Friday, May 29, 2009

Reutimann Edges Kahne for Third Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pole Award


DOVER, Del. (May 29, 2009) – As rain loomed over Dover International Speedway, David Reutimann edged out Kasey Kahne for his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole award.

The Coca-Cola 600 winner turned a lap time of 22.950 seconds at The Monster Mile while Kahne posted a lap time of 22.997 seconds. Reutimann is only six points out of the top-12 driver championship standings as he prepares for the Autism Speaks 400 on Sunday.

“The lap seemed to be pretty good,” said Reutimann, who also has a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series pole at Dover (2006). “We unloaded and felt like the car was pretty good and made some small adjustments to it as the course of practice went on. I was a little concerned whether or not it was going to be fast enough because the car got tighter compared to what we had in our practice run. Rodney Childers (crew chief) made the right adjustments. We were just a little bit tight. That TRD horsepower got us to the corners there and got us to the other end. So it was a good enough lap and I wasn’t really sure it was going to hold up but I’m thankful that it did.”

The Zephyrhills, Fla. native’s first pole came at Homestead-Miami Speedway last November when he beat out Scott Speed for the top spot. Then in June, Reutimann bested Jeff Gordon for the pole at Texas Motor Speedway. Having the top starting position for Sunday boosts Reutimann’s confidence even more after winning the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Now, he’s aiming for another victory and at the very least the chance to top his best Dover Cup finish of 17th (9/21/08).

“We won the race last weekend and I would like to win another race differently than that, but you take them anyway you can,” Reutimann said. “I’m really proud that we got a win last weekend and we hope to have a strong run on Sunday to back it up. It still feels really good and this pole just gives us another boost. Any time you can win a pole, it’s big for your team. I do think we have a little momentum going right now and a strong race team and it is showing.”

After being first in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice Friday afternoon (22.862 seconds), Reutimann admitted his Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota is handling well.

“It’s really good,” Reutimann said. “Rodney Childers (crew chief) and the guys brought me another great Aaron’s Dream Machine. We just had it a little bit too tight for qualifying, but off the trailer it’s been really good. I think we’ve got a pretty good race car. We’ll work on this thing tomorrow and make it even better.”

2 comments:

  1. this is awsome. mwr got the good stuff.

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  2. I am so happy for this team. You guys deserve some breaks to go your way. Keep up the good work. And congratulations on your first win. That was incredible!

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