Chris Buescher | Sonoma Advance

ADVANCE NOTES

Weekend Format

  • This weekend’s schedule in Sonoma features a practice session Saturday afternoon, followed by qualifying. Two-round qualifying, with the top-five fastest cars in each group, will advance to the final round to set the lineup for Sunday’s 218-mile race.

Buescher at Sonoma

  • Buescher makes his sixth Cup start at Sonoma this weekend. He finished 12th in 2018, his best finish there to date, and ran 16th last season.
  • On road courses overall, Buescher has a 17.1 average finish in the Cup Series with two career top-five runs.

Scott Graves at Sonoma

  • Graves will call his sixth Cup race this weekend at Sonoma, where he has a best finish of seventh with Ryan Newman in 2019. He ran 15th the year prior at Daniel Suarez.

QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Sonoma:
“As some have said in the past, I’m obviously very comfortable at road course racing, as it’s something I enjoy both learning and maneuvering. Sonoma is a fun track with the many different elements it offers, and we’ve been pretty good at road racing lately despite the many different tracks we visit. We’re looking forward to a productive weekend with our friends at Fifth Third back on board, and look to get them a solid finish after what was a disappointing Coke 600 end.”

Last Time Out
Zane Smith filled in for Buescher last weekend at Gateway, as Buescher was sidelined with COVID-19. Smith completed every lap and finished 17th in his Cup debut.

On the Car

Fifth Third makes its third appearance as the primary on the No. 17 this weekend. Fresh off celebrating its 10th season as a partner with RFK in 2021, Fifth Third returns this season for five races in total, while serving as an associate in all events for the No. 17 team.

The bank will also feature Noble Aerospace this weekend on the decklid of the No. 17 machine as part of the Fueled by Fifth Third pass-through program.

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RFK PR