Reutimann lead just 5 laps while under caution. He was running 14th when the #00 team decided to take a gamble to stay out when the front of the field opted to follow leader Kyle Busch down pit road during a caution for rain 22 laps past the halfway point.
"Rodney told me, I'm either going to get us a win or lose us 10 spots, one or the other. It's a gamble. I said, I'll stay out. That's what he told me to do. That's what I do. When I'm told to do something, I generally do something," Reutimann said about the decision. "Man, it's fun, but it felt like I was out on pit road for a month. I wanted either the sun to come out and it quit or just pour. It just kind of stayed in between. Mike assured me that's what it needed to do, we were going to be in good shape. I told him he was crazy. I continued to tell him there was no way this was going to work."Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR
It's the 1st win for Reutimann in 75 Sprint Cup Series races. He becomes the 20th driver to win a race in NASCAR's three national series (Cup, Nationwide and Truck). The win gives Michael Waltrip Racing its first victory in a Sprint Cup race.
"It's incredible to be able to progress from where we were in '07 as a new organization, and then compete all throughout the latter half of '08 and into '09 at a level I've been really proud of," team owner and driver Michael Waltrip said. "I'm real proud of the progression and real proud of the job that David did today. Obviously his crew chief made an awesome call. I think they were surprised that more people ahead of them didn't make the same call. But what a great call. You got to be proud of the result because these things are really hard to win. David and I both have been in position to win races before, had fate take it away from us. So I like to think of this as payback. David won the race, and I couldn't be happier."
Kyle Busch didn't waste any time to get out front. Starting 2nd, Kyle took the lead on lap 3 and would lead 5 times for the race high 173 laps. He wound up 6th. Kyle also led the race-high numbers of laps in Saturday night's Nationwide Series race @ Lowe's. He lost the lead during a pit stop right before the race was called due to rain. "Weather. You can't do anything about it, really" was what Kyle had to say.
Polesitter Ryan Newman finished 2nd followed by Robby Gordon. Both followed Reutimann to the front when the others decided to pit on lap 222.
NASCAR confiscated a part of Gordon's #7 Toyota during post-race inspection. More details to follow....
There were 6 cautions for 40 laps and 3 red flag periods including an observance for the Memorial Day National Moment of Silence at 3pm with NASCAR calling the drivers to halt on the frontstretch and shut down the engines.
There 14 lead changes among 10 drivers:
R. Newman 1-2; Kyle Busch 3-42; J. Johnson 43-48; Kyle Busch 49-72; R. Gordon 73; M. Waltrip 74; S. Riggs 75-77; Kyle Busch 78-119; B. Vickers 120-130; J. Logano # 131; D. Blaney 132-133; Kyle Busch 134-144; B. Vickers 145-166; Kyle Busch 167-222; D. Reutimann 223-227.
For the unofficial race results, click here.
Jeff Gordon leads the point standings by 44 points over Tony Stewart.
No comments:
Post a Comment