KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Simply put, it was James Buescher’s day.
Buescher pulled away in the closing laps for a convincing 5.320-second victory over Timothy Peters, who passed Brad Keselowski for the runner-up spot with three laps left in Saturday’s SFP 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway.
Buescher earned his first win in the series, to go with his maiden Nationwide Series victory at Daytona in February. It was the second straight victory for Turner Motorsports, which sent Kasey Kahne to Victory Lane last Saturday at Rockingham, with Buescher running second.
“Turner Motorsports trucks are pretty awesome,” Buescher said. “Two in a row is saying something. Having our first win (for the team) last week with Kasey, and running second to him, we wanted to come here and win one for ourselves.”
Keselowski ran third, followed by Nelson Piquet Jr. and Todd Bodine.
“We needed a bit more speed to run with James, who was just lightning quick,” said Keselowski, who was attempting to become the 24th driver to win a race in each of NASCAR’s top three touring series. “We didn’t have anything for that, so hats off to his team and James himself.
“But we learned a lot, and hopefully we can take something away from it to help out Parker Kligerman (who drives Keselowski’s full-time No. 29 entry) and his efforts running for the championship, so for that I’m thankful.”
With the victory, Buescher narrowed Peters’ lead in the series standings to four points. Ron Hornaday Jr., Justin Lofton, Kligerman, rookie Ty Dillon and Miguel Paludo completed the top 10.
“He’s been a factor all this year this year and when we raced with him last year,” Peters said of the race winner. “He’s going be the one to contend for a championship, I feel like, and the RCR bunch are going to be ones to contend for the championship, and I think we are, too.”
Dillon is fourth in the standings, 14 points behind Peters and three behind third-place Lofton.
Driving his own truck for the second time this season, Keselowski surged past Buescher and into the lead shortly after a restart on Lap 105 of 167. Buescher pursued patiently until Lap 122, when he cleared Keselowski through Turn 4 to regain the top spot.
The longer the run, the more Buescher’s No. 31 Chevrolet flaunted its superiority. By Lap 140, with green-flag pit stops imminent, Buescher had opened an advantage of 5.4 seconds, with Peters closing in on Keselowski for the second position.
As the green-flag cycle began, Peters grabbed the No. 2 spot from Keselowski before heading to the pits on Lap 146. Buescher followed on Lap 150 and matched Peters with a four-tire stop. That left Keselowski, who took right-side tires only, in the lead, but Buescher quickly tracked down the No. 19 RAM and made the pass for the top spot on Lap 157.
The final 10 laps were a smooth cruise for the first-time Truck series winner.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race – SFP 250
Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kansas
Saturday, April 21, 2012
1. (6) James Buescher, Chevrolet, 167, $43150.
2. (10) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 167, $31890.
3. (12) Brad Keselowski(i), RAM, 167, $19985.
4. (8) Nelson Piquet Jr., Chevrolet, 167, $17075.
5. (9) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 167, $15550.
6. (16) Ron Hornaday Jr., Chevrolet, 167, $11925.
7. (3) Justin Lofton, Chevrolet, 167, $14025.
8. (11) Parker Kligerman, RAM, 167, $13950.
9. (5) Ty Dillon #, Chevrolet, 167, $14875.
10. (13) Miguel Paludo, Chevrolet, 167, $15100.
11. (15) Cale Gale #, Chevrolet, 167, $13775.
12. (17) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 167, $13650.
13. (19) John King #, Toyota, 167, $13575.
14. (7) Joey Coulter, Chevrolet, 166, $13525.
15. (20) Dakoda Armstrong #, Toyota, 166, $12100.
16. (18) John Wes Townley #, Toyota, 166, $11350.
17. (1) Tim George Jr., Chevrolet, 166, $15625.
18. (2) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 165, $11025.
19. (4) Jason White, Ford, 164, $13225.
20. (31) Chris Fontaine, Chevrolet, 164, $11525.
21. (29) Bryan Silas #, Ford, 164, $13125.
22. (23) Max Gresham, Chevrolet, 163, $13100.
23. (32) Scott Stenzel, Chevrolet, 163, $10825.
24. (14) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 162, $14050.
25. (36) Jennifer Jo Cobb, RAM, 160, $10925.
26. (34) Chris Cockrum, Chevrolet, 159, $13000.
27. (27) Paulie Harraka #, Ford, 158, $12975.
28. (35) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 155, $11700.
29. (30) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 128, $11650.
30. (28) Chad McCumbee, Chevrolet, Fuel Pump, 54, $11125.
31. (22) David Starr, Toyota, Accident, 41, $10600.
32. (26) Brennan Newberry, Chevrolet, Accident, 40, $10575.
33. (21) Russ Dugger, Chevrolet, Accident, 39, $10550.
34. (24) Ross Chastain #, Toyota, Engine, 17, $10525.
35. (33) Chris Jones, Toyota, Rear End, 14, $10500.
36. (25) Jeb Burton #, Chevrolet, Accident, 2, $10471.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 121.112 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 04 Mins, 06 Secs. Margin of Victory: 5.320 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 28 laps.
Lead Changes: 16 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: 0; J. Leffler 1-5; J. White 6-33; J. Buescher 34-36; J. White 37; C. McCumbee 38; T. Bodine 39-40; J. Buescher 41-96; R. Hornaday Jr. 97-99; J. Buescher 100-104; B. Keselowski(i) 105-121; J. Buescher 122-149; R. Hornaday Jr. 150; T. Bodine 151-153; D. Armstrong # 154; B. Keselowski(i) 155-156; J. Buescher 157-167.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): J. Buescher 5 times for 103 laps; J. White 2 times for 29 laps; B. Keselowski(i) 2 times for 19 laps; T. Bodine 2 times for 5 laps; J. Leffler 1 time for 5 laps; R. Hornaday Jr. 2 times for 4 laps; D. Armstrong # 1 time for 1 lap; C. McCumbee 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: T. Peters – 163; J. Buescher – 159; J. Lofton – 152; T. Dillon # – 149; N. Piquet Jr. – 140; P. Kligerman – 137; R. Hornaday Jr. – 129; J. King # – 124; J. White – 120; M. Crafton – 115.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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