NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series
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TRUCKS: Buescher Looks To Extend Lead
James Buescher leads Ty Dillon by 21 points…
Tom Jensen  |  Posted November 01, 2012   Charlotte, NC
Truck Series points leader James Buescher is a native Texan. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
In NASCAR racing, a bad finish hurts a driver a lot more than a good one helps.

No one knows that better right now than James Buescher, driver of the No. 31 Turner Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado.

Buescher went into last Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway a single point behind leader Ty Dillon. But a deflating tire left Dillon 28th at Martinsville, while Buescher came home sixth. That made Buescher the new points leader, with a margin of 21 points over the Richard Childress Racing driver.

One bad race for Dillon, and just like that, the championship picture took a sharp and dramatic turn in Buescher’s favor.

The Texas native will be looking to extend his lead over Dillon when the Truck Series battles it out in Friday’s WinStar World Casino 350 at Texas Motor Speedway.

SPEED’s coverage from Texas begins at 3 p.m. ET Friday, with Truck Series qualifying. Then comes NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Setup at 7:30 p.m., followed by the race at 8 p.m.

Buescher has had a stellar 2012 season, with four victories — all at 1.5-mile tracks — 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in 19 starts. He also leads all Truck Series drivers with 474 laps led on the year.

Needless to say, Buescher is geeked about racing on his home turf, especially with a big points lead and just three races left on the 2012 Truck Series schedule.

"I'm really looking forward to going back to my home track,” Buescher said. “Texas Motor Speedway is where I first started my racing career, so to be able to come back home this weekend with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points lead really means a lot to me. We had a race get away from us earlier this year at Texas, so I'm really excited about chance to put our Great Clips Silverado in victory lane for the first time at my home track."

In the June Texas race, Dillon finished seventh, while Buescher was 15th.

In addition to the championship race, there are some interesting sub-plots this weekend.

For just the second time this season, the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota will be piloted by Busch himself on Friday night.

In his only other appearance driving the No. 18 KBM entry this year, Busch finished second to Dillon at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

And, of course, TMS was the place where last year Busch deliberately wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution and got himself parked for the balance of the weekend as a result.

Busch has won at least one Truck Series race every year since 2005, most notably capturing eight of 16 races he entered in 2010 and another six last season. So far this year, though, he’s winless.

One other storyline to watch is how Brendan Gaughan and Todd Bodine fare on Friday night.

Gaughan has made just six NCWTS starts this season, all in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing entry. After finishing 20th at Daytona and 12th at Charlotte, he’s finished in the top five four times in a row. He’s also a four-time Texas winner.

Bodine, a two-time Truck Series champion who has suffered through a nightmare season of bad luck, is a six-time Texas winner. Is this the weekend he gets back on track with another victory?

One way or another, it should be an epic battle, so stay tuned to SPEED and SPEED.com for all the action.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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