BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT

Fort Worth — Team Ford Racing driver Rick Crawford and rookie James Buescher were top-10 in Thursday night Camping World Truck Series qualifying for Friday night’s WinStar Casino World 350-k at the Texas Motor Speedway. The 146-lap, 212-mile, 350-kilometer race in Fort Worth has a scheduled 9 p.m. start (ET).

Crawford, a series veteran, was eighth-fastest at 177.737 mph in his Circle Bar Ford F-150. Buescher, one of three rookies in the top-10, was 10th at 177.288 mph in his Ford F-150 that’s part of the Circle Bar Racing stable. Three other Ford F-150 drivers will race Friday night: Colin Brain qualified 19th at 176.131 mph, Tim Andrews was 28th at 173.706 mph and rookie Brent Raymer was 32nd at 172.651 mph.

Thursday was an especially big day for Buescher, who confirmed mid-week reports that he’ll be doing the full Nationwide Series and a partial CWTS schedule next year. He’ll move from a full-time rookie in the trucks to a full-time rookie with James Finch and his potent No. 1 Miccosukee Resort and Gaming Chevrolet. Buescher also will run about 19 Camping World races for Turner Motorsports.

Buescher said the deal with Finch took all of a day to come to0gether. “I got a phone call and went to met him, and the next day it was a done deal,” the Texan said. “It was probably one of the quickest deals in NASCAR. I spent about two hours with him and he told me the next morning. Pretty simple, really. It’s definitely a good opportunity for me and I’m looking forward to it.”

Matt Crafton won the pole for the Friday night race at 179.354 mph. That easily beat the 178.235 of second-fastest Todd Bodine. Chad McCumbee, points-leader Ron Hornaday, David Gilliland, rookie Johnny Sauter, Aric Almirola, Crawford, rookie Ricky Carmichael and Buescher completer the top-10.