Total team improvement reason David Reutimann running well at Michael Waltrip Racing
Michael Waltrip Racing's David Reutimann is 11th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings heading into Sunday's LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
// LaDon George, NASCAR Scene
BROOKLYN, Mich. - David Reutimann is loving life these days.
The Michael Waltrip Racing driver is enjoying a breakout campaign, ranked 11th in the Sprint Cup standings. Reutimann quickly admits he’s having more fun this year than in his first two seasons.
“It’s way more fun,” Reutimann said. “The last couple of years have just sucked, to be honest with you. We haven’t been very good at all. It’s good to finally get to the position where you’re racing the guys you’ve watched on TV your whole life, and you learn a lot more and enjoy it a lot more. There were definitely times last year that I was just in the way.”
Not that there haven’t been some trying times this year, notably the Talladega, Richmond, Darlington stretch in late April and early May that saw him finish 26th, 28th and 29th, respectively. After his fast start to the season, Reutimann came out of that trio of races wondering if his bubble had burst.
“Right away, I started to panic and started thinking, ‘Wow, the wheels are coming off this deal right now. We started off good, but we’re messing up,’” Reutimann said.
“Then, when I stopped and really looked at the races. … , you look at the big picture. OK, your team is still doing a good job, you still have good pit stops, you’re unloading [a] fast [car], you have all those pieces of the puzzle there. … That’s when you [say], ‘Don’t panic.’”
Reutimann and his teammates quickly righted the ship after that dismal stretch. He scored his first career Sprint Cup victory in the next
race, at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and then won the pole and led 25 laps before finishing 18th at Dover. That race featured what might be his best move of the season, a brilliant save to avoid a spinning David Stremme.
Then, it was on to Pocono, where Reutimann finished third, thanks to crew chief Rodney Childers’ instructions to watch his fuel mileage.
“Last week’s the first time I’ve ever gotten yelled at on the radio for going too fast. … Normally, they’re telling me to pick it up,” Reutimann joked.
The 39-year-old Florida native said he’s not doing anything differently this year, crediting his team with stepping up its effort.
“The reason we’ve run better this year, it has not been a David Reutimann Improvement; it has been a total team improvement across the board,” Reutimann said. “I still maintain I’m not doing anything any different than … in the past. I just have a little bit better product to do it with.”
