Michael Waltrip Racing - Martinsville Race Report

• Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - finished fifth - now 18th in points.

• David Reutimann, No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry - finished 28th - now 24th in points.

Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary: It was a rather calm 500 laps at Martinsville Speedway for Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota—until the end. That’s when Truex’s day turned exciting, but when the race was over the New Jersey native walked out of the Virginia half-mile with a fifth-place finish—the best of his career. Truex started in 20th and kept a fast steady pace throughout the early going. He used some quick pit stops by the NAPA crew and slowly climbed his way up the leader board. Truex looked destined for a tenth-place finish, but a late caution in the final ten laps saw crew chief Pat Tryson call Truex to the pits for new tires. He lined up 11th for the restart, but with new tires. Others in front of him elected to stay out on slower older tires but with better track position. In the exciting racing that followed, Truex worked his way to sixth when Kyle Busch’s accident forced a green-white-checkered finish. Truex lined up behind eventual race winner Denny Hamlin but couldn’t quite follow Hamlin through traffic and gained one spot in the final two laps to finish fifth— his second top-10 finish of the 2010 season.

Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota

• Truex Jr. started 20th and finished fifth

• The fifth-place finish marks Truex's best finish of the 2010 season and his career-best Martinsville finish.

• Truex owns 15 top-five and 40 top-10 finishes in his career.

• The No. 56 team methodically worked its way through the field and was able to gain several positions on pit road

• Truex moved into 10th just before the halfway mark and eighth by lap 373.

• Truex looked destined for a 10th place finish when Jeff Burton brought out a caution with eight laps remaining.

• Truex pitted for tires and restarted 11th while many in front of him stayed out on the older tires.

• Truex moved to sixth when Kyle Busch crashed on lap 499.

• On the green-white checkered restart, Truex climbed into the top five.

TRUEX QUOTE: “Usually we’re on the wrong end of the deal at the end there. It was a good run for us today. My NAPA Toyota was good all day. We were just solid and ran around the top-10 all day. The guys had awesome pit stops as usual – that helped us a lot. Pat (Tryson, crew chief) did a good job making adjustments on the car and calling the race. At the end we were right where we needed to be. We were in the right position, we had the tires – just one little break there where the 11 (Denny Hamlin) got through the hole and I couldn’t quite follow him. Great day for us. It’s my best run ever here at Martinsville so I’m real happy with it.”

David Reutimann Race Summary: David Reutimann’s chances for a good finish Monday at Martinsville Speedway looked rather bleak around the lap 75 mark when he was stuck in the mud inside turn where he slid avoiding a potential accident. But the Michael Waltrip Racing driver managed to get out of the bog and returned to pitlane where the Rodney Childers led crew made repairs. After returning to action, Reutimann made up two laps slicing through the field on the half-mile Virginia track. In the second half of the race Reutimann continued the charge climbing up to 15th by the lap 300 mark. On lap 460, Reutimann radioed crew chief Rodney Childers a distress call of, “no brakes, no brakes!” with was followed by a cut right side tires laps later. Reutimann and the No. 00 Toyota came to pit road for right side tires, but returned to the race several laps down in 28th place, where they would eventually finish.

David Reutimann, No. 00 TUMS Toyota

• Reutimann started 24th and finished 28th

• Reutimann held his position in the early going

• On lap 75 Reutimann spun to avoid an accident, but got stuck in the grass and lost a lap

• Accident dropped him to 38th position

• Reutimann earned the Lucky Dog Award and returned to the lead lap on lap 171.

• Restarted in 26th on lap 180— on lead lap.

• At the halfway mark, Reutimann raced in 17th.

• Reutimann raced up to 14th late in the race before suffering a cut tire with less than 50 laps to go.

• Reutimann came to pit road for repairs and returned to the race track in 28th position several laps down.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: "That was a tough day. We lost a couple laps early and that set us behind, but the TUMS team really battled back and was on our way to a top-15 finish until we lost our brakes with about 60 laps to go. Its just frustrating. We've had some really great cars this season, but unfortunately it just hasn't produced the results we'd like."

RACE NOTES:

• Denny Hamlin led Joey Logano across the start/finish line to record a 1-2 finish for Joe Gibbs Racing.

• Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top five.

• Hamlin gave up the lead with less than 10 laps remaining to get tires during a caution.

• He then used a green-white checkered finish to move from ninth to first in just four laps to win.

• He crossed the start/finish line . 670 seconds ahead of Logano.

• There were 24 lead changes among eight drivers and 13 cautions for 79 laps.

• Race took 3 hours and 39 minutes before an estimated crowd of 40,000. Rain on Sunday postponed the race until Monday.

• Points leader Kevin Harvick fell out of the race early with brake problems.

• Jimmie Johnson assumes the points lead by 14 points over Greg Biffle.