Buescher Salvages Top 15 With Back Up Truck at Dover

With a never give up attitude, James Buescher and the Rheem Crew overcame major adversity at Dover International Speedway this weekend. During the two practice sessions on Thursday afternoon, the Rheem crew made many wholesale adjustments to their No. 31 chassis in a effort to tighten up the Rheem Chevrolet Silverado. With a new setup in the truck for qualifying, Buescher was still too loose and, on his second qualifying lap, lost control of the Rheem truck and slapped the outside retaining wall. The damage was excessive to repair and forced them to unload the backup Silverado. During the 200-lap race, Buescher was forced to make his way up from the rear of the field and at one point found himself running inside the top three. As the race went on, the handling on the truck went away and Buescher and the Rheem team were able to salvage a top-15 finish at Dover International Speedway.

Nearing record breaking heat in Dover, Del., the Rheem team went to work to tighten up the handling on their Chevy Silverado during the two practice sessions on Thursday afternoon. While on his qualifying attempt, Buescher felt the truck was stable after the first lap and drove the truck into the corner harder on the second lap. That was when the truck got very loose and got Buescher out of the groove and eventually into the outside retaining wall. This contact with the wall forced the Rheem team to unload their backup truck, featuring the new Ruud paint scheme for the Lucas Oil 200. In order to make the green flag of the race, it was a total team effort from Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM) crews to get the No. 31 set up. This backup truck was the truck that the Rheem team previously used at Kansas Speedway earlier this season. 

Scheduled to roll off 20th, as a penalty for having to go to a backup truck, Buescher had to start at the rear of the field. During the first yellow flag of the day, Buescher developed a power steering problem and ducked down pit road to the attention of his crew. The crew found a loose power-steering line and was able to fix the issue for Buescher. After the race got back to green, Buescher wasted no time in working his way through the pack and was running just outside the top 20 within the first 20 laps.

Racing on a different strategy than many of the teams up and down pit road, Buescher was able to climb inside the top three for a period of the race. With no practice laps on the backup truck, the Rheem team struggled with a tight-handling truck and was too ill handling for Buescher to stay on the lead lap. Hoping for quick caution periods, the race didn’t pan out as planned for the Rheem team, and Buescher fought hard to the checkered flag and came home with a top-15 finish at Dover International Speedway.

“We had a rough weekend for sure at Dover but I’m proud of everyone on my Rheem and Turner Scott Motorsports team for never giving up,” said Turner Scott Motorsports driver James Buescher. “I thought I had a decent truck during my first qualifying lap, and I tried to get a little bit more but the truck got loose on me and I eventually found the wall. There will be days like today, but my team never gives up and we will rebound for this and come back even stronger next time out.” said Buescher.  

TSM PR