JAMES BUESCHER / NO. 1 PHOENIX CONSTRUCTION RACE RECAP

VENUE: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-Mile Oval)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR Nationwide Series
RACE: Sam's Town 300 (Race 3 of 35)
DATE: February 27, 2010 (200 Laps, 300 Miles)
START: 16th
FINISH: 29th

RACE RECAP:
**Phoenix Racing driver James Buescher took to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday morning under threatening rain clouds, to qualify for the Sam's Town 300. In his first NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Sin City, Buescher recorded a lap of 29.716 seconds at 181.720 mph in his No. 1 Chevrolet. The youngster's time would place him in the 16th position to start the 200-lap race.

**Rain storms entered the desert area surrounding the 1.5-mile oval, delaying the start of the event by two hours.

**Once the track dried, Buescher started from row eight and the Texas native quickly moved towards the top-10. As the first caution came out on lap seven for a wreck in turn two, Buescher was scored in 14th-place. The field restarted on lap 14 and four short laps later, the caution flag was displayed once again on lap 18 for a spin in turn one. By this time, Buescher had worked his way to the 11th position.

**Buescher maintained his position and the field resumed green-flag conditions on lap 22. A long caution-free stretch ensued, which forced teams to make green-flag pit stops. Buescher came to the attention of his pit crew on lap 61 for four fresh tires, fuel, and slight adjustments.

**Green-flag conditions continued and placed Buescher inside the top-20. As the field finished cycling through with all teams making pit stops, Buescher received contact on lap 71 from a fellow competitor which cut down the left rear tire on the No. 1 Chevrolet. Controlling the car despite the tire being completely flat, Buescher made it to pit road safely, but in the process lost three laps to the leaders as the race remained under green. On lap 80, Buescher was running in the 33rd position.

**Over the next 70 laps, Buescher made up significant ground, including laps, and rallied to the 21st position by lap 150. Being just one position short of the lucky dog recipient spot, Buescher once again received contact from another competitor, causing the Raybestos Rookie of the Year leader to hit the outside wall. Buescher continued without coming to pit road, but a handful of laps later, the tire blew, sending the Phoenix Racing Chevrolet hard into the turn four wall on lap 167.

**The damage sustained was detrimental to the No. 1 car and unfortunately ended Buescher's day early, relegating the 19-year-old to a 29th-place finish.

Kevin Harvick won the Sam's Town 300. Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, and Brian Vickers rounded out the top-five finishers.

FAST FACTS:
**Despite his 29th-place finish, Buescher remains the leader in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year point standings. The young gun holds a four-point lead over second-place Brian Scott.

**Buescher dropped three positions, to 11th-place in the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship point standings. The rookie is only 13 points behind 10th-place Scott Riggs.

**The NASCAR Nationwide Series will take a two-week break before returning to action March 20th at Bristol Motor Speedway for the fourth round of the 2010 season. Live coverage can be seen on ABC.

JAMES BUESCHER QUOTE:

How did your day materialize?

"Well, right after green-flag pit stops we were just about back on the lead lap, letting everything cycle out, and the 99 came up and got into us getting into one and cut our left rear down and that really started the bad day. We had to come pit again and that put us three laps down and luckily we didn't wreck it then. We worked all day to get back to one lap down and we were almost in position to get the lucky dog, one more car to pass, and the 43 got into us in the center of three and four and put me in the wall off of four. I could smell tire smoke for like five or 10 laps and we were just praying for a caution to stay one lap down to hopefully be able to come in and pit and get back in the lead lap and put ourself in position for the lucky dog. Everybody worked really hard on this Phoenix Racing Chevy all day. It's unfortunate."