Buescher Continues Toledo Domianace With ARCA Victory

Chris Buescher celebrates his win in the Menards 200 presented by Federated Car Care at Toledo Speedway. Photo courtesy ARCA

Through the final third of the Menards 200 presented by Federated Car Care at Toledo Speedway, the two drivers leading the field had earned a combined 12 victories at the half-mile oval.

Chris Buescher passed nine-time winner Frank Kimmel just after a lap 153 restart and held the veteran off over the final 48 laps to score his fourth Toledo win since the start of 2010, a span of just five races.

Buescher, with sponsorship from BeavEx and Reliance Tool, also drove the No. 17 Roulo Brothers Racing Ford to a win in last year’s season finale, and swept the ARCA Racing Series events at Toledo in 2010. The victory was the sixth of his career and his first in 2012.

“I had a lot of fun racing with Frank,” said the Roush Fenway Racing development driver, from Toledo Speedway’s Sun Drop Winner’s Circle. “There’s no better here. To get (the win) from him was a blast. Hats off to the Roulo Brothers and the help we get from Roush Fenway and everybody. It was just a blast all day. There were some ups and downs on pit road there, but it was just a really fun race once we got down to it.”

Kimmel led 20 laps, and for a while was running the fastest laps on track – along with Buescher. His lead approached two seconds – before Buescher used the race’s ninth caution and ensuing restart to his advantage – and he appeared primed to end what was a 67-race winless streak just an hour’s drive from new team ThorSport Racing’s headquarters in Sandusky, Ohio.

Grant Enfinger finished third, ahead of Clint King, Tom Hessert, and Mikey Kile.

Clay Rogers, Chad Hackenbracht, Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell winner Alex Bowman, and Jared Marks completed the top ten on a warm, sunny day before a new-look Toledo Speedway, which featured two new grandstand towers overlooking the ARCA Racing Series for the first time.

As he did in a win at Salem Speedway last month, Bowman had the dominant car early. In 10 laps after the initial green flag, he created a one-second advantage – significant on a short track where his pole-winning lap had been 16.046 seconds on Saturday afternoon. Buescher showed later, though, that he was the man to beat over a longer run.

A green flag flew at lap 34 after the race’s third caution. Bowman had run away to easy leads on several short runs, but Buescher closed to within 0.329 second by lap 50 and took the lead from Bowman on lap 56. Two laps later, on the 25th lap of the green flag run, Buescher had already picked up a full second’s advantage. He continued to extend, but a lap 64 caution tightened the field.

Buescher pulled away after the lap 70 restart, with Bowman, incoming points leader Brennan Poole, and 15-year-old Erik Jones behind him. Kimmel lurked in fifth, having improved from the 12th starting position and 10th place at lap 25. Rogers brought another caution soon after, though, flattening his tires on lap 74. Enfinger and Hessert just missed Rogers’ wayward car, which would prove helpful in their strong finishes later in the day.

Another restart came, and Buescher led again. Bowman stuck to second, but Buescher found another one-second lead by lap 93 and a two-second lead at lap 109.

Bobby Gerhart spun on the backstretch on lap 112 and tried to find an opening to resume his progress, but could not avoid a chain reaction involving Milka Duno, Juan Carlos Blum, and Tim Cowen, among others. As traffic tied up the field, Poole bumped into Enfinger. Kimmel was more fortunate, avoiding contact altogether – unquestionably a result of experience after 33 prior Toledo Speedway starts – and moving into third.

Just before crossing past the orange commitment cone to start lap 114, Buescher made a late decision to pit, bringing each of the next five drivers – Bowman, Kimmel, Enfinger, Poole, and Hackenbracht – with him. Buescher experienced some trouble exiting the pit behind a jam, and came out 10th. Marks, who had stayed out, led the race over Ryan Reed and Nelson Canache.

Marks led Reed after the lap 118 restart as a tight five-car pack fought behind them. Kile charged through the center to take third initially, but Kimmel gained the position back, a significant jump after falling into seventh place off of pit road. Marks led by a full second at lap 123, partly a result of Kimmel pressuring Reed so much behind him. Kimmel passed Reed for second on lap 124.

A backstretch crash caused another caution and restart at lap 132, and Kimmel wasted no time taking the lead from Marks. His lead on lap 133 was his first led lap of the 2012 season, and he started to run away from the field. Buescher passed Marks for second on lap 134, but Kimmel built nearly a two-second lead on him seven laps later.

Bowman touched the grass inside turn 4 while finishing lap 148, and brought another caution period – the race’s ninth. With the field back together at the lap 153 restart, Buescher passed right away in turn 4 and slowly advanced his lead on Kimmel. Another caution flag tightened the field again, but Buescher again pulled away over a clean final 28 laps. He led by more than two seconds with six laps to go and finished with a final victory margin of 3.514 seconds.

“It was those long runs,” Buescher said. “We could get it going more after we had some heat. That’s exactly what we needed.”

The race ended with 10 caution periods for 52 laps. Buescher led 106 laps overall, more than Kimmel, Bowman (55), and Marks (19) combined. Hessert now leads the point standings, which will be official Tuesday.

ARCA Racing Series    
Toledo Speedway – Toledo, OH
Menards 200 – May 20, 2012

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