05-03.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Buescher.

Official website
James Buescher driver statistics at Racing-Reference

Sporting positions
Preceded by Austin Dillon	NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion 2012	Succeeded by Matt Crafton

NTS Motorsports

Owners	Joe Denette Bob Newberry

CWTS Drivers	(14) Scott Lagasse Jr. / Natalie Decker

Past drivers	Rico Abreu Michael Annett James Buescher Austin Dillon Ty Dillon Gray Gaulding Max Gresham Kevin Harvick Daniel Hemric Ron Hornaday Jr. John King Justin Lofton Brennan Newberry Travis Pastrana Nelson Piquet Jr. Chase Pistone Elliott Sadler Jason White

Camping World Truck Series Drivers' Champions

1995 M. Skinner
1996 R. Hornaday Jr.
1997 J. Sprague
1998 R. Hornaday Jr.
1999 J. Sprague

2000 G. Biffle
2001 J. Sprague
2002 M. Bliss
2003 T. Kvapil
2004 B. Hamilton

2005 T. Musgrave
2006 T. Bodine
2007 R. Hornaday Jr.
2008 J. Benson Jr.
2009 R. Hornaday Jr.

2010 T. Bodine
2011 A. Dillon
2012 J. Buescher
2013 M. Crafton
2014 M. Crafton

2015 E. Jones
2016 J. Sauter

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/31/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.