In a rain delayed opening Duel Thursday night at Daytona, Chris Buescher crossed the line 10th in his debut race behind the wheel of the No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang.
Buescher rolled to the front of the field early, moving into fourth in the opening laps after starting 10th, before a caution flag flew for an incident while he was taking his first pit stop of the night on lap 29. With the field in different stages of the pit cycle, Buescher took the green flag back in 17th at the restart with 22 to go in the race.
The 2015 Xfinity Series champion then navigated all the way through the field to the sixth before the field stacked up with under ten laps to go and he was forced three-wide. With an emphasis on saving the Fastenal Ford for Sunday’s race, Buescher kept the Mustang clean and brought the car home with a 10th-place finish.
Buescher ultimately finished tenth and will start 19th in Sunday’s Daytona 500. Race coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. EST on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90.
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