James Buescher knows winning is everything at Phoenix Racing
James Buescher will compete as a rookie in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2010.
// David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
FORT WORTH, Texas – James Buescher knows what is expected of him next year when he will drive for Phoenix Racing in his rookie NASCAR Nationwide Series season.
It’s not a rookie title or top-10 finish in points that team owner James Finch expects.
“They expect you to win,” said the 19-year-old Buescher, who has driven this season for Circle Bar Racing in the Truck series. “Their equipment is very capable of winning. It’s just up to me to get the job done, and I plan on getting it done. … You saw Mike Bliss [get released] was in the top-10 in points and won one race.
“Finch wants to win races. I don’t think he really cares much about the points. If we win the championship, that would be great. That is definitely my goal, but I think his first goal is to win races every week.”
It was announced this week that Buescher would drive the full Nationwide season for Phoenix Racing and about 19 Truck races for Turner Motorsports. Buescher won an American Speed Association championship for Turner in 2006.
“I want to get as much seat time as I possibly can,” Buescher said.
Buescher has six career Nationwide starts with Braun Racing last year, where he had a best finish of seventh at Gateway and a pole at Memphis. He will drive this weekend at Texas and next weekend at Phoenix for Finch to begin the transition.
“It’s a competitive series, obviously,” Buescher said. “I’m pretty comfortable racing in the series. I’ve only done six races, but I’m looking forward to starting out with another new team and seeing what I can get done.”
Phoenix Racing has won 12 races in the Nationwide Series and won its first Cup race this year with Brad Keselowski at Talladega Superspeedway.
“I need to learn as much as I can learn from all the guys over there [at Phoenix],” Buescher said. “They all know what they’re doing. They build good race cars every week. They won a Cup race this year, they won a Nationwide race this year.
“I need to basically listen to them and go do it.”
Fourteenth in the Truck standings as a rookie, Buescher was hoping for a little more – he is third in the rookie standings behind ThorSport Racing’s Johnny Sauter and Randy Moss Motorsports’ Tayler Malsam – but he will get another chance to win a rookie title in 2010.
“We kind of got behind [the rookie standings] on this truck deal this year,” Buescher said. “Johnny Sauter has pretty much run off with it. … I’ve got to go out and win the rookie deal next year in the Nationwide Series since I didn’t get it done this year.”
