Ryan Truex Race Preview - NNS debut at Gateway

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Defending K&N Pro Series East champion and 2010 points leader Ryan Truex makes his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut Saturday night at Gateway International Raceway. Truex will pilot the No. 00 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota in the 200-lap race on the 1.25-mile oval near St. Louis. When the 18-year-old Mayetta, N.J. native takes the green flag, he’ll be the youngest of any driver racing in NASCAR’s top-three series. Truex is the son of race car driver Martin Truex Sr. and the younger brother of Martin Truex Jr. who drives the No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Michael Waltrip Racing.

QUOTES

Truex on racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series: “It is a really big opportunity and I’m just excited to get started. I can’t wait to get the first race started. I just can’t thank everyone enough at MWR for giving me this opportunity. Three years ago I remember racing a Legend car at Wall Stadium in New Jersey and now I’m here. It’s hard to believe how fast it’s come, but I’m excited, ready to get started and make the most of my opportunity.”

Truex on following in brother Martin’s footsteps: “It’s pretty big shoes to fill. I don’t expect to go out and set the world on fire. I know it’s not going to happen. I’m just going to get my feet wet and just try to get as much experience as I can. I’m not going to go in and think I can run top-10 or top-five or anything like that. It’s a tough series. It took him a lot of starts to figure it out. It’s going to be tough. I put more pressure on myself than anything just to run as good as him just because of the last name and everything. I’m just going to go and try to do the best that I can.”

Truex on racing at Gateway: “I’ve never been there before so I’ll get some advice from my brother. He’s always helped me out in the K&N Pro Series cars so this series won’t be any different in that respect. It’s a tough series, they have a lot of the cup series guys competing each week, but the cars aren’t that much different than what I have been running in. I’m just going to go to the track and get as much practice time as I can on Saturday. I’m not there to set the world on fire, I’m just there to learn, gain respect and show them that I deserve to be there.”

Martin Jr. on coaching Ryan: “It’s been fun to watch Ryan progress. Like he said, he hasn’t been doing this very long and he’s come a long way as a driver. He’s been impressive on the race track and behind the wheel. All the things that he’s done has led to this point. I’ll coach if he needs help, but he’s done a great job so far and he’s got a great team behind him. I look forward to watching him make his first start in the Nationwide Series.”

Martin Sr. on his son’s Gateway debut: “I am very proud of him. In the early days I wasn’t sure this is what he wanted to do and I really never coaxed him to do it. When he was about 14 years old, he decided he wanted to race. I wasn’t real happy about it, but we’re proud of what he’s doing and he’s really come a long way in a short time. I think he’s really got some true talent. As we progress up the ladder, we’ll see what he has.”

Notes

 Ryan Truex will be available in the Gateway media center at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

• Veteran Mike Greci, who once served as Martin Truex’s crew chief, will serve as Ryan Truex’s crew chief this weekend at Gateway.

• Martin Truex Sr. competed in 15 Nationwide Series races 1989-1998. His best career finish of 12th came at Nazareth Speedway in 1994. He won an East Series race at New Hampshire in 1994.

• Ryan is the first driver to earn a championship for Michael Waltrip Racing when he won the K&N Pro Series East Championship in 2009. He leads the 2010 standings by 43 points over Darrell Wallace Jr.

MWR Chicagoland Race Report

• David Reutimann, No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry - won - 15th in points.

• Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - 11th finished – 20th in points.

David Reutimann Race Summary: No. 00 TUMS Toyota driver David Reutimann won his second victory in 118 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts on Saturday night at Chicagoland Speedway. It was Reutimann’s first win since he won the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 last year at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Reutimann’s No. 00 TUMS Toyota was strong all day and he was able to grab the lead from Jeff Gordon on lap 212. Final scheduled pit stops began on lap 232 and when the field had completed its stops, Reutimann held a lead of more than three seconds over Gordon. The Zephyrhills, Fla., native was able to hold off Carl Edwards in the closing laps to grab Michael Waltrip Racing’s second Sprint Cup Series victory Reutimann moved to 15th in the points—just 96 points out of the 12th and final Chase spot. The Sprint Cup Series enjoys an off weekend before traveling to Indianapolis for the Brickyard 400 on July 25.

David Reutimann, No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry

• David Reutimann won the LIFELOCK.com 400, his second victory in 118 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races

• It has been 42 races since his last win

• This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in four races at Chicagoland Speedway

• The TUMS Toyota started seventh

• Worked his way into the top five on lap 26

• Reutimann battled with Gordon for the several laps and finally grabbed the lead on lap 212

• Reutimann raced in the top five for the majority of the race

REUTIMANN QUOTE:

How much does this win mean to you?

“First of all, I have to thank the fans and everyone else at Michael Waltrip Racing. Everybody did such a great job today. Toyota Racing Development and having Tums on the car this weekend, it’s just been a great weekend. I don’t even know what to say. It was probably the lamest burnout I’ve ever seen at this race track, I was tearing up pretty bad. I have to thank all my guys, they did a great job. There was no rain tonight. We earned this one, nobody gave it to us and that feels really good.”

What is happening at Michael Waltrip Racing right now?

“Everyone of these guys you see behind me that works on this car and the guys at the fab shop, Toyota and Toyota Racing Development has given us some great horsepower tonight. It’s phenomenal horsepower and it’s just a total team effort. I heard so much stuff for winning a rain-shortened event that everybody said we didn’t earn it. Tonight, I don’t know what they can say about this one.”

What would you tell everyone who said your first one wasn’t earned?

“I don’t know. They were watching the same thing I was. Tonight we earned it and it’s a total team effort -- everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing did a phenomenal job. I don’t even know what to say. You think about these moments all your life and you think about all the right things to say. I’m about to cry, this is awesome.”

What changed for you the last one-third of the race?

“We were just better on the long run. That last run, that was the worst we were all night was the last green flag stretch. The car was really, really loose and I knew the 99 (Carl Edwards) was catching us awful fast. It was a good night, a good effort by everybody. It feels really good to get a second (win) under our belt and get it over with.”

How much sweeter is this win tonight than your first one?

“We took a lot of heat for how we won the first race. Tonight we just had the car to beat. We were struggling that last half a little bit, the most we struggled all night. We just held on, had a good enough lead where we could just ride a little bit. I knew the 99 (Carl Edwards) was coming, I was hoping he’d run out of time and thankfully he did.”

Any worries with lapped traffic near the end of the race?

“Everybody is trying to stay on the lead lap; nobody wants to give any room. With that being said, I think everybody ran me really clean. You can’t ask for everybody that is trying to race, you can’t ask for anything more. It’s a great finish and a great feeling to win our Cup race the way this was.”

Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary: It was all about finding the right air pressure combination during tonight's 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup event at Chicagoland Speedway for NAPA Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. The early stages saw the 30-year-old from Mayetta, N.J. run as high as second. Approaching the halfway mark, Truex remained comfortably in the top-10, but needed a few tweaks to climb back into winning contention. Unfortunately a problem with an air gun socket during the team's stop on lap 183 dropped the NAPA Toyota from ninth to 13th position. Truex was able to climb back to 11th place before his teammate Reutimann scored the victory. This coming weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is off, but will return the following week to the hallowed grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25.


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

• Truex Jr. started eighth

• Truex and Johnson raced for second place when Johnson spun and brought out the third caution of the night

• On the Lap 22 pit stop, the NAPA Know How Pit Crew picked up three spots on pit road

• Truex fought a extremely loose-handling race car in the closing laps and finished the race 11th

• Truex remains 20th in the NASCAR championship point standings, 226 out of the top 12

TRUEX QUOTE: "I am so happy for David. We should have been up there with him. At night our car just got really loose off. We could have been better than that but we may have missed it a little on air pressure. Regardless, we got a decent finish and our teammate got the win. I hope he enjoys the celebration tonight. He deserves it."

RACE NOTES:

• David Reutimann won the LIFELOCK.COM 400 at Chicagoland Speedway

• Carl Edwards (second) posted his second top-10 finish in six races at Chicagoland Speedway

• Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer and Jamie McMurrary rounded out the top-five

• The race lasted two hours 45 minutes and 34 seconds and featured 10 lead changes among seven drivers

• The race was slowed by four cautions for at total of 21 laps

• The next race is July 25 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Trevor Bayne Chicagoland Race Report

• Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - finished 32nd - now 11th in points.

Trevor Bayne Race Summary: Late-race contact with another car then a cut tire ruined No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver Trevor Bayne’s bid for another good finish on Friday night at Chicagoland Speedway. The Diamond-Waltrip Racing Camry started the NASCAR Nationwide Series race third. Despite suffering from a tight-handling car, Bayne raced in the top 10 for the majority of the race. Bayne, Steven Wallace and Justin Allgaier raced hard with each other in the final laps before Allgaier made contact and cut the No. 99’s left-front tire.

With just three laps remaining, the cut tire disintegrated and Bayne slammed the outside wall ending his race and leaving him with a 32nd–place finish. Bayne is 11th in points as the Nationwide Series travels to St. Louis for Saturday night’s race.

TREVOR BAYNE, Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota

• Bayne qualified third—his third top three starting spot of the season

• Suffered from an extremely tight-handling race car for the majority of the race


• A key caution flag flew on lap 140 with the leader just 10 cars back allowing Bayne to stay on lead lap


• Bayne suffered major damage after contact with the wall on lap 197 and was unable to return to the race


• Raced in and around the top 10 for the majority of the race



BAYNE QUOTE: “We were going to have a pretty decent finish tonight. We fought a tight-handling race car for most of the race but Jerry Baxter was able to give me a pretty good Aaron's Dream Machine when it counted. I was racing Steven Wallace and Justin Allgaier decide to take it three wide and slide into us and cut our tire. I tried to nurse it home but the tire blew and I hit the outside wall hard. It just stinks for all the guys on the team that work so hard each week. I just feel like this happens to us each week. We have a good run and something happens right at the end of the race and we don't get the finishes we deserve.”



NNS Racing Results


• Kyle Busch won the Dollar General 300 Powered by Coca-Cola, his 37th victory in 188 NNS races


• With the victory, Busch takes sole possession of second place on the all-time series wins list. Mark Martin is the all-time wins leader with 48.


• Joey Logano (second) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Chicagoland Speedway


• Brian Scott, David Reutimann and Jason Leffler rounded out the top five


• The race featured 14 lead changes among seven drivers. Cautions slowed the race five times for 20 laps.


• NASCAR estimated 57,500 race fans in attendance at Chicago

Chicagoland Qualifying Report

Chicagoland Qualifying Results

David Reutimann —No. 00 TUMS Toyota— qualified 7th.

Martin Truex Jr. — No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota—qualified 8th.

Friday Recap

Jamie McMurray won the pole with a time of 29.421 sec. (183.542 mph)

Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart rounded out top three.

The seventh-place qualifying effort marks Reutimann’s best career starting position at Chicagoland.

Friday marked Reutimann’s seventh and Truex’s fifth top-10 qualifying result in 2010.

Saturday’s night’s race begins at 7:30 p.m. (Eastern) on TNT.

David Reutimann on qualifying lap: “It wasn’t bad. Our car was a little bit tight, but all-in-all it was a big pick-up from where we were in practice. So, I think we have a pretty good Tums Toyota. Hopefully, that will hold up and give us a good starting position, but even more importantly a good pit box so we can get in and out of the pits all day long, and have a good race that way.”

What’s the key to having a good race here? “We’ve struggled trying to make our car turn in the center here in the past. The same thing you fight at a lot of race tracks -- trying to make it turn in the center and get off. That being said, that’s just what we’ll work on since we got here. Hopefully, we got it good enough so we’ll be good for the race.”

Martin Truex Jr. on qualifying lap: “It was pretty good. We had a good practice today and we’re really happy with our race trim. In the first practice we spent the whole time in race trim with a lot of long runs and ran a lot of laps and I feel pretty good about the car. The second practice we did all qualifying stuff and we were fairly happy with it, we were competitive. I think we ended up seventh and we were in the top 10 most of the practice, missing it just a little bit. I was a little tight in one end and a little loose in the other. Every time we helped one end, we’d hurt the other. Had the same thing on our qualifying lap, but overall it was a good pick up. We picked up about a half-second and should be a decent starting spot for us.”

What do you think of these shorter race weekends? “It’s nice to get all your practice in on one day, go ahead and qualify to get ready to race. Two day shows are great, especially for all the guys that are on the road all weekend and they’ve been working in the shop all week. It’ll be nice to get them a little time off on Sunday and it will be nice for all of us to have an extra day going into our long off week.”

Qualifying Results/MPH

1-Jamie McMurray-183.542

2-Jimmie Johnson-183.281

3-Tony Stewart-182.877

4-Greg Biffle-182.673

5-Sam Hornish Jr.-182.605

6-Jeff Gordon-182.599

7-David Reutimann-182.587

8-Paul Menard-182.445

9-Martin Truex Jr.-182.445

10-Juan Montoya-182.248

11-Carl Edwards-182.168

12-Kasey Kahne-182.106

13-A.J. Allmendinger-182.039

14-Jeff Burton-181.977

15-Clint Bowyer-181.867

16-Elliott Sadler-181.806

17-Denny Hamlin-181.800

18-Joey Logano-181.653

19-Ryan Newman-181.616

20-Bobby Labonte-181.555

21-Mark Martin-181.415

22-Kurt Busch-181.348

23-Marcos Ambrose-181.324

24-Reed Sorenson-181.311

25-Dale Earnhardt Jr.-181.299

26-David Ragan-181.099

27-Kevin Harvick-181.068

28-Joe Nemechek-180.929

29-Bill Elliott-180.796

30-Brad Keselowski-180.385

31-Max Papis-180.331

32-Landon Cassill-180.270

33-Kyle Busch-180.192

34-Matt Kenseth-180.150

35-Casey Mears-180.102

36-David Stremme-179.934

37-Mike Bliss-179.689

38-Robby Gordon-179.414

39-Scott Speed-179.396

40-David Gilliland+-178.701

41-Regan Smith+-178.436

42-Kevin Conway+*-176.881

43-Travis Kvapil-179.342

DNQ

44-Michael McDowell-179.098

45-Dave Blaney-178.849

46-J.J. Yeley-177.995

47-Todd Bodine-177.352

David Reutimann - Chicagoland Speedway Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 TUMS Toyota driver David Reutimann admits he’s not only racing against 42 other drivers each weekend, but he’s also racing against the calendar. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver’s surge in the point standings comes as the battle for births in the “Chase for the Championship” intensifies. But will the Zephyrhills, Fla. native have enough time for a comeback?

With only eight races left in the regular season, Reutimann is 17th in points trailing the 12th and final Chase spot by 170 points. But, Reutimann has recent history on his side. He jumped from 30th to 17th in points in the last 10 weeks and no driver outside of the top-12 has earned more points (1,033) or has a higher average finish (12.6) in the last eight weeks. Reutimann said racing on the 1.5-mile ovals is his team’s strong suit so Saturday night’s race on the 1.5-mile oval at Chicagoland Speedway couldn’t come at a better time.

REUTIMANN QUOTES

REUTIMANN ON CHICAGO: “I like Chicago a lot. It’s a great facility and a fun racetrack. We’ve been good at Chicago in the past and I’m hoping that we’re good this weekend—which I think we will be. I’m just excited to get back to a mile-and-a-half racetrack. We’ve been really strong on the mile-and-a-half tracks over the last two years. That may be the best part of our program at Michael Waltrip Racing. We have a pretty large point deficit to make up in the next eight races, but Chicago is one of the tracks that I look at as a chance to gain some of those points back. We’re continuing to make up ground on a lot of other teams, but we’re starting to cut it close on time to make a serious run at it. I think we have the team to do it, but we just have to start finishing races and not leave any points on the table.”

REUTIMANN ON RACING DOUBLE DUTY: “This will be my last time to race in both the Nationwide Series and Cup Series in the same weekend this year. I had a three-race deal with Braun Racing to run in the Nationwide Series and this is my last time this season. When I used to run both series full-time it seemed normal to be in the car all the time. Now that I only do it a couple times a year it seems like a lot. I wish I had a few more races in the Nationwide Series because I think it’s a great series. It’s a lot of fun and it’s competitive, but for now we just have those three races. Maybe we can find some more races down the road, but to be completely honest my main concern right now is on the Cup Series side of things. We only have eight more races to get the No. 00 Toyota into the top-12 for a shot at the Chase.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• Reutimann has 10 straight top-20 finishes. Only Harvick, J. Gordon, Ku. Busch and Hamlin have a better average finish (12.5) than Reutimann in the last 10 races.

• In the last 10 point races, Reutimann has scored 1,277 points - eighth most of any driver and moved from 30th in points to 17th. The 13-position gain is the largest gain among any driver over that span — Kasey Kahne has gained the second most positions at +6.

• Reutimann and Kevin Harvick are the only two drivers to finish on the lead lap of the last 10 races. Reutimann collected 20 bonus points for leading laps in four of the 10. Reutimann has eight top-15 finishes, including top-fives at Dover and Charlotte during that span.

• Reutimann has finished 20th or better in 13 of the 14 races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in 10 of the 14. Reutimann’s lowest result in a race that he was running as the finish was 28th at Martinsville.

• Chicagoland marks the third of five primary paint schemes for TUMS this season. The No. 00 TUMS Toyota also will next appear at New Hampshire and Phoenix.

• Reutimann is racing in the No. 10 Toyota for Braun Racing on Friday night at Chicagoland. This will mark the third and final Nationwide race for Reutimann in 2010.

Martin Truex Jr. Chicagoland Preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. — NAPA AUTO PARTS wants to bring Martin Truex Jr. fans a little bit closer to the action Saturday night at Chicagoland Speedway as well as the remaining 18 races in 2010 season —and you won’t even have to leave your couch. To honor the one-year anniversary of signing Truex to drive the No. 56, NAPA will make the Michael Waltrip Racing team’s in-car audio available free of charge to fans who register at www.nascar.com/napatruexscanner or www.NAPAonline.com As an added bonus, Truex has vowed to sing the popular “NAPA Know How” jingle during a pace lap if 1,000 fans sign up.

QUOTES

Martin Truex Jr. on NAPA’s in-race scanner offer: “I think it’s cool that NAPA is doing this for our fans because when they watch a race, they don’t always understand what is going on or the emotion that goes in it. If they listen to the in-car scanner of the NAPA Know How Crew, they’ll get a real sense of what we are doing and why it is happening. They’ll hear why we gained or lost a position during a pit stop. Why we took four tires versus two. They’ll hear the excitement when we do a fast stop. They’ll hear how mad I can get when things go bad. Now, they’ll get a sense of the passion of this team over the course of a race and now, the entire second half of our season.”

Truex on the one year anniversary of the NAPA announcement: “Time flies when you are having fun. Things have been really going well if we could just get rid of the bad luck. I am really happy with my decision to join Michael Waltrip Racing and am excited about the future. Just a few weeks ago, we were in the top 12 in points. To be in that position and contending for a Chase spot is pretty good with an entirely new team. We continue to get better all the time and this past weekend was the first time we have revisited a track. What a difference it made for us. We went out with a set up we knew was going to work and after 15 minutes of practice, I felt like we could park the car and prepare for the race. We have learned a lot and it’s great to see how far we have come as a group and to now understand what these MWR Toyotas need to go fast.”

Truex on racing at Chicagoland Speedway: “I really enjoy racing there. It’s been a good track for me over the years. It’s really unique because the front and back straightaways are curved. The track has also been weathered a bit so it has some bumps. It’s real wide and has multiple grooves. I like Chicago because you can race from the yellow line to the wall and go fast. It’s also a tough place to set up a car especially during long green flag runs because the track changes. It is not uncommon for you to have a good practice run, but when you go to race, your car won’t be that good any more. It makes for an interesting challenge for us to figure out that balance on set up and how it will change with the track. Some guys will run well with fresh tires and some will run better on older tires. You just have to be able to do both to have a chance on Saturday night.”

Notes

Watch Truex on this week’s edition of Showtime’s Inside NASCAR: http://tiny.cc/5v5tu

Saturday’s race is Truex’s 171st Sprint Cup Series race and fifth at Chicagoland. His best start is second (July 15, 2007) and best finish is ninth. (July 12, 2008). During his career, he has one top-10 and three top-20 finishes. His average start is 18th and his average finish is 20th. He has led 14 laps.