David Reutimann - Coca-Cola 600 Qualifying Report

• David Reutimann, Aaron’s Dream Machine/Armed Forces Foundation Toyota Camry - Qualified sixth, Starts Outside Row Three
Summary

For a short time on Thursday afternoon it looked like it could be an all Michael Waltrip Racing front row to start the Coca-Cola 600, as Martin Truex Jr. and David Reuitmann were sitting one-two after more than half the field had attempted their qualifying laps. But, as the track cooled in the late afternoon some of the later qualifiers were able to drop the pair out of the front row. Both Michael Waltrip Racing Camry’s will start in the top-six.
Martin Truex Jr. paced the Michael Waltrip Racing Camry’s with a time of 28.848 seconds on Thursday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway and will start Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 in the third position. David Reutimann also posted a top-six lap of 28.904 seconds to start Sunday’s race in the sixth position. Sunday night will be the fourth consecutive points race that MWR has a Camry starting from a top-five position. (Truex won the pole award at Dover, Reutimann 2nd at Richmond, 4th at Darlington).
Sunday afternoon’s running of the Coca-Cola 600 gets underway on FOX, PRN Radio and SiriusXM Satellite Radio 128 starting at 5:45 p.m. ET.
Friday Recap

• Ryan Newman won the Coors Light Pole Award for the second straight Coca-Cola 600 with a time of 28.793.
• This is Newman’s first pole and seventh top-10 start in 2010.
• This is Newman’s ninth pole in 19 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
• Kurt Busch, Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson round out the top-five.
• JTG-Daugherty Racing driver Marcos Ambrose qualified the No. 47 Toyota 34th

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Armed Forces Foundation Toyota Camry, Qualified: Sixth


How was your qualifying lap?
“Qualifying in these things is all a white knuckle run. You have to be able to be on that ragged edge the whole time and everybody out there is doing it. The track continues to get faster as the temperature goes down. We had a good Aaron’s Dream Machine, I think we gave up a fair amount of speed coming to the green to actually start the lap. Oddly enough that’s about as important as anything else you do out here. Proud of my guys. We didn’t have a very good mock qualifying run in practice, but all in all Toyota and Toyota Racing Development gave us horsepower and hopefully it will hold up.”
How does it feel to be the defending Coca-Cola 600 winner?
“I haven’t gotten that very often, unfortunately. I do like the sound of it so we need to see what we can do to try to win this deal again. Whether it’s going out there and beating them on Sunday or winning it halfway when the rains come. It doesn’t matter – we’ll take them anyway we can get them. I’m proud of my guys. It’s good to have the Armed Forces Foundation on the car this weekend – the thing looks really good and it’s for a great cause.”

David Reutimann - Coca-Cola 600 Race Preview at Charlotte Motor Speedway

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann is learning first hand that winning races makes for a little bit more hectic schedule. The defending Coca-Cola 600 winner worked overtime in the weeks leading up to Sunday’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Reutimann attended track press conferences, sat with print journalists, talked to television camera crews, gave fans rides around the track, took part in the Victory Burnout Challenge, joined in the activities that come with a Sprint All-Star Race birth and will serve as the guest of honor at a black tie Speedway Children’s Charities Gala on Wednesday. These obligations have Reutimann working harder than ever … but he says he wouldn’t have it any other way.


QUOTES
REUTIMANN ON WINNING THE COCA-COLA 600: “Winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte was a huge deal for everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing. That was our first win as an organization in the Sprint Cup Series and to have it come at Charlotte in the 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600 is about as good as it gets.
“I remember when (crew chief) Rodney (Childers) told me to stay out instead of coming in to pit, thinking that he was out of his freaking mind. Then as the rain kept coming and we were standing there on pit road I thought this might just work out in our favor. Then we got big trophy at the end of the race I remember thinking maybe he knows what he’s talking about. Now I know to just keep my mouth shut and drive the race car and let Rodney make those calls.”
“I wish we would have won the race without the rain, because no one wants their first win to come in a rain shortened event, but it’s also not like I’m the first guy to ever win a rain-shortened race. I know Joey Logano probably feels the same way about his win at New Hampshire, but a win is a win and we’ll take them where we can get them.”
REUTIMANN ON THE DEMANDS OF BEING A DEFENDING RACE WINNER: “The last couple weeks have really been busy, but I’m honestly enjoying it. I knew winning a race came with it’s fair share of obligations, and especially a race like the Coca-Cola 600, but even this may be a little more than I expected. But if winning races means that my schedule gets busy then that is okay with me. I’d like to win a few more races, so I can keep busy!”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST
• Reutimann is making only his third start in a Coca-Cola 600. In his previous two starts at NASCAR’s longest event, Reutimann has one win and has never finished outside of the top-10. Reutimann’s lone career Sprint Cup Series win came in last year’s rain delayed and rain shortened race that was called due to rain after only 227 of the scheduled 400 laps.
• Reutimann has six career starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway—two Coca-Cola 600 starts and four starts in the fall event. Reutimann has two top-10s (both in the 600) and three top-15 finishes. Reutimann won the 600 last year and finished 15th in the fall race. He has led a lap in two of his last three starts at Charlotte for a total of six laps (One lap in 2008-2 and five laps in last year’s 600).
• In the last four point races, Reutimann has scored 539 points—the seventh most of any driver and moved from 30th to 20th in points. Has collected 15 bonus points for leading laps in three of the four races (five laps at Talladega, three at Darlington and one at Dover), recorded two top-five qualifying efforts (second at Richmond and fourth at Darlington) and has one top five and four top-15 finishes.
• Reutimann has finished 20th or better in eight of the nine races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in seven of the nine. In his three DNFs (Did Not Finish), Reutimann was racing in the top-five of all three races at the time he radioed of the issue leading him to retire from the race. (5th at Atlanta, 2nd at Bristol, 5th at Atlanta).

David Reutimann - Dover International Speedway Sprint Cup Series Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann gained six spots the last three weeks. Key to that surge is consecutive top five qualifying runs. That trend should continue this weekend at Dover International Speedway where the 40-year-old Florida native is the defending pole sitter. In 2010, the Michael Waltrip Racing driver has proven to be one of the fastest of the 43 cars on the track nearly every weekend. Mechanical issues encountered when running in the top six this season prematurely ended three races. Reutimann finished all 38 races in 2009.

QUOTES

ON WINNING THE POLE AWARD LAST YEAR AT DOVER: “Dover is definitely a place where you hold your breath because you’re really in the gas a lot, you drive down in the corners deep then let the thing roll before getting back to the gas. So it’s a really, really intense racetrack. Qualifying is not one of the more enjoyable things that you’ll do during the course of the weekend. It’s definitely a place that will keep your attention the whole time.”

WHY IS DOVER IS A “MEAN” RACETRACK? “There are just a lot of transitions getting into the corners and on the exit of the corners which are pretty violent. You go from almost falling down a hill getting into the corners then the car lands, loads up then you drive up the other side. It kind of spits you out the other side. It’s a pretty intense racetrack that takes a lot of getting used to because it’s really a different feel compared to a lot of other places that we go.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE STARTING TO GET YOUR SEASON BACK ON TRACK AFTER A SLOW START? “I certainly hope so. At least we’ve been able to finish the last few races and have some pretty decent runs. I don’t think we were as good as we wanted to be in Richmond and last week at Darlington we just got caught on pit road at the wrong time and that cost us some track position when the caution came out. It is what it is. I think things are going better. Things haven’t really gone bad for us. We’ve had good speed on the racetrack and we’ve been racing well, but we just haven’t been able to get those finishes that we need – sometimes that’s half the battle. I feel like we are starting to gain on it a little bit. At least we’re moving in the right direction and we’ll be able to continue to do that.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

In the last three races, Reutimann has moved from 30th in points up to 24th in points, collected 10 bonus points for leading laps in two of the three races (five laps at Talladega and three at Darlington), recorded two top-five qualifying efforts (second at Richmond and fourth at Darlington) and has three top-15 finishes.

Reutimann has finished 20th or better in seven of the eight races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in six of the eight. In his three DNFs (Did Not Finish), Reutimann was racing in the top-five of all three races at the time he radioed of the issue leading him to retire from the race. (5th at Atlanta, 2nd at Bristol, 5th at Atlanta).

Aaron’s, sponsor of the No. 00, will give away an autographed hat to a lucky race fan through Facebook and Twitter following any top-10 finish. Follow Aarons on Twitter (@AaronsSports) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/AaronsSports).

Aaron’s/Alabama Crimson Tide No. 00 Toyota Camry diecast cars available for purchase at any Aaron's store nationwide. Aaron’s stores throughout Alabama will host the Alabama National Championship show car and also have championship/racecar t-shirts and championship 9" plush Lucky Dogs for sale.

Steve Hallam, executive vice president and director of competition at Michael Waltrip Racing, will receive a degree of Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Huddersfield in England on July 12. The university has a globally respected automotive engineering department. Hallam, who worked in Formula 1 from 1982 to 2008 with Lotus and then McLaren, joined MWR in 2009.

Reutimann Darlington Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Most race fans who follow No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann know his father Buzzie Reutimann taught him an awful lot about racing. The 1997 Dirt Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee’s racing exploits are legendary up and down the east coast.

Less familiar is David’s mother Linda Reutimann who will visit Darlington Raceway this weekend to celebrate Mother’s Day. Don’t look for Linda on top of the pit box or in the Sprint cup garage. Instead, David says, she’d prefer a seat in the grandstands to watch the action on the historic track.

QUOTES

REUTIMANN ON MOTHER’S DAY: “I always have my Dad (Buzzie Reutimann) there, I mean, almost always – and that’s really special to me. My Mom (Linda) always spent a great deal of time with me in the grandstands back when we were younger and she tried to keep me out of trouble. She spent lots and lots and lots of time at racetracks. Mom is really, really low key. She likes to come to the races, she may come in to see me for a bit, but then she normally goes and sits in the stands because she always feels like she’s in the way or something like that. And let me be the first to tell you that she’s never in the way, but she just likes to be very low key and doesn’t like to be in the middle of things. I think she comes to a weekend like Darlington a bit reluctantly. She comes because she knows that I like it, but I don’t think that it’s her style for sure because she’s so quiet and reserved. I enjoy having her there with me, so I’m glad that she comes.”

REUTIMANN ON DARLINGTON: “Darlington definitely earns its nickname – that place is just tough! I mean, that name is just spot on. That place is way too tough to tame. It’s hot and it’s a tough racetrack. It’s a long race and it’s just a really, really tough racetrack. It’s one of those places that will just flat wear you out.”

REUTIMANN ON GETTING HIS FIRST DARLINGTON STRIPE: “Geez, I’ve had so many. I don’t know if I really remember the first one. I think my first Darlington stripe came in my first truck race there. I think I got it during the race. Everyone was telling me that I was going to get one at some point. When it finally came I was like, well, at least I got that out of the way. Then as the race went on there was another five or six before the race was over with, so yeah, that place has not been especially kind to me over the years. We are going to try and turn that around this time and improve our season a little bit and get us headed back in the right direction again.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

Reutimann has finished 20th or better in six of the seven races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in five of the seven. In his three DNFs (Did Not Finish), Reutimann was racing in the top-five of all three races at the time of the issue leading him to retire from the race. (5th at Atlanta, 2nd at Bristol, 5th at Atlanta).

Aaron’s, sponsor of the No. 00, will give away an autographed hat to a lucky race fan through Facebook and Twitter following any top-10 finish. Follow Aarons on Twitter (@AaronsSports) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/AaronsSports).

Aaron’s/Alabama Crimson Tide No. 00 Toyota Camry diecast cars available for purchase at any Aaron's store nationwide. Aaron’s stores throughout Alabama will host the Alabama National Championship show car and also have championship/racecar t-shirts and championship 9" plush Lucky Dogs for sale.