Reutimann Races Back into Top 12 with a Third Place Finish in Pocono

LONG POND, Pa. (June 7, 2009) - David Reutimann came into the weekend with the goal of finishing in the top five or ten and competing for the win. “If we do those things then the points situation will take care of itself,” he said on Friday. On Sunday, he went out and did just that - scoring an impressive third in the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway. And, just like he said, the points took care of themselves. Reutimann moved past Mark Martin and Denny Hamlin into 11th place in the Sprint Cup standings.

With rain canceling qualifying on Friday, Reutimann and the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry had to settle for a 13th place starting position. But the car was strong and by lap 17 Reutimann climbed into the top ten, where he would spend most of the day. Throughout the race Crew Chief Rodney Childers would make minor changes to the car, such as air pressure changes in the tires and trackbar changes to adjust the handling, but overall the Aaron’s Dream Machine was solid all day. At one point about midway through the race, the No. 00 was the fastest car on the track.

Pocono Raceway is known for long green-flag runs and today was no different. That worked out well for Reutimann as the Dream Machine was great on long runs, but it was also a little loose at the beginning of a run and would lose spots to the leaders, so Reutimann would have to work to play catch up.

“I had a good Aaron’s Dream Machine,” Reutimann said. “Toyota gave us some good horsepower and some good fuel mileage, which isn’t always easy.”

The fuel mileage is what would eventually make the biggest impact. On lap 160, Reutimann came in for a pit stop, picking up enough fuel to make it to the end of the race. “When we made that last pit stop Rodney Childers said, ‘just save fuel, I think we’ll be able to make it to the end,’” Reutimann explained. “So that was the plan from the time we came in until the end.”

At lap 177, the Aaron’s Dream Machine was running ninth while others in the top ten would have to start pitting for fuel. Knowing that he had enough fuel, Reutimann continued to chase down the leaders until the last lap when he was able to pass Jimmie Johnson for third place.

Tony Stewart, who also stayed out until the end of the race rather than pitting for fuel, was able to pull out the win - his first as an owner/driver. Rounding out the top five were Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman.

“I think it was probably stellar compared to the runs we’ve had here in the past this,” Reutimann said. “Place has never really been all that kind to me. Matter of fact, this time last year I was sitting parked in the middle of turn one and two out of fuel and didn’t even come back to the starting finishing line.

“Little better deal today. Rodney Childers made a great call and just told us to save fuel from the time we went back out there and just trying to be easy with it, which I’m not really very good at that. So he kept telling me just we need to save some fuel and I was like, well, do I need to ride or do I need to race, and he just said, 'Just do the best you can.' And to me, that’s not an answer, you know, so I just knew it meant go as hard as you could and just save fuel at the same time. I don’t know exactly how you do that but Toyota and TRD got us some good fuel mileage and just worked out in the end and didn’t rain, so kind of good on that one I guess.

“This feels like a win here for me,” Reutimann continued. “I’ve been so terrible here in the past that it’s really, really good to get out of here with a top-five finish.”

The strong finish pushed the No. 00 from 13th in points up to 11th, and more importantly back into the top-12, the cut off for the Chase for the Championship.

Next week David Reutimann will look to keep his momentum as the series heads to Michigan International Speedway for the LifeLock 400 on June 14. Television coverage will begin at 12:30 p.m. on TNT.