- David Reutimann, No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry - won - 15th in points.
David Reutimann Race Summary: No. 00 TUMS Toyota driver David Reutimann won his second victory in 118 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts on Saturday night at Chicagoland Speedway. It was Reutimann’s first win since he won the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 last year at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Reutimann’s No. 00 TUMS Toyota was strong all day and he was able to grab the lead from Jeff Gordon on lap 212. Final scheduled pit stops began on lap 232 and when the field had completed its stops, Reutimann held a lead of more than three seconds over Gordon. The Zephyrhills, Fla., native was able to hold off Carl Edwards in the closing laps to grab Michael Waltrip Racing’s second Sprint Cup Series victory Reutimann moved to 15th in the points—just 96 points out of the 12th and final Chase spot. The Sprint Cup Series enjoys an off weekend before traveling to Indianapolis for the Brickyard 400 on July 25.
David Reutimann, No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry
- David Reutimann won the LIFELOCK.com 400, his second victory in 118 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races
- It has been 42 races since his last win
- This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in four races at Chicagoland Speedway
- The TUMS Toyota started seventh
- Worked his way into the top five on lap 26
- Reutimann battled with Gordon for the several laps and finally grabbed the lead on lap 212
- Reutimann raced in the top five for the majority of the race
How much does this win mean to you?
“First of all, I have to thank the fans and everyone else at Michael Waltrip Racing. Everybody did such a great job today. Toyota Racing Development and having Tums on the car this weekend, it’s just been a great weekend. I don’t even know what to say. It was probably the lamest burnout I’ve ever seen at this race track, I was tearing up pretty bad. I have to thank all my guys, they did a great job. There was no rain tonight. We earned this one, nobody gave it to us and that feels really good.”
What is happening at Michael Waltrip Racing right now?
“Everyone of these guys you see behind me that works on this car and the guys at the fab shop, Toyota and Toyota Racing Development has given us some great horsepower tonight. It’s phenomenal horsepower and it’s just a total team effort. I heard so much stuff for winning a rain-shortened event that everybody said we didn’t earn it. Tonight, I don’t know what they can say about this one.”
What would you tell everyone who said your first one wasn’t earned?
“I don’t know. They were watching the same thing I was. Tonight we earned it and it’s a total team effort -- everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing did a phenomenal job. I don’t even know what to say. You think about these moments all your life and you think about all the right things to say. I’m about to cry, this is awesome.”
What changed for you the last one-third of the race?
“We were just better on the long run. That last run, that was the worst we were all night was the last green flag stretch. The car was really, really loose and I knew the 99 (Carl Edwards) was catching us awful fast. It was a good night, a good effort by everybody. It feels really good to get a second (win) under our belt and get it over with.”
How much sweeter is this win tonight than your first one?
“We took a lot of heat for how we won the first race. Tonight we just had the car to beat. We were struggling that last half a little bit, the most we struggled all night. We just held on, had a good enough lead where we could just ride a little bit. I knew the 99 (Carl Edwards) was coming, I was hoping he’d run out of time and thankfully he did.”
Any worries with lapped traffic near the end of the race?
“Everybody is trying to stay on the lead lap; nobody wants to give any room. With that being said, I think everybody ran me really clean. You can’t ask for everybody that is trying to race, you can’t ask for anything more. It’s a great finish and a great feeling to win our Cup race the way this was.”
RACE NOTES:
• David Reutimann won the LIFELOCK.COM 400 at Chicagoland Speedway
• Carl Edwards (second) posted his second top-10 finish in six races at Chicagoland Speedway
• Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer and Jamie McMurrary rounded out the top-five
• The race lasted two hours 45 minutes and 34 seconds and featured 10 lead changes among seven drivers
• The race was slowed by four cautions for at total of 21 laps
• The next race is July 25 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
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