Las Vegas: James Buescher preview

BUESCHER AT LAS VEGAS-- Saturday's race at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway will be Buescher's second start at the Nevada track. Buescher's lone race came last season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event (September 2009), where the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Contender started from the 15th position and finished in 13th-place.

ROOKIE ON A ROLL-- After two successful weekends at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., where the Texas native posted eighth-place and 13th-place finishes respectively, Buescher currently leads the Raybestos Rookie of the Year point standings. The youngster holds a two-point advantage over competitor Brian Scott. Buescher captured the Rookie of the Race honors at the season-opener in Daytona.

UNDER AGE-- While in Sin City this weekend, most drivers and crews will spend their down time at the casinos gambling, but Buescher, at the age of 19-years-old, is under age to participate in the city's famous attraction. Despite this fact, Buescher enjoys spending time in Las Vegas.

BON APPETIT-- On Thursday afternoon, Buescher will join his fellow Raybestos Rookie of the Year competitors to participate in a Cooking Challenge at the ESPN Zone in Las Vegas. The ESPN Zone Culinary team will instruct the drivers in basic cooking skills as well as how to prepare healthy and delicious meals. The drivers will then roll up their sleeves and prepare some of the dishes they've learned. Kids from the Boys and Girls Club of Las Vegas will be on hand to watch and judge the competition. Once the cooking has been completed, Buescher will play some games with the kids in the interactive Sports Arena.

POINTS CHECK-- Buescher currently sits in the eighth position in the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship driver point standings. Buescher, the highest ROY contender in the standings, is 64 points behind leader Carl Edwards and only 18 points behind seventh-place Steve Wallace.

LOOKING BACK-- Last week at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Buescher started the Stater Bros. 300 from the ninth position and remained inside the top-10 for a majority of the 150-lap race. Working both the high and low lines on the 2-mile D-shaped oval, Buescher continued to impress as a caution waved with four laps remaining, setting the field for a green-white-checkered flag finish. The No. 1 Phoenix Racing crew elected to come down pit road for fresh tires. Unfortunately, a minor mistake during the pit stop cost Buescher valuable positions on the racetrack. Restarting the race from 19th-place, Buescher charged through the field to cross the finish line in the 13th position.

DID YOU KNOW?... Buescher has competed in the Legend Series at The Bullring, a small asphalt oval on the outskirts of the intermediate LVMS track.

FROM BEHIND THE WHEEL:

BUESCHER (On racing at Las Vegas): "Las Vegas is a really good racetrack that I enjoy going to and coming off our solid run in California last weekend, I'm very optimistic that we can continue our string of finishes. I've only raced on the intermediate track once, so I don't have a lot of seat time there, but I know that everyone on the Phoenix Racing crew is going to give me an awesome No. 1 Chevrolet. Even though I am under aged to gamble, Vegas is a fun atmosphere to be in and I'm excited to spend some time there. I stayed on the West Coast in between California and Vegas to do some testing at the Bondurant Driving School in Phoenix, Ariz., just to help me improve and get ready for the road course races that we have this season. Everyone on the team has been doing well and maybe we can come home with a top-five finish."

-source: jbr