Chris Buescher Saves Fuel to Win Xfinity Race at Dover

Chris Buescher takes home Miles the Monster, May 30, 2015.
Crecit: Beth Reinke for Skirts and Scuffs  

Chris Buescher retains his NASCAR Xfinity Series points lead after today’s victory at Dover. In his second win in the last three races, Buescher and crew chief Scott Graves used fuel strategy to bring the No. 60 Ford to the checkered flag first.

Buescher knew he was a couple laps short on fuel, but he didn’t really know how much he needed to save.

“We saved quite a bit there at the end and that whole run really we were just trying to be easy on the throttle. Toward the end of the run, we started to have to clutch it and let it coast at least half of the straightaway which is really tough to do. I felt like we were going so slow and it is hard to convince yourself to do it. We had just enough left to do the burnout and we got ourselves another win.”

Polesitter Bubba Wallace led 52 laps, including the first 40, but had “teammate trouble” late in the race. As Wallace and Buescher battled for the lead, they made contact, resulting in a flat tire on Wallace’s No. 6 car, which finished a disappointing 17th.

Wallace was clearly perturbed with the race winner, and team owner Jack Roush said he will sort things out with his drivers this week.

Credit: Beth Reinke for Skirts and Scuffs

“I know that nobody meant to have contact,” Roush said. “We will have to work on the feelings and get everybody feeling good about being teammates going forward.

“A team owner has no worse horror than to have two competitive programs in position to win a race and have them have contact with one another and one of them not be able to finish in the position he was otherwise entitled.”

Matt Kenseth went a lap down after an unexpected pit stop for a loose wheel on Lap 71, but rallied to finish second, his third top-10 showing of the season.

Regan Smith finished third and was the Dash 4 Cash winner. He’ll be eligible for the $100,000 bonus in next week’s contest, too, along with Buescher, Chase Elliott and Brendan Gaughn.

Of note, the No. 33 of Austin Dillon was too low in the rear on both sides after tech inspection, so penalties may be assessed early next week.