Buescher, King spring surprises

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — James Buescher managed to dodge and weave his way through an 11-car crash on the last lap of Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series opener, stealing the victory and setting the stage for what was expected to be a wild Daytona 500.

Buescher joined unknown John King, winner of Friday night’s Camping World Truck Series opener, as surprise winners during the weekend at Daytona International Speedway. Both came from nowhere to win crash-marred races.

Buescher was 11th as he rounded the final turn and made his way through a massive pack of spinning race cars that included those of Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Trevor Bayne.

“It’s hard to describe the feeling when you make it through the wreck and you’re the only guy,” Buescher said. “You don’t see anybody in front of you coming to the checkered flag. It’s pretty incredible.”

In the truck race, King turned leader Johnny Sauter around on the second of three attempts at a green-white-checkered finish and later held on for his first NASCAR victory in eight starts and his third career win in any feature race. He previously won a late-model race on a dirt track and a late-model stock car race — both in Virginia.

“It’s unbelievable, a dream come true,” King said.

Multiple big wrecks in both races prompted concerns about today’s Daytona 500.

Sprint Cup star Brad Keselowski, who competed in the both races, said NASCAR was in a difficult position of giving fans what they want in restrictorplate racing and making it safe.

“I feel like we walk a line in this sport between daredevils and chess players,” Keselowski said. “When we come to Daytona and a track like this, we’re maybe more on the daredevil side of the line.”