David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s/Armed Forces Foundation Toyota - finished fifth now 19th in points.
Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA Batteries Toyota Camry - finished 23rd now 14th in points.
David Reutimann Race Summary: No. 00 Aaron’s/Armed Forces Foundation Toyota driver David Reutimann’s climb up the point standings continued Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway when the Michael Waltrip Racing driver posted a fifth-place finish equaling his best result of the 2010 season. Reutimann ran in the top five throughout the 600-mile race eventually won by Kurt Busch. The finish moves the race’s defending winner to 19th in the point standings at the halfway mark of the regular season. He owns four consecutive top-15 finishes and two consecutive fifth-place finishes. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to action Sunday at Pocono International Raceway.
REUTIMANN: How was your car today?
“We fought being tight a little bit in the center and we never could quite get it to cut the center like we needed to. We were just a little bit off and all you have to do is just be a little bit off to not be able to get to those guys. Sometimes we would catch them in the long run. It seemed like we were just one adjustment behind, but my guys did a great job. I’m proud of everybody. Rodney Childers (crew chief) and everybody did a great job all day with great pit stops. We just want to move on and get to the next one.”
How did your car handle in the race and specifically at the end of the race?
“All in all I’m proud of my team, they did a great job, I had a great Aaron’s Dream Machine all day. We just were a little tight at the end. We came down pit road and the 99 (Carl Edwards) was leaving and we were trying to get in our box and just wrong place at the wrong time. It cost us a lot on pit road there. I don’t think it cost us the race, but I think it cost us being a little higher in the top-five. You don’t ever know. I’m proud of what we’ve done, proud of my team. I’m glad that my other owner, Rob Kaufmann is here because he doesn’t get to watch me race much. Hopefully he’s happy and I’ll get to keep my job another year.”
Is your recent performance where you feel your team should be finishing?
“Absolutely. We’ve been on par performance wise and we’ve been way ahead of where we were last year. We just had some stuff early on in the year that put us back. Now things are starting to click and things are starting to gel, things aren’t breaking and we’re starting to finish races where we’re supposed to. It feels really good to run up front all day with the guys you’re supposed to be racing with.”
Reutimann Notes:
Reutimann finished fifth—equaling his season-best result posted at Daytona and Dover.
He moves from 20th to 19th in points at the halfway mark of the regular season.
Reutimann spent little time outside the top five during the 600-mile race.
Reutimann led three laps garnering five bonus points.
Reutimann enjoyed a relatively drama free race except for a lap 255 pit stop that saw a near collision between he and Carl Edwards on pit lane.
Reutimann battled a tight handling condition on the occasions when he struggled. However he appeared one of the fastest three or four cars throughout the race.
Reutimann finished 6.976-seconds behind winner Kurt Busch.
Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary: It was a long 600 miles for No. 56 NAPA Batteries driver Martin Truex Jr. Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But a 23rd-place finish keeps him firmly in the battle for one of the top 12 spots in the standings. Truex dropped from 12th to 14th but is only 14 points out of 12th at the halfway mark of the regular season. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver struggled to turn on the 1.5-mile oval throughout the event, but the “NAPAKnowhow” crew kept working on the car and improved the handling as the race proceeded. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to action Sunday at Pocono International Raceway.
Truex: “We're baffled as to what happened tonight. Charlotte hasn't been one of my better tracks but after last week I thought it all might have changed for the best. That wasn't the case. We weren't very good tonight. Our NAPA Batteries Toyota was tight all night. It vibrated so bad I am surprised the shifter is still on. It was definitely better at the end but that's about all I can say. Just a tough night for us.”
Truex Notes:
Truex finished 23rd and is now 14th in points.
Ran in the top five in the early portions of the race.
Truex and many other cars struggled with tight handling conditions on the slick track.
Truex finished on the lead lap 21.589 seconds behind the leader.
RACE NOTES:
Kurt Busch swept both the Sprint All-Star Race and the Coke 600.
Busch led 251 laps Sunday night.
Top five order after Busch: Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin and David Reutimann.
Race took 4 hours 10 minutes and 13 seconds and included eight cautions for 34 laps.
The average speed was 144.975 mph.
There were 17 leaders and 34 lead changes.
Truex was short and to the point, what exactly happened to his car though? Other than the tightness?
ReplyDeleteDavid had a great car that was in the top 5 the whole race. Hope David and the crew keep doing what they are doing so they can get in the chase. Michael, David needs a multi year deal, hope you're reading this. I hope Truex can make those points next week so he can get back to the top 12 and MWR can have 2 cars in the top 12 when the chase start.
ReplyDeleteHopefully they will find the problem with the Truex car when they get it back to the shop.
ReplyDeleteMWR, do whatever you can to keep Reutimann and Childers happy - both are very special. Also, I have listened to many teams over the last few years and the Childers-Reutimann-Reutimann (spotter) team work together as well as any and better than all but one or two (Rudd-Post-Fatback during the middle Yates season and Elliott-Ford-Fedewa during Bill's Dodge years).