MWR Infineon Race Report

David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - finished 20th - now 21st in points.

Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - finished 42nd - now 19th in points.

David Reutimann Race Summary: No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann earned his first top-20 finished on a road course in Sunday’s Toyota/SaveMart 350 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. Reutimann and his Michael Waltrip Racing team stuck to their plan of staying on the racetrack, executing flawless pit stops, avoiding trouble and driving an uneventful race to bring the car home in one piece with the most points possible. Reutimann is now 19th in points as the series heads to New Hampshire International Speedway on Sunday.



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

The Aaron’s Dream Machine started 33rd and finished 20th.

Reutimann’s 20th place finish is his career best on a road course.

Reutimann’s previous best at Infineon Raceway was 31st.

The No. 00 raced between 20th and 30th most of the race without incident.

Avoided several on-track incidents over the final three cautions to finish 20th.



REUTIMANN QUOTE: “We were up and down. It was definitely a far cry better than where we’ve been in the past out here. We still have a lot of room for improvement on my end. I’ll keep working at it. The guys on the Aaron’s crew did a great job. They just kept working on the thing all day and making it better. We were just pretty free all day and couldn’t get on the other side of that, but other than that the motors ran good and the pit stops were excellent. It was a decent finish. It was a decent day.”



ON THE END OF THE RACE: “Whenever you have a place that is as hard to pass as it is here and you are coming down to the end of the race you know that things are going to get crazy. You have guys with tires, guys without tires—it just makes for a crazy finish to a race.”



Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary: Martin Truex Jr. showed everyone during today’s running of the Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway that he is a very good road racer. The No. 56 NAPA Toyota raced in the top-five during the first 60 laps moving as high as second place. But on lap 61, dreams of a top-five finish disappeared when Jeff Gordon spun the No. 56 in Turn 11. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver planned to rally back from the 26th position but a multi-car crash coming to the green ended his day. He was relegated to a 42nd-place finish. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series travels to New Hampshire International Speedway this weekend.



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

Truex Jr. started 10th and finished 42nd

The No. 56 NAPA Toyota raced in the top-five the majority of its time on the racetrack.

Jeff Gordon spun Truex on lap 61 dropping him to 22nd position.

Gordon admitted after the race the accident was his fault.

The spin forced Truex to pit road for fresh tires and fuel on lap 64.

On lap 66 and in 26th place, the NAPA Toyota sustains significant damage while taking the green flag. Multiple cars involved forcing NASCAR to throw the red flag.

The NAPA Toyota did not return to the track.



TRUEX QUOTE: “It just comes down to every week we have these double-file restarts and everybody’s head just gets ridiculous.  It just doesn’t make any sense.  Everything is fine until we have restarts and then it’s like the guys running a tantrum to win the race. It’s uncalled for.  The unfortunate part is all the guys from my team worked so hard and we had an awesome NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota and were running top-five all day long.  I just hate it for them.  We were looking to have a really good day here and a lot of fun.



“We simply got caught up in that wreck and was just the victim of circumstance.  We got spun out and that’s what got us in the back and put us in an unfortunate situation.  We should have never been in that position.  We’ve been running upfront all day long with a great car.  Everybody on the NAPA Toyota did an awesome job.  We had a shot at running top-three or four and maybe we had a shot at winning if the thing played right.” I guess Jeff (Gordon) figured he couldn’t catch us on the track, he was going to spin us out on the restart.”



RACE NOTES:

Jimmie Johnson won for the first time in his career on a road course circuit.

The win is Johnson’s fourth of the season and 51st of his career moving him to 10th all time.

Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-five.

Marcos Ambrose led 35 laps and finished sixth, his fourth consecutive top-10 on a road course.

Ambrose was leading with six laps remaining when flipped his engine on and off as he circled the track. His car stalled as six cars weaved around his unmoving Toyota. Although Ambrose got his car restarted and moved back to the front of the field, NASCAR ordered him back to seventh for "failing to maintain reasonable speed" right before the restart.

The race lasted two hours fifty-six minutes in front of an estimated crowd of 90,000

The race featured 12 lead changes among eight drivers

The race was slowed by seven cautions for a total of 14 laps

The next race is June 27, 2010 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.