After finishing ninth and earning two stage points in stage one, Chris Buescher and the No. 17 SUNNYD team battled the Monster Mile to a 16th-place finish on Saturday at Dover International Speedway.
Buescher rolled off the grid for the first of the weekend’s races at the ‘Monster Mile’ in 12th. Battling a loose handling Ford Mustang, the driver fell back to 17th when a caution flag waved at lap six. The team took the opportunity to pit for four fresh tires, no fuel and to make adjustments to tighten up the race car. Back on track in 33rd, Buescher made quick work driving way up to 27th by the competition caution at lap 25. The team elected to stay out at the caution and gained a lot of track position as most ahead of them chose to head down pit road. The driver restarted fourth and maintained track position enough to stay inside the top-ten. Buescher took the green-white checkered flag for stage one in ninth, earning two stage points.
The team visited pit road at the stage break for fuel, fresh tires and an air pressure adjustment. After a quick stop, Buescher got back on track to restart 13th. At lap 96 the driver was running 19th with reports of the No. 17 machine handling tight in the center. The driver worked his way back up into the top-10, climbing as high as third as green flag pit stops cycled through. The team pitted at lap 148 for four fresh tires and fuel. Unfortunately, they returned to track 26th and one lap down. Buescher did his best to gain track position, jumping up six spots to finish stage two in 20th.
At the stage break, the team took the wave around to get their lap back. After restarting 15th, the driver lost two positions soon after the green flag waved. Buescher settled into the 17th position, where he maintained track position until pitting under green at Lap 241. After a standard pit stop for fuel and fresh tires, the team went back on track to try for a strong finish. By lap 277, the driver worked his way back up to 17th. The team held a steady pace, even earning two more positions. However, without enough laps to push through the rest of the field, Buescher ultimately took the checkered flag 16th and one lap down.
Buescher and the No. 17 team return to action for the second of the weekend’s race at Dover tomorrow, August 23 at 4 p.m. EST on NBC Sports Network, MRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.
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