Sunday, May 16, 2010

MWR Dover Post Race Report


David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - finished 5th—now 20th in points.

Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - finished 12th—now 12th in points.



David Reutimann Race Summary: No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine driver David Reutimann continued his string of impressive performances in the 2010 season posting a fifth-place finish Sunday at Dover International Speedway. The Rodney Childers-led team excelled on long green flag runs and turned in quick pit stops throughout the race moving the team to 20th in the point standings. The Sprint Cup Series returns to action Saturday night in the Sprint All-Star race.



David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota

Reutimann started 13th and finished 5th jumping him to 20th in the points.

The performance equaled his fifth-place finish at Daytona for best finish of the season.

The fifth-place finish was his best career finish at Dover.

Reutimann charged to the front of the field early, climbing as high as third at the halfway mark.

Reutimann reported he was best on long green flag runs.

After the race he said he expected an even better finish but the car’s handling was its worst of the day on the final green flag run.

Reutimann led a lap late in Sunday’s race.

Reutimann was named the Mobil One Command Driver of the race.



REUTIMANN QUOTE: "It’s been great. We haven’t had a whole lot to smile about all year. It’s been pretty dismal. We’ve been running really well, it’s just that we haven’t been able to close the deal. I had a great Aaron’s Dream Machine all day, the guys had great pit stops. And there at the end we were just a little bit too tight and that was the tightest we’ve been all day at the end. But all in all, having a fifth-place finish the way our season has been going, man, it feels really good.”

Are you tired from the long race today? “No, no, I actually feel pretty good. I can only attribute that to the guys making the car ventilate real well and get me some air in there because usually a lot of times you’ve got to pull me out of one of these things. So, I feel pretty good and we’ll go onto the next one and see if we can have another top-five.”

How did your car handle during the race? “We started off not very good, but in the long runs we would get better. All in all, I’m proud of my guys. I think they did a great job. This will help us in the points a little bit. We had to stop the bleeding at some point and hopefully we’ve done it this time.”

Did your car handle the best at the end of the race? “The downside is that is the worst we were in the long run in the end all day. When it counted we needed the car to be good and the car was just too tight. But all in all, the way things have been going for our year -- we’ve been running really, really well and haven’t been able to get the finish. I’m proud of my guys and hopefully we can build on this and go onto the next one here and get some more good finishes.”



Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary: No. 56 NAPA Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. climbed into the top 12 with a 12th-place finish at Dover International Speedway on Sunday. After earning Michael Waltrip Racing its first pole of the 2010 season on Friday, Truex and his team never threatened for the victory on Sunday but ran at the front of the field throughout the race. The Sprint Cup Series returns to action Saturday night in the Sprint All-Star race.



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

Truex Jr. grabbed the first pole for NAPA Auto Parts since 2007 and his first pole position since joining MWR.

Sunday’s 12th-place finish moves Truex to 12th in the point standings.

Truex ran in the top 10 the first 100 laps and the top 15 throughout the race.

NAPA Know How Pit Crew recorded pit stops of 12.52 (lap 54), 12.22 (lap 133) seconds.

After pitting on lap 226 for track bar, four tires, fuel and air pressure, Truex reported the car was best it's ever been.

Truex drove from 14th to 6th

With 100 laps to go, Truex ran in the top 10 but said the car was tight in traffic.

Led lap two laps then pitted on lap 365. Returned to track in 12th -- where he finished



TRUEX QUOTE: “We should have had a top-10. That one run where we made up a lot of spots was like we had a really good set of tires or something. Our last two runs we were generally loose. The front end locked up, bounced in center and then took off going straight. It's something we can work with. I think the biggest thing that hurt us was the loss in track position that one time where most teams took two. We couldn't do that because the trend was tight on two tires and we were already tight. We couldn't do it. At the end the rubber build up was like driving on oil. I did everything I could.”



RACE NOTES:

Kyle Busch won Sunday’s race after Jimmie Johnson suffered a late race pit lane penalty.

The victory was Busch’s the 18th of his career.

Johnson finished 16th after having the dominant car most of the race.

Jeff Burton was second about 8 seconds behind Busch and Matt Kenseth third.

Denny Hamlin and Reutimann rounded out the top five.

There were five cautions for 24 laps. The average speed was 128.790 mph. Race took 3 hrs and 6 min.

NASCAR estimated 88,000 fans at Dover.

2 comments:

  1. I hope Michael see that the 00 runs good all the time and that David is so far in the points because of equipment failure. Michael give David a multi year contract he deserve it. He's been there from the start and is a great driver. Hope Truex can keep gaining points and stay in the top 12 for the rest of the season.

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  2. I am really proud of the way that both driver's performance this season is turning out. The way things are going, soon MWR will have both drivers in the chase, and as for the ALL STAR RACE, I personnaly have voted for " the ole' double nickle" at least 100 times myself.Mike, you deserve to be in the all star race, after all, you have had over 125 top ten finishes in your career, that is a very impressive stat.

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