The 19-year-old honed his racing chops at the facility, capturing wins at four out of the five tracks on the TMS property. In his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series outing at Texas, his performance was dictated by a fickle Ford F-150.
Buescher, starting 20th, immediately felt a tight-handling condition on his International MaxxForce Ford, prompting Buescher to fall off the pace and go a lap down on lap 26. Unfettered, Buescher put himself in position to receive the free pass on a lap 42 caution period, earning his lap back. Crew chief Jamie Jones called for a major air pressure adjustment and a few rounds up on the track bar to help loosen the feel of the truck.
Restarting 22nd, Buescher insisted that the tight condition continued and also noted that his truck seemed to be down on horsepower. He went down a lap on lap 78 and continued to attempt feeling out his truck as the International MaxxForce team applied a variety of changes during the balance of the race.
By around lap 140, Buescher felt that the truck's handling was fixed as the No. 10 was the best it had been all evening. Unfortunately for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate, time ran out on his race, placing 18th, three laps down.
Buescher dropped two positions in the series standings, now 17th, 285 points behind point leader Matt Crafton.
JAMES'S QUOTES ON TEXAS
Handling problems plagued you for the majority of the evening. Did you take anything positive away from the evening? "Yeah, I think Jamie (Jones, crew chief) and I are getting a better feel for each other from a communication standpoint. It took us all night to make the truck balanced and by the time we got it dialed in, we were three laps down.
"We've got a lot more of these races (at intermediate race tracks), so this turned into a test session for us. Hopefully we can show up to these big tracks and make this a top-ten team again. I appreciate everything the guys on the 10 team have done for me and I'm looking forward to Michigan next weekend."
