David Reutimann

Qualifying Report - Dover International Speedway

2010-09-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

David Reutimann — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota — qualified 18th.

Friday Recap

• Jimmie Johnson won his second Coors Light Pole Award of 2010 with a time of 23.116 sec/155.736 mph
• Non-Chase drivers AJ Allmendinger and Mark Martin rounded out top three.
• Point leader Denny Hamlin will start fifth
• JTG-Daugherty’s Marcos Ambrose will start 24th
• Sunday’s race begins at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern) on ESPN-TV, MRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio channel 128.

DAVID REUTIMANN — "We really missed it today. We kept tightening up the Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota and when I went out to qualify it felt like it was plowing in the center. We just went too far in trying to tighten it up. It's disappointing - we normally qualify pretty well here and we ran well here in the spring. We'll just keep working on it tomorrow and try to get it better before the race on Sunday."

David Reutimann - Sprint Cup Series Preview - Dover International Speedway

2010-09-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine driver David Reutimann knows that it’s not where you start, but where you finish that matters most in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing. The 40-year-old, Zephyrhills, Fla. native’s most recent pole came at Dover International Speedway in May 2009 and he owns two top-five starts in the last three races at the Monster Mile. Reutimann has only nine races left this season to extend his pole streak to three consecutive seasons. This weekend’s race at Dover could serve as Reutimann’s best pole opportunity as well as second trip to victory lane in 2010. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver finished fifth on the concrete high banks in May posting 15 of the fastest laps in the 400 lap race.

REUTIMANN QUOTES

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF QUALIFYING: “It’s got to the point that the racing is so competitive, it’s so difficult to pass and there are so many good cars that if you start up front it gives you a little bit of an opportunity to at least try to stay there. It’s also important because it give you the opportunity to get a good pit selection and things of that nature. Overall, just to be the fastest on that given day, mentally it’s just a big boost as well for yourself and the team, so while getting poles doesn’t get you into the Shootout in Daytona or anything of that nature any more it’s still just really, really important because of the racing aspect – it gives you the best possible start to the weekend that you can possibly have.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS WINNING AT LEAST ONE POLE A YEAR TO YOU: “I think it’s important and I take pride in winning a pole each year, unfortunately we haven’t been able to do that yet this year and that’s a little disappointing. We won a couple poles last year and I think one the year before at the Cup level, so we want to get one in the books before the end of the year. It’s important – you want to go out and win poles and win races. It’s a little disappointing so far because the last couple years we’ve been able to win one or two and we haven’t yet this year, so we need to try and step it up and get ourselves a pole … and another win.”

ON SOME OF THE CHASE GUYS THAT GAMBLED AND LOST AT NEW HAMPSHIRE: “Racing is a gamble anyway. I admire Tony (Stewart) and a couple of those guys for going all-in and taking that chance. They must have felt like that was the only way that they were going to win, so they went for it. They were all-in and it didn’t work out, but it just as easily could have. It’s just one of those things where you just don’t know and you take your shot. Fuel mileage and rain shortened events – you just don’t know how those things are going to shake out, but I applaud them for going out there and trying it. It didn’t work out for them, but at least they went down swinging.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• The David Reutimann Foundation is hosting its sixth annual Charity Cook Out and Golf Outing Dec. 3-4, 2010 at Silverado Golf and Country Club located in Reutimann’s hometown of Zephyrhills, Fla. In 2009, The David Reutimann Foundation raised over $100,000 which he distributed to Florida-based charities, including: All Children’s Hospital, Kids Go to Camp, Zephyrhills Women’s Pregnancy Center and Camp Boggy Creek.

• Aaron’s, sponsor of the No. 00, will give away an autographed hat to a lucky race fan through Facebook and Twitter following any top-10 finish. Follow Aarons on Twitter (@AaronsSports) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/AaronsSports).

• David Reutimann already tied his single season career best in wins (one) and top-fives (five) and has the final 10 races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule to improve on his totals. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver also is closing in on several more personal bests:

Category Best (Year) - 2010
Wins: 1 (2009) - 1
Top-5: 5 (2009) - 5
Points: 16th (2009) - 15th
Avg. Start: 15.9 (2009) - 16.0
Avg. Finish: 16.4 (2009) - 16.8
Laps Led: 118 (2008) - 89

David Reutimann New Hampshire Race Report

2010-09-19T14:37:00.000-07:00

David Reutimann Race Summary: No. 00 TUMS Toyota driver David Reutimann overcame an ill-handling racecar to record a seventh-place finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday. Reutimann started seventh and worked his way up to fourth over the first 75 laps. A loose handling condition dropped the No. 00 to 20th just past the half-way mark. Following a pit stop on lap 208, crew chief Rodney Childers called for Reutimann to stay out and save fuel over the final four cautions. The call moved Reutimann from 16th to fourth. The No. 00 raced in the top-10 over the final 75 laps and moved from ninth to seventh in the closing laps when two cars ran out of fuel. Reutimann moves to 15th in the standings. The Michael Waltrip Racing team returns to action Sunday at Dover International Speedway.

David Reutimann, No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry

Started seventh and finished seventh

Battled a loose in, loose off condition for the majority of the afternoon and dropped out of the top 15 by half way.

Worked on the car under caution to correct the issue, but continued to race between 15th and 20th.

Stayed out under caution on Lap 223 to climb from 16th to 4th.

Stayed out following quick cautions on lap 238 and 241 to restart seventh on lap 245.

Remained in the top-10 the rest of the race and picked up two spots as leaders ran out of fuel to finish seventh.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: "That was ugly, but I'll take it! To struggle the way we did today and still come out of here with a seventh-place finish is pretty amazing. Our TUMS Toyota was loose in and off all day and really couldn't get a handle on it. Rodney (Childers) and (race engineer) Dax (Gerringer) really did a great job working on our fuel and pit strategy. We took a pretty big gamble by staying out toward the end and not pitting, but with the way the cautions worked out it was pretty good - we saved fuel and picked up a top-10. I can't thank our team enough for the job they did today and TUMS for its support."

RACE NOTES:

Clint Bowyer won the first race of the 2010 Chase for the Championship and is now second in points.

Denny Hamlin finished second and Jamie McMurray third. Tony Stewart and Jeff Burton were racing in the top-five, but ran out of gas in the closing laps.

Denny Hamlin now leads Clint Bowyer by 35 points

The race last 2 hours and 58 minutes. Cautions slowed race slowed race eight times for 34 laps.

Twenty-one lead changes among eight drivers.

NASCAR estimated attendance at 95,000.

David Reutimann - New Hampshire Motor Speedway Sprint Cup Series Preview

2010-09-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 TUMS Toyota driver David Reutimann has already tied his single season career best in wins (one) and top-fives (five) and has the final 10 races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule to improve on his totals. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver also is closing in on several more personal bests:

Category: Best (Year) - 2010
Wins: 1 (2009) - 1
Top-5: 5 (2009) - 5
Points Finish: 16th (2009) - 17th
Avg. Start: 15.9 (2009) - 16.3
Avg. Finish: 16.4 (2009) - 17.2
Laps Led: 118 (2008) - 89

REUTIMANN QUOTES

ONE OF FOUR DRIVERS NOT IN THE CHASE WHO HAVE WON A RACE: “I don’t think that getting a win should automatically put you in the Chase, but it’d be nice if there was a little more emphasis on gaining some points in that area. That being said, it’s just odd how it worked out for us, but now we’re on the outside looking in unfortunately and we’re just going to have to do a better job next year. The No. 00 team has made amazing strides this year in how fast we are and how the cars handle, but we’ve had some bad breaks and need to be a little more consistent for next year to be one of the teams competing for the Chase.”

FIVE TOP-10 FINISHES THIS YEAR – ALL OF WHICH WERE TOP-FIVE: “Those statistics are a little misleading - our Toyotas have been better than that. We’ve had really good cars all year and we should have quite a few more top-10s, but I feel like there are a lot of situations where we finished somewhere from 11th-15th or 16th and we left some points on the table at the very end of the race. A perfect example is the last couple weekends we had really good cars and we didn’t finish like we needed to finish. At Atlanta we had a radio issue and fell multiple laps down and didn’t have much of an opportunity to get our laps back until the very end. Last week in Richmond we cut a tire early and lost a ton of track position that caused us to fall a couple laps down, but we were still running top-10 lap times all night. We had one of the stronger cars, but just had some tough luck at the start and couldn’t get back on the lead lap to gain any more positions. There’s been situations like that all year where we’ve had fast race cars and just haven’t finished like I know we are capable of.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• New Hampshire marks the fourth of five primary schemes for TUMS in 2010. The No. 00 TUMS Toyota last raced at Chicagoland, where Reutimann recorded his only win of 2010 and the second of his career. The No. 00 TUMS Toyota will appear for the final time in 2010 at Phoenix.

• TUMS, Levy and NHMS have partnered on the TUMS “Chowdah” Cook-Off. After submitting entries online at NHMS.com, five contestants have been selected to compete in the at-track cooking competition. Cooking will begin Sunday, Sept. 19 at 8 a.m. ET at the TUMS Fast Relief Zone located in the fan midway at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. NASCAR personalities Jimmy Spencer and Michael Waltrip will join the judging panel which takes place at 10 a.m.

• The David Reutimann Foundation is hosting its sixth annual Charity Cook Out and Golf Outing Dec. 3-4, 2010 at Eldorado Golf and Country Club located in Reutimann’s hometown of Zephyrhills, Fla. In 2009, The David Reutimann Foundation raised over $100,000 which he distributed to Florida-based charities, including: All Children’s Hospital, Kids Go to Camp, Zephyrhills Women’s Pregnancy Center and Camp Boggy Creek.

2010-09-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

David Reutimann, No. 00 AARON’S DREAM MACHINE Toyota Camry

Started fifth and finished 19th.

Ran in the top six until lap 55 when contact by Kurt Busch cut Reutimann’s tire sending him into a spin.

Fell to 34th after stops on pit lane to repair body damage. Turned 10th-place lap times on return to track.

Pitted on lap 145 after losing a lap to the leaders. Race’s second caution flew seconds after the stop dropping him two laps behind leader. Took wave around before lap 153 restart.

Lap 225 caution enabled him to make up one of the two laps.

Ran 19th in the free pass position for remainder of the race but the much-needed caution never flew.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: "That was a frustrating night. We had a good Aaron's Dream Machine, qualified well and I thought we were going to have a pretty good night. Unfortunately the No. 2 car (Kurt Busch) hit one of our tires with his splitter and it caused us to spin and lose a ton of track position. Then we got stuck on pit road when the caution came out. I really thought we had a top-10 car easy tonight, but we could never get back on the lead lap. I give my crew a ton of credit though. They worked hard and did everything they could to put us in position to get back on the lead lap. We just never caught that final break. We'll regroup and try to get better next week in New Hampshire."

RACE NOTES:

Denny Hamlin won Saturday night’s race at Richmond.

Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Marcos Ambrose rounded out top five.

Race took 2 hours and 54 minutes with three cautions for 28 laps and none after lap 242.

Six leaders exchanged the lead 14 times with only 14 cars on the lead lap when checkered flag fell.

Richmond concluded regular season. Ten-race “Chase for Championship” among a dozen drivers begins Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Qualifying Report - Richmond International Raceway

2010-09-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

Richmond International Raceway Qualifying Results

David Reutimann —No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota — qualified fifth.

Friday Recap
Carl Edwards won the Coors Light Pole Award
Juan Pablo Montoya and AJ Allmendinger rounded out top three.
Point leader Kevin Harvick will start 20th
MWR's Martin Truex Jr. starts 29th
JTG-Daugherty’s Marcos Ambrose will start 12nd
Saturday’s race begins at 7:30 p.m. (Eastern) on ABC-TV, MRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio channel 128.

DAVID REUTIMANN — How was your car in practice today and how was your qualifying lap?
“We had a pretty good practice with the Aaron’s Dream Machine and we were just a little too free on our second lap. We couldn’t be as productive as we needed to be and missed it a little bit. All in all, pretty good effort for the guys. We unloaded good, I made some smart changes and I feel like this is probably the best car we’ve ever had here. I am kind of disappointed though, I feel like we should have been better in qualifying. We got loose on our second lap and it cost us some time. When you have opportunities to get poles, you want to get them. When you miss them, it bums you out.”

Will you approach these final 11 races differently not being in the Chase?
“It’s our own fault for not getting in the Chase. It’s a situation where we just go out here and race hard like we have been. I’m not going to approach anything any different. It may give us a chance to take some different chances and gamble a little bit on occasion when we probably wouldn’t. Other than that, I think it’s business as usual for us.”

David Reutimann - Richmond Sprint Cup Series Preview

2010-09-07T14:04:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann has two goals for the remaining eleven races in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. The 40-year-old Zephyrhills, Fla. native plans to win every race and wind up the season in 13th-place before turning his attention to the 2011 season. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver charged from 30th place in points after Texas in April to 16th place after last weekend’s 16th-place finish at Atlanta.

Reutimann is one of four drivers outside the top-12 in championship driver points to record a Sprint Cup Series win in 2010. Five drivers inside the top-12 are winless in 2010.

QUOTES

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SEASON?: “My goals haven’t changed all year – my goal is to put the Aaron’s Dream Machine in victory lane every week. I show up at Daytona in February with the goal of winning 36 point races, a couple of exhibition races and a Sprint Cup Series championship. It’s a personal mind set and I know our No. 00 team feels the same way. I don’t come to the racetrack on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday wanting to finish second – that’s just not the way we do things. So now that we are on the outside looking in at the rest of the Chase guys it’s my goal to finish the season with 12 wins. I already have one win and we have 11 more races until the end of the year. Wouldn’t it be fun to see one of the guys outside the top-12 finish the season with the most wins? I want to be that guy! If I’m not in the Chase I want to spoil all the fun for everyone else by winning the next 11 races.”

ON BEING ONE OF FOUR DRIVERS WITH A WIN OUTSIDE THE TOP-12 IN POINTS GOING TO RICHMOND: “I wish I was one of the 12 guys inside the top-12 in points with a couple wins, but sometimes that’s just how it goes. We’ve had a good season and I know that the No. 00 Aaron’s team and all of Michael Waltrip Racing continues to get better every week. We caught some bad breaks early in the season that cost us a lot of points, but we’ve kept at it. At one point this year we were 30th in points and we’ve climbed our way back to 16th and keep on gaining spots each week. We’re not the only team in this situation – Jamie McMurray has two wins this year, but a couple of bad days cost him too. Same with (Juan Pablo) Montoya and (Ryan) Newman. It’s just frustrating to know we have a team that in my opinion is one of the 12 best in the garage and have to be on the outside looking in for the last 11 weeks.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• No. 00 crew chief Rodney Childers will join Larry McReynolds and Steve Post in-studio for MRN’s NASCAR Performance Live 7-8 p.m. on Wednesday.

• Reutimann led 104 laps at the fall Richmond race in 2008—a career best.

• Reutimann has three top-five finishes under the lights in 2010, including a win at Chicagoland Speedway - his second career Sprint Cup Series win. Reutimann also recorded top-five finishes in the Coke 600 at Charlotte (fifth) and the night race at Bristol (second). Reutimann has finished in the top-15 in six out of seven night races in 2010.

• Reutimann has already tied his single season career best in wins (one) and top-five (five) finishes with 11 races remaining in 2010.

• Only 10 drivers have more top-five finishes than Reutimann’s five in 2010.

• Reutimann is 16th in the championship point standings, trailing the top-12 by 186 with one race remaining before the “Chase.”

Reutimann Atlanta Race Report

2010-09-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

David Reutimann Race Summary: No. 00 Aaron’s Outdoors Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann overcame an early-race black flag that dropped him two laps behind the leader to finish 16th Sunday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Reutimann made an unscheduled green flag stop about a third of the way into the 500-mile race to reconnect the radio inside his Camry. He made up the first lap quickly and second of the two laps with less than 30 laps left in the race. Reutimann had little time to pass lead lap cars but he gained about six positions over the final laps for the 16th-place finish. Reutimann moves to 16th in the point’s race. The Michael Waltrip Racing team and the Sprint Cup Series return to action Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway.

David Reutimann, No. 00 AARON’S DREAM MACHINE Toyota Camry

Started 13th and finished 16th
Fell to 19th in the first 50 laps due to ill-handling car but climbed back to 14th.
NASCAR black-flagged Reutimann on lap 105 to reconnect his car radio.
The unscheduled stop dropped him two laps down to leaders.
Took the wave-around on lap 148 and immediately regained one lost lap at the next caution.
Raced hard a lap down for most of the race before getting the second lap back with 30 laps remaining.
Restarted the race in 22nd with 25 laps remaining and worked his way to 16th when the checkered flag fell.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: "That was just a long night. We had an issue with the radio early on and I couldn't hear the spotter or crew chief, so NASCAR black flagged us and we ended up two laps down. We got one back pretty quick, but it took us almost all night to finally get the lucky dog and get back on the lead lap. And once we finally got back on the lead lap we were almost out of time to make up any significant ground. It was a pretty frustrating night, but I'm proud of my guys. They gave me a great Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota. We just never had the opportunity to show how good the car was after the deal with the radio. That was a tough night. Hopefully we can do a little better next week in Richmond."

Atlanta Motor Speedway - Qualifying Report

2010-09-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

Atlanta Motor Speedway Qualifying Results

David Reutimann¬—No. 00 Aaron’s Outdoors Dream Machine Toyota — qualified 13th.

Friday Recap

• Denny Hamlin won the Coors Light Pole Award—his first of the season and first at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
• Ryan Newman and Kyle Busch rounded out top three.
• Point leader Kevin Harvick will start 29th
• JTG-Daugherty’s Marcos Ambrose will start 32nd
• Saturday’s race begins at 7:30 p.m. (Eastern) on ESPN-TV, PRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio channel 128.

DAVID REUTIMANN — “It was a good lap. We were good all the way around and I felt like we had a lot more grip in Turns 1 and 2. I think we’ll be very good in the race, but for the most part I just under-drove my lap a little bit. I always over-drive my qualifying laps here and today I tried really hard not to do that and just ended up under-driving it a little. I think we’ll be good tomorrow on the longer runs and be strong in the race.”

David Reutimann - Atlanta Sprint Cup Series Preview

2010-08-31T11:46:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Outdoors Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann learned at Bristol Motor Speedway how difficult it is to make up ground in the point standings this late in the Sprint Cup Season. Reutimann battled through flu-like symptoms all weekend to finish second—his second best finish of the 2010 season—but only gained 10 points in pursuit of the 12th and final spot in the Chase for the Championship. With only two races remaining before the Chase, Reutimann is 17th trailing 12th-place Clint Bowyer by 155 points. Reutimann has extra reasons to look forward to Sunday’s race that begins at 7 p.m. at the 1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway. Both of Reutimann’s two career victories came on 1.5-mile tracks and he owns top 15 finishes at each of the six 2010 races held under the lights.

QUOTES

WHAT IS IT ABOUT NIGHT RACES THAT YOU LIKE?: “Night races are just a whole different feel. They’re just a whole different vibe. It almost takes you back to when you started out racing. Almost all of us, at least at one time or another, raced local short tracks on Friday or Saturday nights. It almost takes you back to having that same feel. That same vibe that I did when I was growing up. I think that’s one of the things that I like so much about it. It takes me back to my earlier days of racing."

ON RETURNING TO ATLANTA: “I feel like at the fall night race last year we had a really strong run and we felt like we found some things at that point. Rodney (Childers) and the guys came up with some stuff that really seemed to work well there. We kind of went along the same lines when we went there earlier this year in Atlanta and again we had another really, really good racecar. I just think that we continue to build each time we go there. I’ve been talking to Rodney and I think that we may be going there with a little bit different approach, but also knowing that we have some things in our back pocket to fall back on that we know have been good in the past. So, we’ll start off with one thing and know that if it doesn’t work out that we can switch to another. It’s a good racetrack – a 1.5-mile track that we’ve been good at and I really enjoy racing on the 1.5-mile tracks. We’ve been really strong at those places.”

MWR TOYOTA STRENGTH ON THE 1.5-MILE TRACKS: “I think Rodney (Childers) and the guys, (engineer) Dax (Gerringer) and the guys , have a really good feel for what makes our cars good at those places. I also just like the 1.5-mile racetracks as a driver, so if you combine all that stuff I think it just ends up being a better fit for us.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• In the last 12 races on 1.5-mile racetracks (including Atlanta - technically a 1.54-mile track), Reutimann has two wins, four top-fives, five top-10s, nine top-15s and led 60 laps.

• The last time Reutimann visited a 1.5 mile racetrack under the lights he recorded the win at Chicagoland Speedway - his second career Sprint Cup Series win. Reutimann has consecutive top-five finishes at night races on 1.5-mile tracks (Chicago, fifth at Charlotte).

• Reutimann is currently 17th in the championship point standings, trailing the top-12 by 155 with two races remaining. With 12 races remaining in 2010, Reutimann has already tied his single season career best in wins (one) and top-five (five) finishes. Reutimann has scored 20 fewer points in 2010 then at the same point in 2009. He has three DNFs in 2010 after not recording one in all of 2009.

• Reutimann will spend the day on Wednesday, Sept. 1, on the ESPN Campus in Bristol, Conn. Reutimann is participating in the ESPN “Car Wash” in which a NASCAR driver travels to Bristol to take part in various media opportunities across the ESPN television, radio and electronic media properties.

No. 00 Wins Tissot Pit Crew Award - Again!!!

2010-08-24T10:30:00.001-07:00

David Reutimann’s pit crew pocketed the Tissot Pit Road Precision Award in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

It was the second Tissot win of the season for Reutimann’s No. 00 crew, which moved into a four-way tie for third place in the weekly pit-road competition. Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 continues to lead the Tissot standings with four wins

The weekly Tissot winner receives $5,000 from Tissot plus a Tissot V8 Quartz Chronograph watch. The team with the most Tissot Pit Road Precision Award wins at the completion of the 36-race schedule will receive a $105,000 bonus plus Tissot watches for the over-the-wall crew members and driver.

Reutimann’s Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota spent the least amount of time on pit road – 199.713 seconds -- during the 500-lap race at the half-mile oval. The quick work by the No. 00 crew helped Reutimann to a second-place finish.

Coming in second was Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Doublemint Toyota – 199.763 seconds and third was Gordon’s No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet – 204.369.

Reutimann’s over-the-wall crew consists of: Ryan Langley (front-tire changer), Chris Hall (front-tire carrier), Lee Cunningham (rear-tire changer), Donnie Marvel (rear-tire carrier), Tony Cardamone (jackman), Aaron Pieratt (gasman) and Jeff Seaberg (catch can). The team’s crew chief is Rodney Childers and the pit crew coach is Greg Miller.

“The Aaron’s Dream Machine No. 00 crew has been great all season long and Saturday night at Bristol was no exception,” said Childers. “They knew we had a great starting position and needed to have consistently great stops all night to keep us up front. With David (Reutimann) feeling under the weather all weekend it was even more important to support him as best they could. It all came together very well. They guys did a great job and I can’t say enough about the job they’ve done all season.”

Tissot has been the official watch and timekeeper of NASCAR since 2006. The company is also the official timekeeper for a number of other sports, including the MotoGP World Championship, the Ice Hockey World Championship and the Cycling World Championship.

David Reutimann Bristol Race Report

2010-08-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

David Reutimann Race Summary: No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann endured food poisoning on Friday then posted a second-place finish Saturday night in the 500-lap NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Saturday marked the first time in his Sprint Cup career Reutimann earned a second-place finish. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver started fifth and raced in the top five throughout the night leading 25 laps around the 400-lap mark before Kyle Busch made the race winning pass with just 81 laps remaining. Reutimann held off Jamie McMurray in the closing laps to secure second place. Reutimann is 17th in points and 155 points out of the 12th and final Chase position with two races remaining. The Sprint Cup Series enjoys an off weekend before traveling to Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sept. 5.

David Reutimann, No. 00 AARON’S DREAM MACHINE Toyota Camry

Started fifth and finished second.

Reutimann led 25 laps and raced in the top five throughout the race.

Marked his first second-place finish in his Sprint Cup career.

17th in points—155 points behind Clint Bowyer in the final spot in the “Chase for the Championship.”

Fifth top-five of the season and 10th of his career.

Suffered from food poisoning on Friday. He and Aric Almirola shared driving duties in Friday practice.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: "(Crew Chief) Rodney Childers and the guys gave me exactly what I asked for tonight. All in all it was a great team effort by Michael Waltrip Racing this weekend. My team did a really good job. They had to work with two drivers on Friday with two different styles and they were able to make it work. We know we are capable of winning races. My team is an excellent team. We have some good race tracks coming up for us so we are going to keep digging and see how this thing turns out.”

David Reutimann - Bristol Motor Speedway Preview

2010-08-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann knows he has a lot of ground to make up in a very short amount of time to earn a spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series “Chase for the Championship.” With races remaining at Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond, Reutimann finds himself 18th in points trailing the top-12 by 165 points. But Reutimann and the Michael Waltrip Racing crew have reason for optimism. In the spring races at both Bristol and Atlanta, Reutimann raced in the top-five chasing down the leaders before mechanical problems ended both races early. He recorded a 15th-place finish at Richmond after starting second.

QUOTES

ON THE FINAL THREE RACES BEFORE THE CHASE CUT OFF: “I love Bristol! I love Atlanta. Richmond is one of those places that I really like, we’ve struggled a little bit there, but I do like the racetrack. We have some good racetracks coming up for us. I’m looking forward to getting back to the mile-and-a-half at Atlanta. We had a really good run going there earlier this year, but again, we didn’t get the finish we would have liked. We had two great races going earlier this year at Bristol and Atlanta, but ended the race early due to some issues that forced us behind the wall. I was second at Bristol and hanging around the top-five at Atlanta and we weren’t able to finish either of those races – so I’d like to get back there and run the way I know we are capable of running. We have a great team. The guys on the No. 00 have been working hard and I know we have some good cars capable of running up front. Hopefully we’ll see that again in these last three races before the (Chase) cutoff.”

SATURDAY’S RACE AT BRISTOL: “We had an excellent Aaron’s Dream Machine our first trip to Bristol this year – probably the best car we’ve ever had there. It didn’t turn out the way we’d of liked, but I know that we’re going to have a good car this time around. Goodyear’s got a little different tire this time, but in our business you can never just go back with the exact same stuff and expect to run well. That never seems to work – you always have to constantly evolve and change this up. I feel good about going back there this time – I’m pretty excited about it because we’ve struggled a little bit lately.”

No. 00 TEAM PERFORMANCE SINCE WINNING CHICAGO: “Honestly, we just haven’t been very good. Since our Chicago win the rest of our races have been pretty disappointing. We just have to get back on our game and start running like we are capable of doing. That’s really the long and short of it. I know everybody is working really, really hard, but sometimes things just don’t go your way. Things haven’t gone our way. I know that we’re a much better team than where we’re running right now, and that makes it even worse. We’ll get back on the other side of it. Hopefully we’ll do it at Bristol this week.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• Reutimann chose “The Game” by Motorhead as his introduction song prior to Saturday night’s race. Motörhead is a British rock power trio well-known in the professional wrestling community for performing “The Game” as the entrance music for popular WWE wrestler Triple H.

• Reutimann has finished on the lead lap in 18 of 20 races that he was running at the finish and 18 out of 23 total races in 2010. He has finished 20th or better in 16 of the 20 races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in 12 of the 20. Reutimann has collected 25 bonus points for leading laps in five races in 2010.

• Reutimann won the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 10. The Sprint Cup Series win is his first of the season and second of his career. Reutimann led 52 laps in the win — the second highest total of any race in his career (Best, 104 laps at Richmond in fall 2008).

David Reutimann Michigan Race Report

2010-08-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

David Reutimann Race Summary: No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann spent most of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway adjusting to the constantly changing track conditions before earning a hard fought 16th-place finish. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver moved from 14th to 10th in the first 60 laps, but struggled with the balance of the racecar as the day progressed. The No. 00 team stayed out to gain track position on lap 159, but a series of quick cautions dropped Reutimann to 19th at the final restart on lap 172. Reutimann raced his way to 16th before the checked flag flew on lap 200. Reutimann remains 18th in the point standings, trailing the top 12 by 165 points with three races remaining before the Chase cutoff. The series returns to action Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

DAVID REUTIMANN: “We just fought it all day today. We’d work to correct one thing and it would hurt something else. We tried some pit strategy by staying out late in the race to gain some track position, but really we just did the best we could with the Aaron’s Dream Machine. The track conditions were tough today, but on a day like today you just do what you can to gain every position. We’ll take it and head to Bristol.”

Reutimann Notes:

Reutimann started 14th and finished 16th.

The No. 00 raced its way from 14th to 10th in the first 60 laps

The Aaron’s Dream Machine struggled with a tight center, loose off handling condition

The No. 00 fell a lap down during a green flag stop on lap 135, but raced back to the lead lap within seven laps.

Reutimann stayed out under caution on lap 159 to restart fourth.

Reutimann restarted 19th on the final restart on lap 172 and improved to 16th when the race ended.

David Reutimann - Michigan International Speedway Preview

2010-08-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann spent his Monday traveling to Chicago to assist Chicagoland Speedway in announcing it will become the first race in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase for the Championship. The press conference took place at Fulton’s on the River in downtown Chicago and was attended by NASCAR VP of racing operations Steve O’Donnell, Reutimann, Kevin Harvick and Chicagoland Speedway president Craig Rust.

QUOTES

ON CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY BEING ADDED TO THE 2011 CHASE SCHEDULE:
“Chicagoland Speedway is a cool place. It’s a neat racetrack, the facility is phenomenal and the people are great. People can talk about the markets and all the other things that are really, really important to our sport, but I think what it comes down to for us, what’s important for a driver, is that it’s a fun racetrack. Anytime a driver can go out there and have fun at a racetrack you are going to see better racing. You’ll see guys run at the top or the bottom or the middle and I just think that adds excitement to the event. What makes Chicago such a cool racetrack – I mean you have a back straightaway that’s not straight, so I don’t know what you’d call that, but whatever you want to call it – maybe the curveaway. It’s a unique racetrack and great facility. I just think it’s a perfect place to start the Chase. Hopefully next year I’m part of that equation as well.”

ON THE ADDITION OF THE 1.5-MILE RACETRACK TO THE CHASE: “People say that Chicagoland Speedway is just another mile-and-a-half racetrack and it is, but that’s where the similarities end from a lot of the other racetracks that we go to. It’s just unique, especially with the entrance of the corners. Every year you go back the racetrack gets a little more personality. I always consider racetracks to be a living breathing thing and their attitudes change over the years as well. One bump that was not that big one year will be maybe a little bit bigger issue the next. With that being said, it’s a cool racetrack and it’s a challenge.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON ADDING ANOTHER 1.5-MILE TRACK TO THE CHASE?
“I’m all for it, especially since I won there. The only problem that I have is that they changed it to a day race, and that’s just going to completely mess my deal up. (Laughs). I finally for one race in my entire life get things figured out and then they change it on me. I think the reason behind the move to a day race was like – well, Reutimann ran pretty good there, so what can we do to mess up his program. (Laughs). I’m sure they had a big meeting on that.

“What’s important is that we have good racing on the racetrack and I think this particular racetrack adds to that. I think this is a win-win personally.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• Reutimann has finished on the lead lap in 17 of 19 races that he was running at the finish and 17 out of 22 total races in 2010.

• Reutimann won the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 10. The Sprint Cup Series win is his first of the season and second of his career. Reutimann led 52 laps in the win — the second highest total of any race in his career (Best,104 laps at Richmond in fall 2008).

• Reutimann has won at least one race in all three of NASCAR’s National Touring Series - Sprint Cup Series (Charlotte-1 2009, Chicago 2010), Nationwide (Memphis 2007) and Camping World Truck Series (Nashville 2005).

• Reutimann has finished 20th or better in 15 of the 19 races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in 12 of the 19. Reutimann has collected 25 bonus points for leading laps in five races in 2010.

David Reutimann Watkins Glen Post Race Report

2010-08-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

David Reutimann Race Summary: David Reutimann drove the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota to a 23rd place finish at Watkins Glen International on Sunday - his second best career road course finish. Reutimann started 30th and quickly raced way in to the top-25, while battling a loose racecar. Reutimann steadily worked his way around the road circuit holding his position while the No. 00 team worked to improve the car's balance. Reutimann brought the Aaron’s Dream Machine home in one piece and gained ground on the top-12 in championship driver points. With four races remaining, the No. 00 team remains 18th in points trailing Mark Martin for 12th by 166 points. Next week the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series travels to the two-mile Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan.

David Reutimann, No. 00 AARON’S DREAM MACHINE Toyota Camry

Reutimann started 30th and finished 23rd

The Aaron’s Dream Machine raced in the top-25 the majority of the race

During green flag pit stops around lap 60 Reutimann raced as high as 16th

This marks Reutimann’s second best career road course finish

Reutimann remains 18th in championship driver points, but is now only -166 points out of the top-12

REUTIMANN QUOTE: "We did the best we could today with the Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota, but it was a struggle. We were very, very loose all day and just never got in front of it. I would have liked a little better finish, but right now I'm just happy we don't have any more road courses this year. I’m ready to get back to ovals. I think we’ll be good at Michigan next weekend.”

David Reutimann - Watkins Glen International Sprint Cup Series Preview

2010-08-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann makes no secret that road course racing isn’t his specialty. But that hasn’t stopped the 40 year-old former dirt track racer from working hard to get better. Every time Reutimann has raced on a road course he’s set a career-best road course finish. Reutimann spent two days last week at Watkins Glen International in street cars in preparation for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visit to the 2.45-mile road course circuit in upstate New York.

Reutimann’s Improvement
2008 Infineon 40th
2008 Watkins Glen 33rd
2009 Infineon 31st
2009 Watkins Glen 25th
2010 Infineon 20th

QUOTES

ON TESTING AT WATKINS GLEN: “We were up there in a completely different car then we are going to race last week, so it’s hard to take away a great deal from it. I think the biggest thing is that it gets you freshened back up on the racing line and trying different things and doing different things throughout the course of the day. I think any time you get out on a track it’s a big help, but it’s a situation where you make the best of the test that you can, but we can’t be in the exact race car that we’re going to race.”

ON RACING IN THE NORTHEAST: “My family has raced up in Syracuse and areas like that, which is obviously not Watkins Glen, but in the same area of the country – just within a couple hours drive from Watkins Glen. The Mile at Syracuse, Brewerton, Canandaigua and Rolling Wheels in Weedsport and different places like that. We even race a little bit up at Black Rock on weekends when we race the Cup cars at The Glen, so I’ve raced at a lot of the racetracks around those areas, but I haven’t had much time to go hang out and see what Watkins Glen has to offer or really any of the areas in that part of the country other than just racetracks. I never had a great deal of success up in that part of the country to be quite honest. It was always a struggle. I met a lot of really, really good people that I still know and keep in contact with today, but for the most part the time I spent up there wasn’t the greatest time in my career certainly. I’ve kind of forgot a lot of what happened up there in my early racing life, because there wasn’t a whole lot of good to remember unfortunately. The racing was awesome, the people were awesome, and a lot of great racetracks, but our results weren’t exactly what you’d call awesome. I just wasn’t in a position to excel at that point.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• The No. 00 and No. 56 Sprint Cup Series pit crews plan to make a special trip to the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Level Cross, N.C. on Tuesday night to take part in NASCARnival night at the camp. Both teams will perform pit stops and spend time with the campers.

• At Indianapolis, Reutimann snapped the longest streak of consecutive lead laps finishes at 11 races. He has finished on the lead lap in 16 of 18 races that he was running at the finish and 16 out of 21 total races in 2010.

• Reutimann won the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 10. The Sprint Cup Series win is his first of the season and second of his career. Reutimann led 52 laps in the win — the second highest total of any race in his career (Best, 104 laps at Richmond in fall 2008).

• Reutimann has won at least one race in all three of NASCAR’s National Touring Series - Sprint Cup Series (Charlotte-1 2009, Chicago 2010), Nationwide (Memphis 2007) and Camping World Truck Series (Nashville 2005).Reutimann has finished 20th or better in 15 of the 18 races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in 12 of the 18. Reutimann has collected 25 bonus points for leading laps in five races in 2010.

David Reutimann Looks Ahead to Pocono

2010-07-28T06:21:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann knows a win to a NASCAR team can reach far beyond points or dollars, its influence impacts an organization’s morale, confidence and reputation in and out of the garage. Reutimann, who collected his second career Sprint Cup Series win in the Lifelock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 10th, has won in all three of NASCAR’s top touring series—The Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck series. A win this weekend’s event at the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway could propel Reutimann and the No. 00 team back into serious Chase contention.

QUOTES

REUTIMANN ON WINNING VERSUS POINT RACING: “I think a lot of things do get lost in the fact that there's a lot of focus put on the Chase, and rightfully so. That's what you're obviously trying to do. You're trying to win races. It's important to win races, but it's also about being consistent and all those things that gain you the most points. Every driver, when he's strapped in on Sunday, you're out there to try to win the race. For the drivers, I think the most important thing is going out there and trying to win races, doing what you can to help your cause. If you win races, that's always the better way to get in the Chase as well. It's a win-win situation if you can go out and win races. I know that's what we're focused on doing.”

ON THE IMPACT OF WINNING A RACE: “It can change the whole outlook of your entire organization. If you're having a rough year, things aren't going well, you're able to go out and win a race, you automatically kind of forget everything that's happened bad up to that point. You can switch things around and make it so you're like, Wow. I mean, no matter how your season has gone up to that point, you win that race, you're like, the sky is the limit from that point on. It gives the driver confidence. It gives the team confidence. More importantly, it gives the guys back at the shop that aren't able to be at the racetrack with you, but are turning out your racecars, getting your stuff prepared, gives them added enthusiasm, a little pep in their step, so to speak. It makes them see what they're doing at the shop is really important. They're able to see the results on the racetrack. I think that's great for any race team.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• Only Kevin Harvick (9.2), Jeff Gordon (9.5), Tony Stewart (10.5), Jeff Burton (10.7) and Denny Hamlin (12.0) have a better average finish than Reutimann (12.9) in the last 10 races. Reutimann (1302) also ranks seventh in total points during that span.

• Last weekend at Indianapolis, Reutimann snapped the longest streak of consecutive lead laps finishes at 11 races. He has finished on the lead lap in 15 of 17 races that he was running at the finish and 15 out of 20 total races in 2010.

• Reutimann won the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 10. The Sprint Cup Series win is his first of the season and second of his career. Reutimann led 52 laps in the win — the second highest total of any race in his career (Best,104 laps at Richmond in fall 2008).

• Reutimann has won at least one race in all three of NASCAR’s National Touring Series - Sprint Cup Series (Charlotte-1 2009, Chicago 2010), Nationwide (Memphis 2007) and Camping World Truck Series (Nashville 2005).

• Reutimann has finished 20th or better in 14 of the 17 races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in 12 of the 17. Reutimann has collected 25 bonus points for leading laps in five races in 2010.

David Reutimann Brickyard 400 Report

2010-07-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

David Reutimann Race Summary: No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann’s 2010 Brickyard 400 went bad less than half a lap from the starting line in Indianapolis on Sunday. Kyle Busch triggered a multicar crash in turn two of the opening lap that saw several cars spin. Reutimann hit another car causing severe right front damage to Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 00. Reutimann made several pit stops and spent much of the race making repairs. He ended the race in 28th down three laps to the leaders and fell from 15th to 18th in points. The Sprint Cup series returns to action Sunday at Pocono International Raceway.

David Reutimann, No. 00 AARON’S DREAM MACHINE Toyota Camry

The Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota started 29th and finished 28th

The No. 00 suffered severe damage in a first lap, multicar accident triggered by cars ahead of Reutimann.

Team made several stops to repair the damage and return Reutimann to the track.

Reutimann finished 28th—down three laps to the leaders.

Reutimann’s 11-race streak of finishing on the lead lap was the longest in Sprint Cup competition.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: "That's about as frustrating as it gets. We didn't even get a chance to race today. Something happened up in front and I had nowhere to go and hit pretty hard. They crew did a great job working on it so we could run the rest of the race and get a respectable finish. We'll get going again in Pocono."

RACE NOTES:

Jamie McMurray won the Brickyard 400 (17th Running), his fifth victory in 278 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart rounded out the top five.

There were 14 lead changes among 10 leaders and six cautions for 25 laps. Twenty five cars finished on lead lap.

Kevin Harvick leads the point standings by 184 points over Jeff Gordon.

Chip Ganassi became the first owner to win the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and the Indy 500 in the same year.

Aaron's, MWR and David Reutimann Together Through 2012 in Sprint Cup Series

2010-07-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

Aaron’s Ups Primary Sponsorship From 24 to 30 races in 2010

Extends Agreement through 2011 & 2012

INDIANAPOLIS (JULY 25, 2010) – Michael Waltrip Racing announced today that it has signed agreements extending its relationships with driver David Reutimann and primary sponsor Aaron’s, Inc. on the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota through the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

“I’m glad both Michael Waltrip Racing and Aaron’s want to keep me around,” joked Reutimann. “I’ve been asked about my contract for the last month and we’ve had a handshake agreement, but now it’s done and I’m glad I can finally talk about it. I’m thrilled. This is where I want to be – at Michael Waltrip Racing driving the No. 00 with Aaron’s on the hood. Aaron’s has been a great partner and I consider myself a lucky dog every time I get behind the wheel of the Aaron’s Dream Machine.

“Michael and Darrell Waltrip have given me just about every chance I have ever had in NASCAR since 2004 and I don’t want to go anywhere else. Good things are happening here and I plan to be a part of it.”

Reutimann, 40, earned his second Sprint Cup victory on July 10 in Chicagoland. He earned his and MWR’s first Sprint Cup victory at Charlotte in May 2009. He owns victories all three NASCAR national touring series. No driver owns more Toyota starts than Reutimann in NASCAR.

MWR co-owner Michael Waltrip said he never doubted Reutimann’s return.

“We never wavered on wanting to extend David and neither did Aaron’s. David and Aaron’s are like family to me. They’ve both been a large part of Michael Waltrip Racing since the very beginning and have stuck with us through thick and thin,” said Waltrip. “In the beginning we all took a chance on each other. You might say it was a high-risk, high reward proposition for everyone involved, but we all believed in each other and we are now starting to see those rewards a little more each day.

“Aaron’s along with NAPA AUTO PARTS and Toyota are three of the cornerstones MWR built upon over the years. Their loyalty to us has been as important as any ingredient in our success of late. I’m very proud that these companies have stayed with us as long as they have. We have a very bright future and plan to reward their loyalty in the coming years as we grow and continue to visit victory lane.”

Aaron’s will increase its primary sponsorship of Reutimann’s No.00 from 24 to 30 races in 2010 with TUMS and Best Western completing the schedule. Aaron’s will remain at 30 races in 2011 and 2012 and assume associate sponsorship position with all MWR Toyotas.

“Increasing our involvement in the NACSAR Sprint Cup Series and extending our partnership with Michael Waltrip Racing and David Reutimann through 2012 is a testament to how successful this relationship has been for Aaron’s,” stated Ken Butler, Chief Operating Officer of Aaron’s, Inc. “Much of Aaron’s growth and success is a direct result of our partnership with MWR and we are thrilled to continue that for two more seasons. We have built a rich history with Michael Waltrip and this organization over the last 11 years and I could not imagine Aaron’s partnering with anyone else in this sport. We look forward to being a part of their continued success.”

Aaron’s relationship with Michael Waltrip Racing began in 2000 when the Atlanta-based company sponsored six races for Waltrip’s Nationwide team. The relationship grew from a partial Nationwide program to one of the most recognizable Cup partnerships in the sport with aggressive activation and extensive usage of Waltrip and Reutimann in television and radio commercials.

MWR fields fulltime NASCAR Sprint Cup teams for Reutimann and Martin Truex Jr. as well as a fulltime K&N Pro Series entry and a six-race Nationwide Series entry for Ryan Truex. MWR along with Gary and Blake Bechtel co-own Diamond-Waltrip Racing that fields a fulltime Nationwide entry for Trevor Bayne.

About Aaron’s, Inc.

Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE: AAN), the nation’s leader in the sales and lease ownership and specialty retailing of residential furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories, has more than 1,730 Company-operated and franchised stores in 48 states and Canada. Founded in 1955 by entrepreneur R. Charles Loudermilk, Sr. and headquartered in Atlanta, Aaron’s has been publicly traded since 1982. For more information, visit www.aarons.com.

David Reutimann - Indianapolis Motor Speedway Preview

2010-07-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann says racing and working on cars is the only business he’s ever known. Growing up, Reutimann followed his father Emil “Buzzie” Reutimann, a hall of fame dirt track racer, up and down the east coast racing at small town tracks and living off purse money. Now the roles are reversed and 69-year-old Buzzie follows his son from track to track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit. Two weeks ago at Chicagoland Speedway Buzzie stuck his head into David’s car window seconds after he pulled into victory lane to share a very special moment.

QUOTES

BUZZIE REUTIMANN ON DAVID’S CHICAGO WIN: “People want you to put into words what it feels like to watch your son win a race at the highest level, but I don’t think there are really words that can describe that feeling. We can sit and talk about winning races all night long, but it’s the ones we lose we don’t want to talk about a whole lot. It was just a great victory. I know that when David won that Coke 600 that he always felt that it was sort of a “gimmie” and he was living with that. I know when he won that race in Chicago that the weight of the world came off his shoulders - you could just tell the relief in him. The first thing I said to him when I stuck my head in the car in victory lane was, ‘Tonight we did it kid! There was no rain in sight and it was all about the racing.’ I said, ‘You whipped them all! Tonight we’re the best!’ but I think it took a couple days for it all to sink in.”

BUZZIE REUTIMANN ON THE SHOW OF RESPECT FROM OTHER DRIVERS: “The other drivers coming over and congratulating David meant just as much as winning the race to me. When Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards came to victory lane—and even back in the garage where they were working on the cars—all the guys on the other team came and offered congratulations. Getting the respect from the other drivers means a lot. You race guys like you want to be raced and that makes a big difference because if you start roughing guys up it’s going to come back to you—I taught him that. I told him don’t go out there and run over somebody because you’re likely to get run over the next time. David’s been pretty smart about that.”

PRESS CONFERENCE: Michael Waltrip Racing will make an announcement regarding the No. 00 team at noon Friday in the Economaki Press Conference Room at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Reutimann & Waltrip will be available to media after the announcement.

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• Only Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton have a better average finish than Reutimann (11.6) in the last 10 races. Reutimann is tied with Denny Hamlin during that span.

• In the last 10 point races, Reutimann has scored 1,341 points - sixth most of any driver and moved from 27th in points to 15th. The 12-position gain is the largest gain among any driver over that span — Tony Stewart gained the second most positions at +6.

• Reutimann currently has the longest streak of consecutive lead laps finishes at 11 races. He has finished on the lead lap in 15 or 16 races that he was running at the finish and 15 out of 19 total races in 2010.

• Reutimann led 52 laps in his win at Chicagoland Speedway—the second highest total of any race in his career (Best, 104 laps at Richmond in fall 2008). He has collected 25 bonus points for leading laps in five of the 11 races. Reutimann has one win, three top-fives and nine top-15 finishes during that span.

• Reutimann has finished 20th or better in 14 of the 15 races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in 11 of the 15.

Reutimann Chicagoland Race Report

2010-07-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

David Reutimann, No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry - won - 15th 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.”

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

David Reutimann - Chicagoland Speedway Preview

2010-07-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

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.

Reutimann Daytona Post Race Report

2010-07-04T00:51:00.000-07:00

• David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Finished 11th -17th in points.

David Reutimann Race Summary: No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine driver David Reutimann left Daytona International Speedway disappointed with an 11th-place finish Saturday night. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver survived several multi-car accidents either just in front or just behind him during the 400-mile race. As the laps wound down he appeared destined for a top-five finish but contact with Clint Bowyer on the backstretch coming to the checkered flag cost him several spots. Reutimann moved to 17th in the points— just 170 points out of the 12th and final Chase spot. The Sprint Cup Series next travels to Chicagoland for Saturday night’s race

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

• Reutimann raced as high as second despite complaining of difficultly turning on the Daytona track.

• A fiery 16-car accident on lap 148 just car lengths behind Reutimann eliminated several cars.

• The No. 00 restarted third with eight laps remaining, but his inside lane fell far behind the outside lane.

• With two laps remaining he raced fifth narrowly avoiding a three-car wreck in front of him.

• After pitting, Reutimann started the green-white-checkered dash in 11th and rapidly made up places.

• He and Clint Bowyer collided on the backstretch coming to the checkered flag costing the No. 00 several positions.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: “I’m more than disappointed, I’m heartbroken. I had a pretty good car and everything was going pretty well. We just kind of gambled at the end and decided to take tires and nobody else came and we lost a lot of track position. Then with just the green-white-checkered ended up biting us at the end.”

RACE NOTES:

• Kevin Harvick won the race in a green-white-checkered finish. Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon rounded out top three.

• A 16-car accident with 12 laps remaining brought out the red flag for just over 19 minutes.

• The race lasted two hours 37 minutes and 19 seconds and featured 47 lead changes among 18 drivers

• The race was slowed by nine cautions for a total of 34 laps

• Rain cancelled qualifying and NASCAR determined the starting order by the point standings.

• Rain also delayed the start of the race more than two hours Saturday night.

• The next race is Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway.

David Reutimann - Coke Zero 400 Preview

2010-06-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann heads to Daytona International Speedway for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 with more on his mind than most NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers. The Zephyrhills, Fla. native plans to visit the kids at Camp Boggy Creek in Eustis, Fla. to present a donation from the David Reutimann Foundation. He’s also mindful of the potential problems faced by many of his friends, family and fans as the Gulf Oil spill creeps closer to Florida’s western coast.

REUTIMANN QUOTES

ON CAMP BOGGY CREEK: “We’ve been affiliated with Camp Boggy Creek for about the past two years through The David Reutimann Foundation. We got involved with the camp through my cousin Shawn (Reutimann), Bud Smith and some folks who told me this is really something that we should look into. Shawn went last year and when he came back he said we have to do more because this is a really, really great deal – obviously similar to what the Pettys do with the Victory Junction Gang camp, but Camp Boggy Creek is in Florida. Most of the charities that we get involved with through the foundation are primarily in Florida so it was a pretty good fit to try to lend our support. I’m really looking forward to taking a little bit of money over there and spending some time with the campers.”

ON THE GULF COAST OIL SPILL: “I know there are a lot of people who will be impacted by the oil spill over the next few years, unfortunately. Most of the people I know who live in Florida are involved in the automotive industry, so I don’t know many people that really rely on the Gulf to make their living or anything like that. I’m sure it’s going to hit more areas of Florida and place I like to visit and I’m familiar with, but hopefully that’s not the case. It certainly seems like it’s going to be tough for the state of Florida to avoid any of that.”

DO YOU HAVE PLANS TO BECOME INVOLVED IN HELPING PEOPLE IMPACTED BY THE OIL SPILL: “We are looking at different scenarios within The David Reutimann Foundation to see what we can do and where we can help. I would imagine that there will be many charities that we’ll help. I’m sure we’ll look supporting families that are hurt by the disaster in the Gulf. We’re exploring opportunities now and we’re going to see what is out there. We want to help instead of just throw money at a situation that’s not going to benefit many people. You need to be smart about who you work with to make sure that the money and support is given to the people who need it most."

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• Reutimann will visit children campers Friday at Camp Boggy Creek, A Hole in the Wall Camp, in Eustis, Fla. Reutimann, a native of Zephyrhills, Fla., is a longtime supporter of Camp Boggy Creek through The David Reutimann Foundation.

• In the last nine point races, Reutimann has scored 1,147 points - eighth most of any driver and moved from 30th in points to 19th. The 11-position gain is the largest gain among any driver over that span.

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

• Reutimann has finished 20th or better in 12 of the 13 races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in nine of the 13. Reutimann’s lowest finish in a race that he finished was 28th at Martinsville.

Reutimann New Hampshire Race Report

2010-06-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Finished 15th - 19th in points.

David Reutimann Race Summary: David Reutimann and the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine battled in the top-15 throughout Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. As the field spread out over long green flag runs in the first 235 laps, the No. 00 team pitted early to take advantage of new tires and gain track position. But on lap 236 it found itself stuck on pit road when the caution flag flew dropping it a lap behind the leaders. Following the pit stop the No. 00 team restarted 15th and worked its way up to 11th before a flurry of late-race caution flags. Reutimann raced for tenth in the closing laps but a collision with Denny Hamlin dropped him to 15th where he finished the race. The Aaron’s Dream Machine returns to action Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.

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

The Aaron’s Dream Machine started sixth and finished 15th
The No. 00 battled a tight condition early and a loose condition late in the race
A caution came out on lap 236 as the No. 00 attempted to short pit and Reutimann lost a lap to the leaders.
The No. 00 took the wave around on lap 241 to regain lead lap status and restarted 15th
The No. 00 was battling for 10th on lap 292 when contact was made with Denny Hamlin dropped the No. 00 to 15th.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: "That's a pretty frustrating day for the No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine team. We were decent all day, just never very good. We went back and forth trying to find the right balance, but just never seemed to get on the other side of it. We had good stops all day and my guys worked their butts off all weekend to give us everything we had. We tried to short pit late in the race and were caught on pit road when the No. 9 lost its engine - that didn't help matters any. Then we finally got up to about 10th with a couple laps to go and got tangled up with the No. 11. That dropped both cars back about five spots - which is where we finished - 15th."

RACE NOTES:

Jimmie Johnson won for the fifth time in 2010.
Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five
JTG-Daugherty driver Marcos Ambrose finished 13th.
Point leader Kevin Harvick leads second place Jimmie Johnson by 105 points
The race lasted two hours forty-eight minutes in front of an estimated crowd of 91,000
The race featured 14 lead changes among nine drivers
The race was slowed by four cautions for a total of 19 laps
The next race is July 3, 2010 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Michael Waltrip Racing - New Hampshire Motor Speedway Qualifying Report

2010-06-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

- David Reutimann, Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Qualified sixth

Sunday afternoon’s race from New Hampshire Motor Speedway gets underway on TNT, PRN Radio and SiriusXM Satellite Radio 128 starting at 1 p.m. ET.

Friday Recap

• Juan Pablo Montoya won the Coors Light Pole Award with a time of 28.781 sec.
• Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-five
• Current point leader Kevin Harvick qualified 24th
• JTG-Daugherty Racing driver Marcos Ambrose qualified the No. 47 Toyota 12th

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Qualified sixth
“It was a good lap. The Aaron’s Dream Machine was good both laps. Rodney Childers (crew chief) and the guys made some adjustments on it after practice. After the first runs there and even out on pit road, changing tire pressures and stuff like that right up to the last second. Ended up making a good call. The car was solid, drove really, really well and it was more stable and predictable that I anticipated it being. I think I might have messed us up a little bit. He told us going out that probably the first lap was going to be as good as anything else just due to the way things have been going for us. We were a little quicker on our second lap, but not much.”

David Reutimann - New Hampshire Motor Speedway Preview

2010-06-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann has scored the seventh most points of any driver over the last eight races (since his last of three DNFs this season), gained nine positions in the standings - which is the most of any driver and is one of only three drivers to finish each of the last eight races on the lead lap. But, the 40-year-old from Zephryhills, Fla. knows that in order to claw his way back into the top-12 to have a shot at the Chase for the Championship his team cannot waste any time and must pick up their program.

REUTIMANN QUOTES

ON WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR THE No. 00 TEAM TO MAKE THE CHASE WITH TEN RACES REMAINING: “We are going to have to start consistently finishing in the top five. That’s the only way to do it. The only other way is to hope that everyone in front of you has bad races, but you can’t rely on that. We just have to consistently put our Aaron’s Dream Machine in the top five and a bad day for us has to be around 11th or 12th. Even at that rate you’re still pushing the issue trying to get it done. We have our work cut out for us for sure, but we have ever since we started the year with getting knocked back in the points. We’re definitely clawing our way back, but we really have to pick up our program here and get back to running in the top five.”

ON NEW HAMPSHIRE: “We’ve been pretty good up in New Hampshire at times and we’ve also just been okay at times. It’s been a decent racetrack for us, but we’ve struggled there as well. I feel like our program has consistently gotten better at each track this year, so I’m expecting to have a good weekend.”

ON THE IMPACT OF DOUBLE-FILE RESTARTS THE LAST FEW WEEKS: “They have seemed to be a little crazy lately, but it always happens at the end of a race, where guys are trying to get a good finish. It gets a little bit brutal, especially at certain racetracks. At some racetracks it’s not so bad, but when you go to a road course or someplace where it’s really, really hard to pass and it seems like everybody starts running over one another. It’s just the nature of the beast and it’s what we have to work with. The fans seems to like it, so I guess in the end it’s not such a bad situation.”

ARE YOU EXPECTING DRIVERS TO GIVE PAYBACKS THIS WEEKEND? “I think if you’ve got a problem with a certain guy and the opportunity arises – I mean, I guess you don’t ever know. I guess it depends on the situation. A lot of times I think it’s good that we have a week in between races because it gives you a chance to cool down. Or if you have an issue with someone, it gives you a chance to talk during the course of the week. A lot of times when you get back to the racetrack things aren’t as bad as they were when you left, but at the same time some guys just don’t forget. You may see some this weekend, but it’s hard to say, it just depends on the situation.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• In the last eight point races, Reutimann has scored 1029 points - seventh most of any driver and moved from 30th in points to 21st (See Sidebar). He is one of only three drivers to finish on the lead lap of the last eight races and collected 20 bonus points for leading laps in four of the eight. Reutimann has six top-15 finishes, including top-fives at Dover and Charlotte during that span.

• Reutimann has finished 20th or better in 12 of the 13 races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in nine of the 13. Reutimann’s lowest finish in a race that he finished was 28th at Martinsville.

David Reutimann Infineon Race Report

2010-06-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

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

David Reutimann Race Summary: No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann earned his first top-20 finish 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 21st in points as the series heads to New Hampshire International Speedway on Sunday.

• 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.”

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.

David Reutimann - Infineon Raceway Preview

2010-06-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann admits he isn’t a road course racing expert, but that hasn’t stopped the 40-year-old former dirt track racer from working hard to perfect his skills for Sunday’s race at Infineon Raceway in California.

The Zephryhills, Fla. native spent much of his free time in the last few months working with road course experts Michael McDowell and Marcos Ambrose racing go-karts in the Charlotte area, driving late models at Infineon and riding in a team-built two-seater car at Virginia International Raceway. Reutimann hopes the extra work continues the Michael Waltrip Racing team’s recent string of strong performances. Reutimann has scored the seventh most points of any driver in the last seven races gaining 11 points positions—the most of any driver.

QUOTES

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF GOING TO A ROAD COURSE? “Leaving (laughs). I mean, it’s just another racetrack. There are tracks on the circuit that aren’t necessarily your favorite, but you have to go to them anyway and not make it a big deal. That’s how this deal is for me.”

ON PREPARING TO VISIT INFINEON RACEWAY: “Michael McDowell and Marcos Ambrose have both helped me out a lot both last year and this year. We’ve worked on a combination of things like trying to slow down at the right times to get a little quicker, working on shifting better and being more precise – a lot of things like that. Michael Waltrip Racing has done a really good job of trying to get me as much time as they can in different cars, whether it be late models at Sonoma or the multiple tests that we’ve done at VIR (Virginia International Raceway), so the team has really gotten behind me to give me the chance to get better. All in all, I feel like we’ve made a lot of gains. I don’t know if we’ve gained in one particular area or not specifically, but I feel like all around we’ve gotten better.”

WHAT MAKES INFINEON RACEWAY SUCH A CHALLENGE: “Infineon is very, very technical and it’s easy to overdrive. Forward bite is a problem there and struggling with wheel spin. It gets pretty hot out there and the track gets slick. I think the main thing is conserving your tires to keep good grip. We try to work on our shifts so we can save some tires. That’s a lot of the different things that we learned while we were out there. It was a good experience to spend some time out there. We learned a lot.”

ON QUALIFYING AT INFINEON RACEWAY: “It’s tough. Last year I just didn’t drive hard enough. I was really concerned about overdriving and messing the corners up and as a result just didn’t drive hard enough to be fast – I didn’t get the most out of the car when I needed to. That was my mistake last year. It’s tough. You’ve got one lap and you just have to let it all hang out even when you’re trying to be conservative. We’ve qualified in the tank about every time we’ve been to a road course and now it’s time to get that turned around.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• In the last seven point races, Reutimann has scored 926 points - seventh most of any driver and moved from 30th in points to 19th (See Sidebar). He is one of only five drivers to finish on the lead lap in each of those races. He also collected 20 bonus points for leading laps in four of the seven. During that span, Reutimann has six top-15 finishes, including top-fives at Dover and Charlotte.

• Reutimann has finished 20th or better in 11 of the 12 races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in nine of the 12. Reutimann’s lowest finish in a race that he finished was 28th at Martinsville.

Reutimann Michigan Race Report

2010-06-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

• David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - finished 18th - 19th in points.

David Reutimann Race Summary: David Reutimann and the Aaron’s Dream Machine finished 18th on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, snapping a string of six consecutive top-15 finishes. The Michael Waltrip Racing team battled both tight and loose handling conditions as well as changing track conditions throughout the 400-mile race. Reutimann spent most of the day in the top-15, but climbed as high as eighth and fell as low as 28th before finishing the race 18th. The Sprint Cup Series now travels to Infineon Raceway in California for Sunday’s race.

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

• The Aaron’s Dream Machine started ninth, but needed the car freed up off the corner early on.

• Following a green flag stop on lap 87, Reutimann raced in 13th saying the car was the best it had been all day.

• Restarted 11th after a two-tire stop just past the halfway point, but a loose condition dropped him to 25th by lap 135.

• Reutimann moved up to 17th by lap 165, but fell to 27th after a green flag stop to fix the vibration on lap 171

• By lap 181, the No. 00 was back up to 15th position for the final restart and battled to finish 18th.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: "We just struggled all day. We never really got the Aaron's Dream Machine exactly how we wanted. We'd be a little loose, then a little tight. I feel like the track conditions kept changing and we'd get it for a short time, but could never keep it for very long. My pit crew and team did a great job and we kept at it and tried to make the best of our day. I'm disappointed, but we just have to move on and keep getting better."

RACE NOTES:

• Denny Hamlin won for the second consecutive week and the fifth time in 2010

• Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart rounded out the top-five

• The race lasted two hours thirty-three minutes in front of an estimated crowd of 95,000

• The race featured 18 lead changes among nine drivers

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

• The next race is Sunday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

David Reutimann - Michigan Preview

2010-06-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann looked like a long-shot to make the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase for the Championship just six races ago. After his third did-not-finish in the first eight races, the Michael Waltrip Racing driver left Texas Motor Speedway mired in 30th place 218 points outside the top 12. But, Reutimann has rallied back into contention by posting six consecutive top-15 finishes, including his first career back-to-back, top-five finishes at Dover and Charlotte. The Zephyrhills, Florida native jumped 11 spots in the point standings to 19th just 146 points outside the top-12 after 15 of the 26-race regular season.
NOTES
- Reutimann has scored the fifth most points of any driver in the last six races.
- He’s gained 11 points positions in those six races, also the most of any driver.

QUOTES

ON THE PAST SIX RACES – ALL TOP-15s, INCLUDING TWO TOP-FIVES: “I think Pocono was the exception, because we really struggled but still ended up getting a decent finish out of it. We need to avoid the weeks like we had at Pocono and get on the other side of it. I feel like our Aaron’s team has the chance to be consistent and has been consistent for the most part the last six weeks. The hard part is to keep getting a decent finish even if you’re having a tough weekend. It’s easy to be consistent when things are going right, but when they’re not going well you have to make the most of the situation and get a decent finish.

“If you have a day like we did at Pocono when things aren’t going right that’s when it becomes a struggle. But my guys have done good. They worked on the car to make it better and kept adjusting on it until it was good, or at least better – I’m not sure we ever got good, but we made it a lot better. I feel like we’re on track. I feel like they’re doing a good job. Sometimes you’re just off a little bit like we were at Pocono, but you make the most of it and I can tell you that we won’t be off like that again when we go back in a couple weeks. I think we learned a lot from that experience.”

ON THE POTENTIAL TO GAIN GROUND ON THE TOP-12 IN THE COMING WEEKS: “We lost a little ground at Pocono, but we just have to keep at it. We have 12 more races to gain back 145 points. It’s not impossible. We have some good races coming up for us in Michigan, New Hampshire, Chicago and Daytona, but we also have a couple that historically have not been as kind to us in the road courses. We just have to make up for lost time. It’s hard to play catch up in this deal, but I know the Aaron’s team can gain some ground back.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

- In the last six point races, Reutimann has scored 817 points - fifth most of any driver and moved from 30th in points to 19th (See Sidebar). He is one of only five drivers to finish on the lead lap of the last six races and collected 20 bonus points for leading laps in four of the six. Reutimann has six straight top-15 finishes, including top-fives at Dover and Charlotte.

- After Texas, Reutimann trailed the top-12 by 218 points, now he is heading to Michigan trailing the top-12 by just 146 points - shaving 72 points in six races.

- Reutimann has six career starts at Michigan International Speedway. He has one top-five and two top-10 qualifying efforts and one top-10 and three top-15 finishes. His best Michigan finish was last fall where he led four laps and finished ninth. (See Sidebar)

- Reutimann spent Tuesday testing at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Ga. and Wednesday participating in Tony Stewart’s Prelude to the Dream event at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

- Reutimann has finished 20th or better in 10 of the 11 races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in nine of the 11. Reutimann’s lowest finish in a race that he finished was 28th at Martinsville.

David Reutimann - Pocono Race Report

2010-06-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Finished 15th - 19th in points.

David Reutimann Race Summary: David Reutimann salvaged a top-15 finish out of what looked to be an extremely difficult weekend at Pocono Raceway. Reutimann started 29th following his Friday afternoon qualifying effort and began working his way forward at the start of the race. When the first caution came out Reutimann and the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine came to pit road for service and went back out to restart in the mid-20s. On the restart, Reutimann received both front and rear damage after contact with another car. The damage caused the No. 00 to have a loose handling condition that eventually led to falling a lap down to the leaders on lap 70. Reutimann did his best to work with the car until he could come in for repairs on lap 100. The No. 00 Aaron’s team worked throughout the race to make the car better and work on several different options for pit strategy. A late caution with just two laps remaining forced the event into a green, white, checkered finish that saw the No. 00 restart 20th before another caution came out due to a massive incident involving several cars. Reutimann avoided the incident and crossed the finish line in 12th.

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

Reutimann damaged the front and the rear of the Aaron’s Dream Machine on the first restart due to contact

The damage caused Reutimann to struggle with a loose handing condition throughout the race

The No. 00 went a lap down to the leaders on lap 70

Reutimann came to pit road under caution on lap 100 to fix the front and rear damage

Regained lead lap status on lap 155 by taking the wave around

A quick caution on lap 158 brought the No. 00 back to pit road for work and started with the lead pack

Reutimann worked his was from 31st and the last car on the lead lap up to 20th by the final caution on lap 198.

Reutimann restarted 20th after taking two tires and avoided a last lap wreck to finish 12th.

The 15th place result is the sixth consecutive top-15 for the No. 00 Aaron’s team.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: “The Aaron’s Dream Machine had a pretty rough day. We struggled and just couldn’t get a handle on it. We got into someone early with it and it knocked the quarter panel loose. Everything is so aero-sensitive that it just made us bad, bad loose all day. We lost a lap before we were finally able to come in and fix it. Then I got back in the fence again with it. To come home 14th (12th according to NASCAR’s unofficial results) is a lot better then we were looking at most of the day. The No. 00 crew worked on the Aaron’s Dream Machine all day and did a great job. It was just a rough day.”

RACE NOTES:

Denny Hamlin won the race under caution over teammate Kyle Busch

The win is Hamlin’s fourth of the season.

Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton rounded out the top-five

The race lasted three hours and forty-four minutes in front of an estimated crowd of 105,000

The race featured 14 lead changes among seven drivers

The race was slowed by eight cautions for a total of 27 laps

The start of the race was delayed nearly two hours due to rain and track drying

The next race is June 13, 2010 at Michigan International Speedway.

Reutimann 00 Pocono Raceway Qualifying Report

2010-06-04T16:27:00.000-07:00

David Reutimann, Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Qualified 29th
Summary
Michael Waltrip Racing drivers Martin Truex Jr. and David Reutimann both experienced issues during Friday’s qualifying effort for the Gillette ProGlide 500 at Pocono. Martin Truex Jr. experienced some sort of mechanical issue that caused his car to skip down the front stretch and caused the No. 56 team to qualify 27th with a time of 53.824 sec.

Meanwhile, David Reutimann also experienced difficulty, but his came in the way of a handling issue caused by bottoming out over a difficult racing surface. Reutimann said that as the splitter would hit the track over a particularly rough stretch between turns one and two it caused the nose of his Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota to take off on him and lose speed. Reutimann qualified 29th with a time of 53.855 sec. This week’s qualifying effort snaps a streak of four consecutive points races where an MWR driver has started from a top-five position.

Both teams practiced well in race trim on Friday’s only practice and should be able to gain positions throughout Sunday’s 500 mile event at the 2.5 mile Pocono Raceway.

Sunday afternoon’s running of the Gillette ProGlide 500 presented by Target gets underway on TNT, MRN Radio and SiriusXM Satellite Radio 128 starting at 1 p.m. ET.
Friday Recap
Kyle Busch won the Coors Light Pole Award for the second time in four weeks with a time of 53.102 sec.
Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five.
Points leader Kevin Harvick will start 22nd
Bowyer is making his best Cup start (second) of 2010
JTG-Daugherty Racing driver Marcos Ambrose qualified the No. 47 Toyota 16th

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Qualified: 29th
How was your qualifying lap?
"The splitter was hitting on the Aaron's Dream Machine and it was taking off on me. It feels good going into the tunnel and into turn 3, but there's a rough part of the track where we keep hitting the splitter. Through the middle of turn 1 and in to the tunnel turn was hurting us pretty bad. We'll keep working on it tomorrow and we have 500 miles to make it better on Sunday. We'll get it back to where we need to be.

David Reutimann - Pocono Preview

2010-06-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann looked like a long-shot to make a run at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase for the Championship just five races ago as he left Texas with his third DNF in the first eight races of 2010. Reutimann had fallen to 30th in points and trailed the top-12 by 218 points.

But the Michael Waltrip Racing driver is charging back into contention by posting five consecutive top-15 finishes, including his first career back-to-back (Dover and Charlotte) top-five finishes. The Zephyrhills, Florida native is 19th in points just 125 points outside the Chase at the halfway point of the 26-race regular season.

QUOTES

REUTIMANN ON CHANCES OF MAKING THE CHASE: “There is only one way to approach this thing - we are here to make the Chase (for the Championship)! Everyone on the Aaron’s Dream Machine crew truly believes that we have what it takes to make a run and get into that top-12. We had a couple tough breaks early in the season that put us behind a lot of the other teams, but we’ve been finishing races and making strides each week. Just a couple weeks ago we were 30th in points and now we’re 19th, so things are starting to go our way and we’re consistently racing each week with the leaders and bringing home top-five or top-10 finishes. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing right now and I believe we’ll be there right when we need to be.”

REUTIMANN ON BACK-TO-BACK TOP-FIVES: “It feels good to have back-to-back top-fives for the first time, but to be honest we should have been a little better than that. Last week we spent the whole race in the top-five, led a couple laps and had a great race, but I think we could have finished a spot or two better if not for one pit stop where we got blocked coming in by another car that dropped us back before the final restart. We need to keep at it if we want to have a shot at the Chase. I would’ve really liked to turn one of those top-fives into a win. Top-fives are great, but wins are better. We are getting closer and hopefully we can start collecting wins - they count as top-fives too.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• In the last five point races, Reutimann has scored 699 points - sixth most of any driver and moved from 30th in points to 19th. He is one of only six drivers to finish on the lead lap of the last five race and has collected 20 bonus points for leading laps in four of the five races. Reutimann has two straight top-five and five straight top-15 finishes.

• Last Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600, Reutimann was one of only two drivers to have an average running position of 5th or better. Kurt Busch’s average running position was second and Reutimann’s was fourth. Reutimann also recorded the fastest lap 38 times.

• After Texas, Reutimann trailed the top-12 by 218 points, now he is heading to Pocono trailing the top-12 by just 125 points - shaving 93 points heading into the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500.

• Reutimann recorded his first top-five, a third place finish, in six career Sprint Cup Series starts at Pocono Raceway in the June race last year. He also was on his way to a top-10 in the fall race before getting caught up in a racing incident with eventual race winner Denny Hamlin that caused damage to the Aaron’s Dream Machine and dropped Reutimann to a 29th-place result.

• Reutimann spent Tuesday and Wednesday road course testing in a non-Sprint Cup Series car at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. in preparation for the upcoming race.

• Reutimann has finished 20th or better in nine of the ten races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in eight of the 10.

David Reutimann - Coca-Cola 600 Qualifying Report

2010-05-27T19:02:00.000-07:00

• David Reutimann, Aaron’s Dream Machine/Armed Forces Foundation Toyota Camry - Qualified sixth, Starts Outside Row Three
Summary

For a short time on Thursday afternoon it looked like it could be an all Michael Waltrip Racing front row to start the Coca-Cola 600, as Martin Truex Jr. and David Reuitmann were sitting one-two after more than half the field had attempted their qualifying laps. But, as the track cooled in the late afternoon some of the later qualifiers were able to drop the pair out of the front row. Both Michael Waltrip Racing Camry’s will start in the top-six.
Martin Truex Jr. paced the Michael Waltrip Racing Camry’s with a time of 28.848 seconds on Thursday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway and will start Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 in the third position. David Reutimann also posted a top-six lap of 28.904 seconds to start Sunday’s race in the sixth position. Sunday night will be the fourth consecutive points race that MWR has a Camry starting from a top-five position. (Truex won the pole award at Dover, Reutimann 2nd at Richmond, 4th at Darlington).
Sunday afternoon’s running of the Coca-Cola 600 gets underway on FOX, PRN Radio and SiriusXM Satellite Radio 128 starting at 5:45 p.m. ET.
Friday Recap

• Ryan Newman won the Coors Light Pole Award for the second straight Coca-Cola 600 with a time of 28.793.
• This is Newman’s first pole and seventh top-10 start in 2010.
• This is Newman’s ninth pole in 19 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
• Kurt Busch, Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson round out the top-five.
• JTG-Daugherty Racing driver Marcos Ambrose qualified the No. 47 Toyota 34th

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine/Armed Forces Foundation Toyota Camry, Qualified: Sixth

How was your qualifying lap?
“Qualifying in these things is all a white knuckle run. You have to be able to be on that ragged edge the whole time and everybody out there is doing it. The track continues to get faster as the temperature goes down. We had a good Aaron’s Dream Machine, I think we gave up a fair amount of speed coming to the green to actually start the lap. Oddly enough that’s about as important as anything else you do out here. Proud of my guys. We didn’t have a very good mock qualifying run in practice, but all in all Toyota and Toyota Racing Development gave us horsepower and hopefully it will hold up.”
How does it feel to be the defending Coca-Cola 600 winner?
“I haven’t gotten that very often, unfortunately. I do like the sound of it so we need to see what we can do to try to win this deal again. Whether it’s going out there and beating them on Sunday or winning it halfway when the rains come. It doesn’t matter – we’ll take them anyway we can get them. I’m proud of my guys. It’s good to have the Armed Forces Foundation on the car this weekend – the thing looks really good and it’s for a great cause.”

David Reutimann - Coca-Cola 600 Race Preview at Charlotte Motor Speedway

2010-05-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann is learning first hand that winning races makes for a little bit more hectic schedule. The defending Coca-Cola 600 winner worked overtime in the weeks leading up to Sunday’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Reutimann attended track press conferences, sat with print journalists, talked to television camera crews, gave fans rides around the track, took part in the Victory Burnout Challenge, joined in the activities that come with a Sprint All-Star Race birth and will serve as the guest of honor at a black tie Speedway Children’s Charities Gala on Wednesday. These obligations have Reutimann working harder than ever … but he says he wouldn’t have it any other way.

QUOTES
REUTIMANN ON WINNING THE COCA-COLA 600: “Winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte was a huge deal for everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing. That was our first win as an organization in the Sprint Cup Series and to have it come at Charlotte in the 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600 is about as good as it gets.
“I remember when (crew chief) Rodney (Childers) told me to stay out instead of coming in to pit, thinking that he was out of his freaking mind. Then as the rain kept coming and we were standing there on pit road I thought this might just work out in our favor. Then we got big trophy at the end of the race I remember thinking maybe he knows what he’s talking about. Now I know to just keep my mouth shut and drive the race car and let Rodney make those calls.”
“I wish we would have won the race without the rain, because no one wants their first win to come in a rain shortened event, but it’s also not like I’m the first guy to ever win a rain-shortened race. I know Joey Logano probably feels the same way about his win at New Hampshire, but a win is a win and we’ll take them where we can get them.”
REUTIMANN ON THE DEMANDS OF BEING A DEFENDING RACE WINNER: “The last couple weeks have really been busy, but I’m honestly enjoying it. I knew winning a race came with it’s fair share of obligations, and especially a race like the Coca-Cola 600, but even this may be a little more than I expected. But if winning races means that my schedule gets busy then that is okay with me. I’d like to win a few more races, so I can keep busy!”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST
• Reutimann is making only his third start in a Coca-Cola 600. In his previous two starts at NASCAR’s longest event, Reutimann has one win and has never finished outside of the top-10. Reutimann’s lone career Sprint Cup Series win came in last year’s rain delayed and rain shortened race that was called due to rain after only 227 of the scheduled 400 laps.
• Reutimann has six career starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway—two Coca-Cola 600 starts and four starts in the fall event. Reutimann has two top-10s (both in the 600) and three top-15 finishes. Reutimann won the 600 last year and finished 15th in the fall race. He has led a lap in two of his last three starts at Charlotte for a total of six laps (One lap in 2008-2 and five laps in last year’s 600).
• In the last four point races, Reutimann has scored 539 points—the seventh most of any driver and moved from 30th to 20th in points. Has collected 15 bonus points for leading laps in three of the four races (five laps at Talladega, three at Darlington and one at Dover), recorded two top-five qualifying efforts (second at Richmond and fourth at Darlington) and has one top five and four top-15 finishes.
• Reutimann has finished 20th or better in eight of the nine races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in seven of the nine. In his three DNFs (Did Not Finish), Reutimann was racing in the top-five of all three races at the time he radioed of the issue leading him to retire from the race. (5th at Atlanta, 2nd at Bristol, 5th at Atlanta).

David Reutimann - Dover International Speedway Sprint Cup Series Preview

2010-05-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann gained six spots the last three weeks. Key to that surge is consecutive top five qualifying runs. That trend should continue this weekend at Dover International Speedway where the 40-year-old Florida native is the defending pole sitter. In 2010, the Michael Waltrip Racing driver has proven to be one of the fastest of the 43 cars on the track nearly every weekend. Mechanical issues encountered when running in the top six this season prematurely ended three races. Reutimann finished all 38 races in 2009.

QUOTES

ON WINNING THE POLE AWARD LAST YEAR AT DOVER: “Dover is definitely a place where you hold your breath because you’re really in the gas a lot, you drive down in the corners deep then let the thing roll before getting back to the gas. So it’s a really, really intense racetrack. Qualifying is not one of the more enjoyable things that you’ll do during the course of the weekend. It’s definitely a place that will keep your attention the whole time.”

WHY IS DOVER IS A “MEAN” RACETRACK? “There are just a lot of transitions getting into the corners and on the exit of the corners which are pretty violent. You go from almost falling down a hill getting into the corners then the car lands, loads up then you drive up the other side. It kind of spits you out the other side. It’s a pretty intense racetrack that takes a lot of getting used to because it’s really a different feel compared to a lot of other places that we go.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE STARTING TO GET YOUR SEASON BACK ON TRACK AFTER A SLOW START? “I certainly hope so. At least we’ve been able to finish the last few races and have some pretty decent runs. I don’t think we were as good as we wanted to be in Richmond and last week at Darlington we just got caught on pit road at the wrong time and that cost us some track position when the caution came out. It is what it is. I think things are going better. Things haven’t really gone bad for us. We’ve had good speed on the racetrack and we’ve been racing well, but we just haven’t been able to get those finishes that we need – sometimes that’s half the battle. I feel like we are starting to gain on it a little bit. At least we’re moving in the right direction and we’ll be able to continue to do that.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

In the last three races, Reutimann has moved from 30th in points up to 24th in points, collected 10 bonus points for leading laps in two of the three races (five laps at Talladega and three at Darlington), recorded two top-five qualifying efforts (second at Richmond and fourth at Darlington) and has three top-15 finishes.

Reutimann has finished 20th or better in seven of the eight races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in six of the eight. In his three DNFs (Did Not Finish), Reutimann was racing in the top-five of all three races at the time he radioed of the issue leading him to retire from the race. (5th at Atlanta, 2nd at Bristol, 5th at Atlanta).

Aaron’s, sponsor of the No. 00, will give away an autographed hat to a lucky race fan through Facebook and Twitter following any top-10 finish. Follow Aarons on Twitter (@AaronsSports) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/AaronsSports).

Aaron’s/Alabama Crimson Tide No. 00 Toyota Camry diecast cars available for purchase at any Aaron's store nationwide. Aaron’s stores throughout Alabama will host the Alabama National Championship show car and also have championship/racecar t-shirts and championship 9" plush Lucky Dogs for sale.

Steve Hallam, executive vice president and director of competition at Michael Waltrip Racing, will receive a degree of Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Huddersfield in England on July 12. The university has a globally respected automotive engineering department. Hallam, who worked in Formula 1 from 1982 to 2008 with Lotus and then McLaren, joined MWR in 2009.

Reutimann Darlington Preview

2010-05-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Most race fans who follow No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann know his father Buzzie Reutimann taught him an awful lot about racing. The 1997 Dirt Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee’s racing exploits are legendary up and down the east coast.

Less familiar is David’s mother Linda Reutimann who will visit Darlington Raceway this weekend to celebrate Mother’s Day. Don’t look for Linda on top of the pit box or in the Sprint cup garage. Instead, David says, she’d prefer a seat in the grandstands to watch the action on the historic track.

QUOTES

REUTIMANN ON MOTHER’S DAY: “I always have my Dad (Buzzie Reutimann) there, I mean, almost always – and that’s really special to me. My Mom (Linda) always spent a great deal of time with me in the grandstands back when we were younger and she tried to keep me out of trouble. She spent lots and lots and lots of time at racetracks. Mom is really, really low key. She likes to come to the races, she may come in to see me for a bit, but then she normally goes and sits in the stands because she always feels like she’s in the way or something like that. And let me be the first to tell you that she’s never in the way, but she just likes to be very low key and doesn’t like to be in the middle of things. I think she comes to a weekend like Darlington a bit reluctantly. She comes because she knows that I like it, but I don’t think that it’s her style for sure because she’s so quiet and reserved. I enjoy having her there with me, so I’m glad that she comes.”

REUTIMANN ON DARLINGTON: “Darlington definitely earns its nickname – that place is just tough! I mean, that name is just spot on. That place is way too tough to tame. It’s hot and it’s a tough racetrack. It’s a long race and it’s just a really, really tough racetrack. It’s one of those places that will just flat wear you out.”

REUTIMANN ON GETTING HIS FIRST DARLINGTON STRIPE: “Geez, I’ve had so many. I don’t know if I really remember the first one. I think my first Darlington stripe came in my first truck race there. I think I got it during the race. Everyone was telling me that I was going to get one at some point. When it finally came I was like, well, at least I got that out of the way. Then as the race went on there was another five or six before the race was over with, so yeah, that place has not been especially kind to me over the years. We are going to try and turn that around this time and improve our season a little bit and get us headed back in the right direction again.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

Reutimann has finished 20th or better in six of the seven races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in five of the seven. In his three DNFs (Did Not Finish), Reutimann was racing in the top-five of all three races at the time of the issue leading him to retire from the race. (5th at Atlanta, 2nd at Bristol, 5th at Atlanta).

Aaron’s, sponsor of the No. 00, will give away an autographed hat to a lucky race fan through Facebook and Twitter following any top-10 finish. Follow Aarons on Twitter (@AaronsSports) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/AaronsSports).

Aaron’s/Alabama Crimson Tide No. 00 Toyota Camry diecast cars available for purchase at any Aaron's store nationwide. Aaron’s stores throughout Alabama will host the Alabama National Championship show car and also have championship/racecar t-shirts and championship 9" plush Lucky Dogs for sale.

Reutimann’s Crew Wins Tissot Pit Road Award in Talladega

2010-04-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

Third Tissot win of season for Michael Waltrip Racing

David Reutimann’s over-the-wall crew claimed the Tissot Pit Road Precision Award in Sunday’s (April 25) Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

The fast pit stops by the No. 00 crew at the 2.66-mile tri-oval helped Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) attain its third Tissot win of the season. The No. 56 MWR crew for Martin Truex Jr. leads the Tissot standings with two wins.

Reutimann’s Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota spent the least amount of time on pit road – 208.560 seconds – during the 200-lap overtime race, which saw a maximum of three green-white-checkered restarts. David Ragan’s UPS Ford was second (214.115) and Kyle Busch’s M&M’s Toyota was third (238.719).

“It’s awesome too have the Aaron’s 00 crew get the Tissot award for Talladega,” said pit crew coach Greg Miller. “The entire 00 team has had its share of adversity this year, but they have kept digging and have never given up. The car has been great all year but we just haven’t been able to get the finish. Hopefully this will be a change of luck for us and we can begin to realize the results these guys deserve.”

Reutimann’s over-the-wall crew consists of: Ryan Langley (front-tire changer), Chris Hall (front-tire carrier), Eric Maycroft (rear-tire changer), Donnie Marvel (rear-tire carrier), Tony Cardamone (jackman), Aaron Pieratt (gasman), Jeff Seaberg (catch can) and Nate Kennedy (Eighth Man). The team’s crew chief is Rodney Childers.

The winning pit crew in each Sprint Cup race will earn $5,000 and a Tissot V8 Quartz Chronograph watch. The team with the most Tissot Pit Road Precision Award wins at the completion of the 36-race schedule will receive a $105,000 bonus plus Tissot watches for the over-the-wall crew members and driver.

Tissot has been the official watch and timekeeper of NASCAR since 2006. The company is also the official timekeeper for a number of other sports, including the MotoGP World Championship, the Ice Hockey World Championship and the Cycling World Championship.

__________________________________________

2010 Tissot Pit Road Precision Award Winners
Daytona, 2/14 Juan Pablo Montoya Team
Fontana, 2/21 Jeff Gordon Team
Las Vegas, 2/28 Martin Truex Jr. Team
Atlanta, 3/7 Martin Truex Jr. Team
Bristol, 3/21 Brad Keselowski Team
Martinsville, 3/29 Clint Bowyer Team
Phoenix, 4/10 Matt Kenseth Team
Texas, 4/19 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Team
Talladega 4/25 David Reutimann Team

###

David Reutimann - Richmond International Raceway Sprint Cup Series Preview

2010-04-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — The words “race shop” and “high school prom” are seldom found in the same sentence, unless of course you are talking about Michael Waltrip Racing. Hopewell High School, in nearby Huntersville, N.C., held its prom at Michael Waltrip Racing’s race shop in Cornelius, N.C., on Saturday, April 24. Nearly 700 students attended the Mardi Gras-themed event. (Pictures attached)

Michael Waltrip Racing shop employees began preparing for the special event late Friday afternoon. The crew cleared cars, equipment and tools then cleaned the shop before the Hopewell prom committee set up the decorations. Shop workers returned MWR to its normal working condition before the team began work Monday morning.

MWR hosted it’s first prom in 2009 for North Mecklenburg High School. In addition to high school proms, Michael Waltrip Racing has hosted a wedding on the catwalk overlooking the shop floor, wedding reception and a couple renewed their wedding vows with Michael Waltrip serving as the minister. MWR has also hosted two memorial services for local people, charity fundraisers, benefits and regularly hosts registration events for fishing tournaments on Lake Norman.

The prom will be the furthest thing from David Reutimann’s mind Saturday night when he races at Richmond International Raceway. Reutimann’s Aaron’s Dream Team pit crew earned its first Tissot Pit Crew Award Sunday at Talladega. It was MWR’s third Tissot Award of 2010 after the No. 56 crew earned the award in Atlanta and Las Vegas.

QUOTES

Dr. MARY LOUISE JONES - PRINCIPAL, HOPEWELL HIGH SCHOOL: “It is kind of unusual to have the Hopewell High School prom at a race shop, but Michael Waltrip Racing made a lot of sense to us. We normally have prom downtown Charlotte at a convention center, but wanted to have a space that was closer to the school and more convenient for the kids and their parents. We took a lot into account like parking and security. The race shop was very nice because it was big enough to accommodate our kids, have an area for dancing and an area for sitting and eating. I was impressed and the kids seemed to have a good time.”

REUTIMANN ON ATTENDING HIS OWN HIGH SCHOOL PROM: “I think I went to one and the only thing that remarkably sticks out in my mind is that I can’t believe that I did it cause I had to miss a race to go. That’s really the only thing that I can recall. I went, but I was miserable the whole time because I should have been and wanted to be at a racetrack.”

REUTIMANN ON THE TISSOT PIT CREW PIT ROAD PRECISION AWARD: “The Aaron’s Dream Team pit crew has steadily improved as the year’s gone on. They’ve been doing a good job, but to be honest I’m surprised they haven’t got it before now. That’s just how good they’ve been. I’m really proud of the guys and I know they work really, really hard on a lot of different areas to try and make things better. It’s really starting to pay off. I’m really proud of them and I’m sure it’s not going to be the last one they get this year.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• Michael Waltrip enters the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame Wednesday night joining notable inductees such as: Muhammad Ali, Tubby Smith, Adolph Rupp, Phil Simms, Johnny Unitas, Secretariat and other Bluegrass state heroes. Proceeds from the banquet benefit Kosair Charities. Tickets are $75 and may be obtained through Jo Barrett at Kosair Charities: (502) 637-7696, ext. 104. MWR cars will carry a special decal this weekend honoring Waltrip’s induction.

• Reutimann has finished 20th or better in five of the six races that he has been running at the finish in 2010—and 15th or better in four of the six.

• Aaron’s, sponsor of the No. 00, will give away an autographed hat to a lucky race fan through Facebook and Twitter following any top-10 finish. Follow Aarons on Twitter (@AaronsSports) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/AaronsSports).

• Aaron’s/Alabama Crimson Tide No. 00 Toyota Camry diecast cars available for purchase at any Aaron's store nationwide. Aaron’s stores throughout Alabama will host the Alabama National Championship show car and also have championship/racecar t-shirts and championship 9" plush Lucky Dogs for sale.

Aaron's, Inc. to Honor Armed Forces Foundation with Commemorative NASCAR Racecar at Charlotte

2010-04-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

ATLANTA, April 24 - Aaron's, Inc. announced today it will honor the Armed Forces Foundation (AFF) with a commemorative NASCAR racecar at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte during the upcoming race Memorial weekend, Sunday, May 30. The paint scheme will feature a patriotic red, white and blue design.

In addition to the custom paint scheme for the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 00 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota, driven by David Reutimann, Aaron's will also donate a minimum of $10,000 to the AFF. However, if Reutimann finishes in the top five at Charlotte, Aaron's will double the donation to $20,000. If Reutimann wins the race, Aaron's will donate $200,000 to the AFF.

"As a longtime partner of the AFF, Aaron's never fails to find new and exciting ways to show their support for the nation's military," said Patricia Driscoll, AFF President and Executive Director. "A NASCAR racecar adorned with the AFF logo will generate tremendous visibility for our program, delivering more impact in a single day than anything we have done in the past."

Aaron's COO, Ken Butler, said, "The work of the AFF is vitally important because it supports not only military soldiers, but also their families and the sacrifices they make every day. So to take this program a step further, Aaron's has partnered with the AFF to raise additional funds through a texting campaign. We're encouraging partners, customers and friends to text 'AFF' to 50555 and contribute $10 that will support our country's military and their families." The text campaign will run through the end of 2010.

The red, white and blue AFF racecar will be unveiled today before the Aaron's 312 race at Talladega.

David Reutimann - Talladega Sprint Cup Series Preview

2010-04-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Race fans attending the Aaron’s Dream Weekend at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend might yell out “Roll Tide!” as David Reutimann, driver of the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine, takes to the racetrack. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver’s No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine will sport the 2009 National Champions Alabama Crimson Tide logo on the hood and a crimson paint scheme to celebrate the University of Alabama’s victory over Texas in the college football BCS Championship game.

QUOTES

REUTIMANN ON UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP PAINT SCHEME: “I grew up in Florida, so I am pretty sure there are going to be some people I know that aren’t going to be real happy to see me in an Alabama Crimson Tide car, but I think it’s a pretty cool deal. I’m sure I’ll become a pretty popular driver this week—a lot of people who may not normally root for me will probably be cheering me on because of this paint scheme.

“Aaron’s does a great job with things like this. They have a Color Your Way to Talladega Aaron’s car for the Nationwide race with Trevor Bayne this weekend, a 55th Anniversary car that Michael (Waltrip) is driving and I’m driving an Alabama National Championship car this weekend. Aaron’s is always looking for new ideas and creative ways to have fun and Aaron’s Dream Weekend at Talladega is a lot of fun that is for sure.”

ELI GOLD, MRN BROADCASTER (BROADCASTER, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA FOOTBALL)
“Obviously, with Alabama winning the National Championship and Aaron’s as a partner this was a natural fit and a great opportunity to celebrate the accomplishment. As a matter of fact, last weekend the car was in Tuscaloosa (Ala.) when the Crimson Tide played their annual spring football game in front of a sold out crowd of more than 92,000, and when they brought the car out and fired it up it sounded as though Bama had won the national title again. The fans just couldn’t believe it and I think its going to be that same sort of reaction come this weekend when the Crimson Tide car, through the Aaron’s associated sponsorship gets out on to the racetrack. This has been a wonderful run for the Tide and this is a great way to cross promote to all the NASCAR fans that live in Alabama and those who will be coming to visit.”

ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AARON’S AND THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA: “The University of Alabama is tickled to have a nice relationship with the folks from Aaron’s and for Aaron’s to be so generous to allow the Crimson Tide colors and the National Championship logo on the car this weekend. That just shows you what kind of people they are. They are great folks who appreciate sports and appreciate the Alabama Crimson Tide.

ROBIN LOUDERMILK, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF AARON’S, INC.
“Aaron’s couldn’t be more proud that two of its partner universities were represented in this year’s national championship game. While Alabama clinched the title, Texas put up a tough fight making the game one of the most outstanding in BCS history. We are honored and excited to take Alabama’s triumph a step further with the opportunity to put this commemorative racecar in victory lane at our race this weekend in Talladega.”

LARRY MCREYNOLDS, TV HOST/FORMER CREW CHIEF
“Being from Alabama, and I’m careful with this statement, there is really only probably two big or major things when it comes to sports in Alabama, because there is no professional teams there. There’s no Major League Baseball team, no NFL team, no NBA team; so at the end of the day honestly its Alabama and Auburn football and racing at Talladega.

“When I cut myself shaving I promise you it’s Crimson red … it’s not regular blood red. Even though I’ve been gone from Alabama for 30 years I still live and die Alabama Crimson Tide football. Outside of racing it’s probably my next passion and my next love as far as sports.

“So I guess with knowing that’s the two biggest things in the state of Alabama when it comes to sports and then by virtue of Aaron’s and David Reutimann running the paint scheme recognizing the Crimson Tide’s National Championship from last year—to marry those two things together in one, which is kind of hard to do. How do you marry racing and college football together. To be able to do that with the Alabama paint scheme, I promise you—you have Dale Earnhardt Jr. when he hits the track to qualify or when he takes the lead on Sunday they are going to be ripping the grandstands apart as they do every week. But I’d be willing to bet if that No. 00 when he goes to qualify on Saturday or if he happens to take the lead—which is a good possibility considering how they ran at Daytona– I think you’ll probably see close to the same reaction as you’d get with Dale Jr.“

ON HAVING A FLORIDA NATIVE DRIVE AN ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE PAINT SCHEME: “I’ve already given (David Reutimann) a little bit of a hard time. It just goes to show me that there is hope. There is hope for people from Florida. That they really do truly indeed get it. I talked to David on Trackside Live a couple weeks ago about that."

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• The Aaron’s/Alabama National Championship program kicked off at the University of Alabama A-Day game on April 17 at Bryant-Denny Stadium where the racecar was unveiled and displayed prior to the football game.

• Aaron’s/Alabama Crimson Tide No. 00 Toyota Camry diecast cars available for purchase at any Aaron's store nationwide. Aaron’s stores throughout Alabama will host the Alabama National Championship show car and also have championship/racecar t-shirts and championship 9" plush Lucky Dogs for sale. (Aaron’s Alabama Crimson Tide Show Car Schedule Attached).

• Reutimann has six career starts at Talladega Superspeedway and has led a total of eight laps. Reutimann’s best start is fifth (2007-2) and finish is 20th (2008-1). He led six laps in his last appearance at Talladega. Reutimann retired due to engine troubles in two races (2007-1 and 2008-2) and a crash in one (2007-2).

• Aaron’s, sponsor of the No. 00, will give away an autographed hat to a lucky race fan through Facebook and Twitter following any top-10 finish. Follow Aarons on Twitter (@AaronsSports) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/AaronsSports)

Michael Waltrip Racing Phoenix Post Race Report

2010-04-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

· Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - finished 17th - now 19th in points.

· David Reutimann, No. 00 Best Western Toyota Camry - finished 20th - now 25th in points.

Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary: Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 00 NAPA Toyota team endured about everything that could ruin a Saturday night for a race team at Phoenix International Raceway. A slow start then a penalty along with an unscheduled pit stop plus contact with another car were some of the issues encountered by the Michael Waltrip race team. And that was just in the first half of the race. The team never stopped working on the car and enjoyed a relatively calm second half of the race until about 60 laps remaining. On a restart, Truex dropped from 12th to 22nd telling crew chief Pat Tryson he’d lost all forward bite. But, Truex rallied to climb to 15th in the closing laps. Truex survived the wild scramble in a green-white-checkered finish to cross the line in 17th. The result moved him to 19th in points.

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

Truex Jr. started 8th and finished 17th

Truex started slowly in the opening laps falling from eighth to 13th with a loose race car.

NASCAR sent him to the back of the field on lap 19 for entering pit lane too early dropping him to about 36th.

A loose wheel caused by a lug nut lodging between wheel and brake rotor forced an unscheduled, green-flag stop on lap 77 dropping Truex down a lap to 39th place.

The new tires enabled him to turn the quickest laps on the track over the long green flag run that followed.

Kurt Busch’s crash at lap 136—a few laps after the leaders pitted but before Truex pitted—allowed Truex to pit under caution and return to lead lap in 19th.

While running 14th, Truex and Brad Keselowski made contact on lap 198. Keselowski spun into the wall.

Truex then began a climb moving as high as 10th after a pit stop on lap 254.

Truex raced in 12th with 60 laps remaining, but on a restart he dropped to 22nd telling Tryson he had lost all of the car’s forward bite: “I can’t touch the gas.”

A caution with two laps to go saw the field come to pit lane and Truex move from 19th to 15th taking four tires.

Truex came home 17th after the final two-lap shootout.

TRUEX QUOTE: "We rallied back from adversity after having that loose wheel and had a top-10 finish going, but the handling really went away after our second to last stop. It killed us. I don't know what happened -- maybe we had a bad set of tires. We got ourselves back to 15th on the final stop, but it just didn't handle right. It's frustrating because this is one of my favorite tracks."

David Reutimann Race Summary: Except for a slight encounter with the turn four wall, No. 00 Best Western Toyota driver David Reutimann enjoyed a fairly quiet night at Phoenix International Raceway posting an 20th place finish. Like most of the 43-car field, Reutimann fought handling issues on the slippery, flat, mile oval. After starting 39th, Reutimann charged through the field climbing into the top 15. A punctured right rear slowed his progress midway through the race but the Florida native resumed his charge until the brush with the wall at lap 253 damaged the rear of his Camry. He stayed on the lead lap the remainder of the race climbing as high as 15th before a late caution forced a green-white-checkered finish. Reutimann crossed the finish line in 20th. The finish moves Reutimann to 25th in points.

David Reutimann, No. 00 BEST WESTERN Toyota

Reutimann started 39th and finished 20th

Reutimann looked to be one of the fastest cars on the track working his way in to the top 20 by lap 30.

A punctured right rear tire slowed his progress near the halfway mark and he fell to about 24th.

At lap 253 Reutimann spun and made contact with the wall causing body damage to the rear of his Toyota and dropping him to 26th.

He spent the rest of the race on the lead lap turning very competitive lap times climbing to 15th.

A caution with two laps to go saw Reutimann line up 17th for the green-white checkered.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: “We kind of had an up-and-down race. We started at the back and had to race really hard in the beginning. We made up a ton of spots early, but then the car kind of went away from us. We had a tire issue and that hurt us. There on the wreck I was just trying too hard to hang on to it and it just got away. My guys got it fixed and we were pretty good after that. That green-white-checkered cost us a couple spots.”

RACE NOTES:

Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Juan Montoya swept the top five spots.

A green-white-checkered jumbled the field at the end of the race and saw leaders Kyle Busch and Jimmie

Johnson line up seventh and eighth for the two-lap shootout.

Newman, who took only two tires on the pit stop, beat Jeff Gordon on the restart then held on to beat Gordon by .13 seconds and snapped a 77-race winless streak.

The race saw 20 lead changes among 13 drivers. There were nine cautions for 59 laps.

The average speed was 99.372mph.

Race promoters added 63 laps (now 375 laps/miles or 600 Kilometers) to Saturday night’s race to insure the final laps could be run under the lights. The race took 3 hours, 48 mins and 13 secs.

NASCAR allowed the teams an extra man over the wall to service the windshields because of all the bugs at the track.

NASCAR estimated the attendance at 70,000.

Aaron’s To Sponsor Michael Waltrip’s Return to Sprint Cup Racing

2010-03-10T19:44:00.000-08:00

Aaron’s To Sponsor Michael Waltrip’s Return to Sprint Cup Racing

Two-Time Daytona 500 Champ To Race PRISM’s No. 55 Toyota in Talladega

ATLANTA, GA. – In celebration of its 55th year, Aaron’s, Inc. will sponsor PRISM Motorsports’ No. 55 with driver Michael Waltrip in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway April 25.

Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 champion and former winner at Talladega, will return to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing with a long-time sponsor in Aaron’s and a long-time friend in PRISM co-owner Phil Parsons.

“This is cool. I’m ready to race again and Talladega is a place where I know we will be very competitive,” said Waltrip who owns four restrictor plate victories including a Talladega win in the fall of 2003.

Parsons said Waltrip was a natural choice for the Talladega high banks.

“Michael brings a tremendous amount of experience to our race team,” Parsons said. “He knows what he is looking for in our cars, in our race setups and what we need to do to make our team better on these types of tracks. Plus he’s a very dear friend and I’m excited we’re putting him behind the wheel. We’re going to Talladega with every intention of winning the race.”

Waltrip owns 760 Sprint Cup starts and finished 18th in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 14 in his lone 2010 start.

“Phil and (co-owner) Randy Humphrey are getting started at PRISM Motorsports and I hope I can help them move through the learning curve a little bit faster,” Waltrip said. “I think it is going to be a lot of fun. Talladega is some of the best racing in the world and I’m glad I’ll get to be part of it in the Aaron’s 55th Anniversary Toyota.”

“Having Michael Waltrip drive the No. 55 in honor of Aaron’s 55th anniversary celebration is special to everyone at Aaron’s.” stated Robin Loudermilk, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aaron’s, Inc. “There is no better ambassador for our brand than Michael and no better way to celebrate 55 years of offering quality home furnishings to our customers than having the No. 55 Anniversary Dream Machine racing at the front of the pack during the Aaron’s 499.”

Aaron’s Chief Operating Officer Ken Butler continued, “Talladega will mark the first time that Michael has driven for Aaron’s on the Cup side and we are thrilled to have him pilot this commemorative 55th anniversary paint scheme. We have a long history together and are glad we have the opportunity to support him in his second Cup Series start of 2010.”

This season Waltrip has devoted more time to ownership of Michael Waltrip Racing which fields Toyotas for David Reutimann’s No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine and Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS entry. In addition, Waltrip’s time is spent as an analyst on Showtime’s “Inside NASCAR” and SPEED’s weekly talent show “Fast Track to Fame” as well as joining Parsons as a television commentator in SPEED’s coverage of truck series races.

The Aaron’s 499 at Talladega is the only race Waltrip has planned in the 2010 season.

PRISM Motorsports will field the No. 55 for Waltrip and the No. 66 for Dave Blaney at Talladega. Since its inception in 2009, PRISM Motorsports has purchased race cars from Michael Waltrip Racing.

###

About Aaron’s, Inc.

Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE: AAN), the nation’s leader in the sales and lease ownership and specialty retailing of residential and office furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories, has more than 1,700 Company-operated and franchised stores in 48 states and Canada. Founded in 1955 by entrepreneur R. Charles Loudermilk, Sr. and headquartered in Atlanta, Aaron’s has been publicly traded since 1982. For more information, visit www.aaronsinc.com.

Michael Waltrip Racing - Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway - Post Race Report

2010-03-07T19:45:00.000-08:00

Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - Finished 27th - now 24th in points.

David Reutimann, No. 00 Mitsubishi Electric/Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Finished 40th - now 18th in points.

Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary: No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota was en route to a top-10 finish during Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but the first of two green-white-checkered-flag finishes took Martin Truex Jr. out of contention when he was struck by Mark Martin and Denny Hamlin on lap 332. Crew chief Pat Tryson gambled and kept his driver out on the final restart. However, the damage was too much for Truex to keep up the pace. He was forced to limp home in 27th place, after an impressive run that saw him race in the top 10 for the final 100 laps of competition.
Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota

• Ran in top-20 during the first half of the race as the car was “pushy loose”

• Final 100 laps saw the No. 56 come to life and charge into the top-10

• Was running sixth in the closing laps before being caught up in a wreck on lap 332 during the first of two attempts at a green-white-checker finish

• The No. 56 Toyota was damaged, but limped home 27th to finish the race

• The NAPA AUTO PARTS pit crew won the Tissot Pit Crew Precision Award for the second consecutive week.
• The NAPA team turned in all sub 13-second stops

TRUEX QUOTE: “Pat Tryson and the guys worked on the car all day and got my NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota in contention for a great finish. The restart on lap 331 got ugly and we did all we could to miss a wreck in front of us, but we got caught up in it. It’s a shame this happen to us. We deserved a lot better finish than what we actually got.”

“I have to hand it to my pit crew again. They were unbelievable on pit road. They won the Tissot Pit Crew Precision Award last week and they deserve it again.”

David Reutimann Race Summary: Tough luck spoils what was looking to be an outstanding day for David Reutimann and the No. 00 Mitsubishi Electric/Aaron’s Dream Machine. Reutimann started the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in ninth and experienced a difficult handling condition that dropped the No. 00 to the 26th position within the first 30 laps. When Reutimann came to pit road on lap 36 Rodney Childers called for several adjustments that made the car come to life on the restart. Reutimann soon found himself back among the top-10 and battling to crack the top-five on the restart on lap 164. Reutimann soon began to experience overheating which eventually ended his day prematurely.

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

• Reutimann started ninth and finished 38th

• Reutimann battled a handling issue that dropped him to 26th

• The No. 00 pit crew made adjustments under caution on lap 36 that helped the condition

• The No. 00 raced it’s way back through the field up to the sixth position by a restart on lap 164

• The No. 00 experienced overheating on lap 166 and retired from the race

• Today marked Reutimann’s first “Did Not Finish” since Oct. 5, 2008 at Talladega—the longest such streak in the Sprint Cup Series (44 races)
REUTIMANN QUOTE: “It’s just a real frustrating deal. We had a good Mitsubishi Electric/Aaron’s Dream Machine and we were starting to have a pretty good day. The car wasn’t where we wanted it at the start of the race, but Rodney Childers and the crew kept working on it and got it up into the top-10 and we were closing in on the top-five. It turned what could have been a great day into a very disappointing day.”

RACE NOTES:

• Kurt Busch won the Kobalt Tools 500 over Matt Kenseth in the second attempt at a green-white-checkered finish

• Kenseth, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Kahne and Paul Menard rounded out the top-five

• Kevin Harvick leads the point standings by 26 points over Matt Kenseth

• The race featured 11 cautions for 53 laps and lasted four hours

• NASCAR estimated the race attendance at 85,000

• The Sprint Cup Series is off next weekend and will return at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 21, 2010

David Reutimann Atlanta Interview - 2 of 2

2010-03-06T19:46:00.000-08:00

David Reutimann on keeping up with Atlanta track changes.

Michael Waltrip Racing - Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway - Post Qualifying Report

2010-03-05T19:48:00.001-08:00

David Reutimann posted the fastest lap of the two Michael Waltrip Racing Toyotas during today’s Coors Light qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga. He’ll line up ninth. Meanwhile, Martin Truex Jr. will start 19th. Sunday’s running of the Kobalt Tools 500 gets underway on FOX, PRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio 128 starting at 1 p.m. Eastern time.

Friday Recap

• David Reutimann, No. 00 Mitsubishi Electric/Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Qualified 9th
• Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - Qualified 19th
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Coors Light Pole Award for the KOBALT TOOLS 500 with a lap of 28.761
seconds, 192.761 mph
• Earnhardt's pole speed set a record for fastest in the new NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car. The
previous fastest was Jimmie Johnson's speed of 192.376 mph at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October
of last season.
• Kyle Busch will join Earnhardt on the front row.

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Mitsubishi Electric/Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Qualified: Ninth

Are you happy with your qualifying run?
“That’s about as much as we had. I think we picked up about seven-tenths so it was a pretty good pick up for the Mitsubishi Electric/Aaron’s Dream Machine. We gave up a little bit in one and two. We were pretty good in three and four but one and two we lost some. All in all it was a good effort for the guys. It’s not a pole but hopefully it will hold up for a top-10 and give us a good starting position and a good pit selection and all of the things we need for the race.”

Did you ‘bottom out’ during your qualifying run?
“Actually it got on the race track just a little bit but not as much as anticipated. Not only with the tape up on the nose but the track temperatures being down. We’re talking some guys picking up close to a second on lap time and if you pick up that much speed you’re going to have trouble getting on the race track. But it wasn’t bad. Rodney Childers (crew chief) and the guys did a good job anticipating what was going to happen so it was okay.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Qualified: 19th

How was your qualifying lap?
“It was okay. I thought we would’ve been a little bit better than that. I think a lot of the guys run 29 flat so we were just on the wrong end of that. I really have been pretty happy with the car all day especially in race trim so hopefully tomorrow will be great. I thought we’d have went a little quicker than that tonight. We had a really good run right at the end of practice but it was on an older set of tires. We probably just got the car a little bit too free for tonight.”

David Reutimann - Atlanta Open Interview

2010-03-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Mitsubishi Electric/Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing

What are your expectations for this weekend at Atlanta?

“This is a tricky race track. The tires fall off so quick because the track is pretty abrasive. It’s a constant adjustment on trying to get your car comfortable and to get it to do what you need it to do. We’ve got a pretty good Toyota Camry today. We have Mitsubishi Electronics on the car so I’m hoping if I sit on the pole that maybe they’ll actually give me a big screen TV or something like that. The car looks good and it’s a promotional deal that Aaron’s has done being that Mitsubishi has been their ‘Partner of the Year’ actually for the second year in a row. It’s something special that Aaron’s is doing putting them on the car, getting them some exposure and showing their appreciation for what they do for our program.”

Were the cars ‘bottoming out’ during practice in turns one and two?

“Yeah, the track is really, really fast. The temperatures are down so the track has got a lot of grip in it right now. In the meantime you’ve got more grip -- you guys know we run these cars so close to being on the ground anyway it doesn’t take much to put them over the edge. It’s a little bit different tire configuration and the track speeds being up and the track being rough in certain areas, the cars are getting into the race track pretty hard. Not only us, I think there’s a lot of other guys fighting the same things. When you have that going down the corner of the car, it gets in the corner in the splitter it hits the race track it just obviously moves up the race track and it’s hard to make any time. I spent the first half of practice trying to get the thing up off the race track, but the problem is you don’t want to get the car too high down the straightaway so you want to keep it low down the straightaways but you need to try to keep it off the race track through the corners in the rough spots. It’s a hard thing to do. And everybody says, ‘Well, if it’s on the race track we just raise the thing up.’ But it’s not that easy because you raise it up to get it through the corners and then it hurts straightaway speeds and then when you get into packing there’s less downforce, the car raises up more and I’m just glad I’m not a crew chief or engineer trying to figure all of that stuff out. I just come in and tell them either it’s hitting the race track or it’s not. It’s difficult. Again, most people think dragging the race track you just raise it up but you just can’t do that. There’s a lot more to it.”

Do you believe the cars ‘bottoming out’ will cause the track to break down like Daytona?

“I don’t think so. There’s probably a couple things that contributed to the Daytona surface breaking up. Probably the excessive amounts of water they had as well, leading up to it, and the colder temperatures. Not that it’s warm here. I don’t think we’re going to run into a situation like that. I think that’s something that might have happened even if the splitters weren’t pounded the race track. The thing about it is, at Daytona you can get away with that with our cars because the nose will come back up and you can make it on through the corner. Here, the speeds are so high and the g-loads are such that it really just slams the car in the race track and you hit the race track and it slides up there. I don’t think we got anything to worry about as far as tearing up the actual race track. Tearing up the race cars and being a little rough on the bottoms of them, that’s probably the only danger we got.”

Do you appreciate your success more considering how long you waited for your ‘break?’

“It may be a guy coming right out of high school and going Cup racing and doesn’t appreciate it maybe as much as a guy like me who’s done it a little differently. Nothing wrong with that. Trust me, I wish I would’ve been 18 years old, coming out of high school and had an opportunity to do Cup racing. I would’ve loved to have done that. Just wasn’t in the cards for me at the time. If you were 18 or 20 years old, or even mid-20s, you were too young. They wanted guys that were more seasoned because they didn’t tear up as many cars. Then Jeff Gordon shows up and all the rules changed. Everybody wanted a young guy because he was producing on the race track. You got a guy like Mark Martin, not saying I’m a Mark Martin, but when you’re out there racing that guy and he’s kicking butt, that makes you feel really good. It makes you feel like you maybe have a little bit of longevity. You never know. In the end, if you run well on the race track, they’ll probably keep you around no matter how old you get. Forty is the new 30, anyway. That’s what I’m going with.”

David Reutimann - Atlanta Interview 1 of 2

2010-03-05T19:47:00.000-08:00

David Reutimann on turning 40 and appreciating his Sprint Cup ride

David Reutimann Interview from NASCAR Now - March 3

2010-03-04T19:49:00.000-08:00

NASCAR.com's Dave Rodman takes the David Reutimann TUMS Challenge

2010-03-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

David Reutimann - Atlanta Sprint Cup Series Preview

2010-03-02T19:50:00.000-08:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Aaron’s Dream Machine driver David Reutimann hopes to continue his strong start to the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season this weekend when the series visits the ultrafast Atlanta Motor Speedway. Reutimann is well on his way toward meeting his preseason goal of securing one of the twelve sports in NASCAR’s “Chase for the Championship.” The Florida native is ninth in points after three races owning a fifth-place finish in the Daytona 500.

Sponsor Aaron’s operates 1,695 stores in America but is headquartered in Atlanta. This weekend, the No. 00 team sports a new paint scheme on the Mitsubishi/Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry to honor Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Inc their 2009 Vendor Partner of the Year.

QUOTES

REUTIMANN ON RACING AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “I like Atlanta Motor Speedway a lot. It’s a cool racetrack. It’s pretty abrasive, so it’s a little bit rougher on the tires. The cars slide around a lot and it can be pretty fun, especially if we have a pretty good Mitsubishi/Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota. The track is still really, really fast - it’s one of the fastest places we go. We’ve had some good runs there in the past. I was able to win my very first pole there in the truck series, which came in only my second start in that series during my rookie year. We went to Daytona and then Atlanta was the second race of the year at the time. It’s always been pretty special to me - I enjoy going back.”

CREW CHIEF RODNEY CHILDERS ON THE SEASON AFTER THREE RACES: “It’s going good so far. It’s been kind of like what we’ve planned. We haven’t set the world on fire, but we’ve just been trying to be real consistent like we did last year in the first five races to just put ourselves in a good position in points when Martinsville comes around. We’re trying to be top-10, top-15 every week. The pit crew is doing a great job and getting better every week. We’ve had good Toyotas. We have to do a little better at the racetrack, but so far it’s going good.”

KEN BUTLER, AARON’S, INC. CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER ON PAINT SCHEME: “Mitsubishi has been a terrific vendor for many years, duly earning our Partner of the Year distinction. Designing a custom Mitsubishi paint scheme for the Aaron’s Dream Machine is not only an exciting, but valuable means of showing our appreciation for the partnership. Both companies will undoubtedly be pulling for Reutimann to bring the Mitsubishi car across the finish line first at Aaron’s home track.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST
• Reutimann celebrated his 40th birthday on Tuesday, March 2.

• Reutimann has a streak of five consecutive top-15 finishes dating back to last season. The streak includes one top-five (5th, 2010 Daytona 500), two top-10s (Daytona and 10th, 2009 Phoenix-2), a 13th-place finish last weekend at Las Vegas and two 15th-place finishes (2009 at Homestead and 2010 at California-1).

• Over the last 10 races on 1.5 mile racetracks, Reutimann ranks fifth in total points (1,337) trailing only Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne. In that 10 race span, Reutimann has one win, two top-fives, three top-10s, collected two poles, led 46 laps and has an average finish of 11th with no finish worse than 20th.
• Reutimann currently has the longest streak of consecutive races finished without a Did Not Finish (DNF) at 44 races of drivers to start every race during that period. Reutimann’s last DNF was Oct. 5, 2008 at Talladega Superspeedway.
• Aaron’s, sponsor of the No. 00, will give away an autographed hat to a lucky race fan through Facebook and Twitter following any top-10 finish. Follow Aarons on Twitter (@AaronsSports) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/AaronsSports)

Michael Waltrip Racing - Las Vegas - Post Race Report

2010-02-28T19:52:00.000-08:00

• David Reutimann, No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry - Finished 13th - now ninth in points.

• Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPAGold Filters Toyota Camry - Finished 20th - now 21st in points.

David Reutimann Race Summary: David Reutimann continued his exciting start to the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season posting a 13th-place finish Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Added to his fifth and 15th-place finishes in the first two races, today’s finish moves the Michael Waltrip Racing driver to ninth in the 2010 points race. The TUMS Toyota never ventured far outside the top 15 throughout the 267-lap race on the 1.5-mile oval. A blazing pace set by the leaders saw Reutimann fall off the lead lap in the final 60 laps of the race. But a timely caution with about 40 laps remaining enabled the Florida native to claim the Aaron’s Lucky Dog and return to the lead lap. Reutimann and the No. 00 return to action Sunday in Atlanta.

David Reutimann, No. 00 TUMS Toyota

• Leader Jeff Gordon lapped Reutimann—who was tenth at the time he was lapped—on lap 211—only ten cars were on the lead lap at that point.

• He earned the Aaron’s Lucky Dog on lap 232.

• The No. 00 pit crew turned the second quickest time of all the cars pitting around the 200-lap mark.

• Sunday marked Reutimann’s 102nd Sprint Cup race. He finished fourth here in 2009.

• David Reutimann and the No. 00 TUMS Toyota were named the Mobil 1 Command Performance Driver of the Race

REUTIMANN QUOTE: “We just seemed to be off today. There were times we got the TUMS Toyota pretty decent but it seemed like track position was everything. The guys did a great job on pit road. We had some great pit stops. We worked on the car and made it better. We just couldn’t get up to where we needed to be. We’d give up something at the start of a run then gain it back in the end. At the end of the race, we didn’t have the amount of laps we needed to try to put together anything that would have been pretty good so we ended up 13th.”
Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary: Martin Truex Jr. battled a cooling track and some ultrafast competitors Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway before finishing 20th. Truex started at the back of the field after a mechanical issue hampered his qualifying run on Friday. He climbed into the top 15 but struggled to get his NAPAGold Filters Toyota to handle in the corners. He fell down a lap to the leaders on lap 170. He and Crew Chief Pat Tryson took some big swings to improve the handling throughout the race. Truex is now 21st in points.
Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA Gold Toyota

• Truex and Crew Chief Pat Tryson worked on the No. 56 NAPAGold Filters Toyota’s handling throughout the race.

• Truex battled in the top 15 most of the race but fell down a lap to leader Jeff Gordon on lap 170 while racing in 17th.

• The No. 56 regained lost lap by taking the wave-around pass with about 30 laps remaining and stayed on the lead lap for the duration of the race.

• Pat Tryson told the crew: “If you keep doing that on pit road each week we are going to win some races.”

• Truex said Las Vegas was the toughest track for him while next week’s track in Atlanta is his best.
TRUEX QUOTE: “It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either. Vegas is by far my toughest track so we’ll just keep working on it. We were just a little off all weekend. We struggled to find grip all day and then I’d get tight in the middle. My guys kept me up there. We were awesome again on pit road. Atlanta is one of my favorite tracks so we’ll rebound for sure.”
RACE NOTES:

• Jimmie Johnson passed teammate Jeff Gordon in the closing laps to win his second consecutive race.

• Kevin Harvick finished second and Gordon third followed by Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth

• Leaders lapped all but 12 cars in the first 200 laps.

• A caution with 35 laps remaining saw nine drivers take the wave around pass and get back on lead lap.

• Several drivers served pass through penalties for speeding on pit lane.

• Race experienced two cautions for malfunctioning caution lights. Track cooled throughout the race posing handling challenges to the race teams.

• The race featured 18 lead changes among nine drivers

• The race lasted approximately two hours, 50 minutes

• NASCAR’s estimated race attendance was announced at 150,000

Michael Waltrip Racing - Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Post Qualifying Report

2010-02-27T19:54:00.000-08:00

David Reutimann posted the fastest lap of the two Michael Waltrip Racing Toyotas during today’s Coors Light qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nev. He’ll line up 17th. Meanwhile, Martin Truex Jr. struggled during his attempt due to a mechanical issue. He’ll start 35th. Sunday’s running of the Shelby American 400 gets underway on FOX, PRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio 128 starting at 3 p.m. Eastern time.
Friday Recap

• David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Qualified 17th
• Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPAGold Filters Toyota Camry - Qualified 35th
• Kurt Busch established a new track record with a time of 28.614 sec./188.719 mph
• Jeff Gordon will join Busch on the front row.
• 18 drivers ran times faster than the previous track record
• The increase in speed is being attributed to a new Goodyear tire.

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 TUMS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Qualified: 17th

Were you happy with the way your car handled during qualifying?

“We were just tight. We didn’t get a really clean qualifying run (in practice) and that hurt us. You go out there not really knowing what to expect. The car was pretty good. I should have been able to run quicker that with it. It was a little bit too tight and we just really didn’t get that qualifying run in to be able to work on it, and let the car be up to its full potential. Overall, it wasn’t bad. It didn’t drive bad. This place is so fast it doesn’t take much to be off a little bit, as far as speed goes. This is kind of what we had.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPAGold Filters Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Qualified: 35th

How was your qualifying lap?

“The car was pretty good. We really had a good car all day. Just the ignition switch cut off on me coming to the green. So, that pretty much killed my lap. That’s pretty much it.”

David Reutimann's TUMS Challenge at the NASCAR Cafe in Las Vegas

2010-02-27T19:53:00.000-08:00

David Reuitmann - Las Vegas Sprint Cup Series Preview

2010-02-23T11:46:00.000-08:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — If 1.5-mile racetracks are the key to making the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship then David Reuitmann, driver of the No. 00 TUMS Toyota, has history on his side.

DID YOU KNOW: Over the last 10 races on 1.5 mile racetracks, Reutimann ranks second in total points (1,352) trailing only Jeff Gordon. In that 10 race span, Reutimann has one win, two top-fives, four top-10s, collected two poles, led 51 laps and has an average finish of 11th with no finish worse than 20th.

QUOTES

ON SUCCESS AT 1.5-MILE RACETRACKS: “I like the 1.5-mile tracks. I think our program is pretty good at those places - I think our program is pretty good everywhere, but if I had to pick out an area that we’re strongest at it would be the 1.5 mile racetracks. I look forward to going to those. They’re fast, a lot of those racetracks are really cool and multiple grooves for racing. I enjoy places like that.”

ON LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “I didn’t use to like the place at all. I never ran very good there. I qualified well there in the truck series and I’ve had some good runs going in the trucks and the Nationwide cars, but it seemed like we’d always have bad stuff happen. I just felt like it was one of those places that I couldn’t quite seem to get on the other side of. Last year I got my first top-five (in NSCS) at Vegas. We went through a lot of stuff that weekend too. We had to change motors. We had an oil leak early in the race that forced us to come down pit road to make a pretty big fix and lost all of our track position. We were able to come back from that and get a good finish and have a pretty good day. Right away when you have something like that happen it changes your outlook on the racetrack. So I wasn’t a big fan of the track to being with, but now I’m really looking forward to going back. It’s strange how one race can change that."

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

• Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 00 Toyota Camry is featuring new partner TUMS as the primary sponsor at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the first of five primary paint schemes this season. The No. 00 TUMS Toyota also will appear at Martinsville-1, Chicago, New Hampshire-2 and Phoenix-2.

• Last season at Las Vegas Reutimann qualified and finished fourth. The result led to Reutimann earning himself the nickname “The Franchise” at Michael Waltrip Racing - a tag that remains relevant as he sits eighth in series point standings - tops among MWR drivers.

• Reutimann is serving tables at the NASCAR Café inside the Sahara Hotel and Casino on Thursday, Feb. 25 starting at 6:30 p.m. The NASCAR Café features a six-pound burrito that has been featured on the travel channel show ‘Man vs. Food’. In addition, Reutimann will participate in a fan Q&A session and deliver samples of TUMS to restaurant guests.

• Reutimann currently has the longest streak of consecutive races finished without a Did Not Finish (DNF) at 43 races of drivers to start every race during that period. He is also one of only three drivers to finish every point race in 2009 - Juan Pablo Montoya and Casey Mears are the other two. Reutimann’s last DNF was Oct. 5, 2008 at Talladega Superspeedway.

• In 2009, Reutimann recorded his first NSCS win (Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway) and established career-bests in pole positions (two, Texas-1 and Dover-1) top-five (five) and top-10 (10) finishes and final championship driver point standings (16th).

• Reutimann is one of the five featured driver this week on DirectTV’s HotPass. HotPass, channels 795-798 on DirectTV, will focus on Reutimann throughout the race. In addition to the network broadcast, the channel broadcasts video from an in-car camera and both network audio and team radio.

Michael Waltrip Racing - California Race

2010-02-21T19:55:00.000-08:00

Michael Waltrip Racing drivers finished the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., as follows:

MWR NSCS Race Results
· David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Finished 15th now 8th in points.
· Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - Finished 39th now 20th in points.

NSCS RACE NOTES:
· Jimmie Johnson held off Kevin Harvick over the final 30 laps to take the victory by 1.523 seconds
· Jeff Burton, Mark Martin and Joey Logano rounded out the top-five
· Johnson’s win at Auto Club Speedway is his 48th Sprint Cup victory in 293 starts
· Johnson now matches Herb Thomas for 12th on the all-time win list
· The race featured 26 lead changes among 13 drivers
· The race was slowed by six cautions for a total of 30 lap
· The race lasted just over three and a half hours
· NASCAR estimated 72,000 people attended today’s race

MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING NSCS DRIVER NOTES AND QUOTES:

David Reutimann Race Summary:
The No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry charges into 2010 with back-to-back top-15 finishes to start the season. Reutimann and crew were impressive in the early going of the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. as he carried momentum from his 11th place qualifying effort from Friday afternoon. Reutimann raced as high as seventh on lap 38 before coming to pit road under green flag conditions. The No. 00 team removed a rubber from the right rear that caused Reutimann to report a tight-handling condition following the stop. The team struggled to return the car to winning form following the adjustment, but managed to continue a solid effort over the remained of the race. Reutimann battled over the last 30 laps to move from 18th into the top-15.

David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
· Started 11th and finished 15th
· Reutimann immediately moved into the top-10 as the race went green and was up to ninth by lap 7
· Lap 29, Reutimann reports minor damage to the right rear after a brush with the wall
· The minor damage caused the No. 00 to be “loose off”
· Reutimann came to pit road on lap 38 under green for four tires and fuel in seventh position
· The No. 00 was back in the top-10 by lap 42 and in ninth by lap 52
· Came to pit road under caution on lap 58 to repair right rear fender, four tires, fuel and removed a rubber out of the right rear restarted 18th on lap 61
· Caution flew again on lap 94 as Reutimann reported a tight handling condition and said the rubber needed to be replaced in the right rear. Reutimann restarted 20th on lap 98
· By lap 125 Reutimann was passing Joey Logano and Kyle Busch for 13th
· Lap 139, the No. 00 comes to pit road for two tires and minor chassis adjustments
· Reutimann brushed the wall again on lap 147, but reported no damage. He reported that the No. 00 would not run the bottom line.
· On lap 151 crew chief Rodney Childers reported rain in the forecast, but still about 50 miles out.
· On lap 167 the No. 1 car runs into the back of the No. 00 causing minor damage, but both cars continue
· Reutimann comes to pit road early under green on lap 180 for four tires and fuel—restarts 24th.
· Rain caused a caution on lap 197 as Reutimann was in 19th
· After a short rain delay the No. 00 restarts 16th and moved up to 11th by lap 206
· On lap 210 the No. 00 and the No. 12 start beating banging as they battle for 12th position
· Reutimann restarted 13th on lap 230, but struggled on the restart to fall to 18th, before working his way back up to 15th.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: "It's just disappointing. We started out OK in our Aaron's Dream Machine. For the better part of the day we were just okay. We made one adjustment there and the car just really, really didn't like it. That just got us behind a little bit. It just seemed like our car wouldn't get going on a restart. It was taking eight, 10, 12 laps for us to get going. A lot of the other guys were able to get out and get away from you. Overall I'd have to call today just a bit of a disappointment. I really felt like we were going to have a better car. We still have our Aaron's Dream Machine in one piece. Not a great finish, but an okay finish and now we'll go on to the next one."

Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary:
The opening laps of the California Auto Club 500 presented by NAPA saw Truex climb from 34th to 12th before the team’s first green-flag stop. However, just 64 laps into the event, the No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota suffered an engine failure. Truex, coming off of a top-10 run at Daytona was relegated to a 39th-place finish. He currently ranks 20th in the championship points standings.

Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota
· Started 34th and finished 39th after the engine expired on lap 64.
· Truex climbed to 15th by lap 24.
· Crew chief Pat Tryson informed his driver on lap 24 that he was the fastest car on the track.
· Truex, running in 12th, made contact with the wall on lap 46. The car was OK and Truex opted to bide his time as there was plenty of laps left in the race to challenge for the win.
· The NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota was competitive despite needing to turn better. It was tight in traffic, but neutral when Truex ran by himself.
· The No. 56 lost power on lap 64.
· Car owner Michael Waltrip encouraged his driver and told him that he saw quite a few cars hit the wall.
· Tryson said after the race, “We had a car that could’ve won the race. I’ve got myself a wheel man.”

TRUEX QUOTE:
“It’s really unfortunate for the NAPA Toyota. We had a really good car and had something to build on. My best year ever in NASCAR Sprint Cup, the same thing happened. We went to Fontana and blew up. Hopefully this will be good for us too because we have to look at the silver lining in all of this. The sport is too tough not to.

“The guys did a good job all weekend. I am really proud of Pat Tryson. To come from where we did on Friday with the race car was a big, huge improvement. We have something to work on. It is pretty disappointing after starting the way we did last week.”

DIAMOND-WALTRIP RACING NNS NOTES AND QUOTES:

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, finished 11th in Saturday’s Stater Bros. 300 NNS race. Bayne is now 24th in NNS championship point standings.

Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
· Started 10th and finished 11th
· Fought a tight-handling race car for the majority of the race
· A great pit stop by the over-the-wall crew on lap 121 allowed Bayne to pick of three spots on pit road
· Raced inside the top 14 for all 152 laps of the Stater Bros. 300
· Grabbed his 8th top-15 finish in only 17 NNS starts

BAYNE QUOTE: “At the beginning of the race we were a little bit tight so we made some good adjustments. We never got the front end turning any better but we just unhooked the rear where I could get it set in a little bit better. That was a good change. We found the high line late after following Brendan Gaughan and Carl Edwards and a couple people that really ran the top well. That rocketed us towards the front. The middle of the race we got on the top and ran down people in front of us by four-tenths of a lap. That was what set us apart in that center section of the race because we could make some moves to get up towards the front. That put us in position to get good pit stops and everything that followed. Very last stop, we were one of the first teams to pit for four tires and I thought we’d be digging to the front and I got trapped in the middle. The 88 (Kelly Bires) barely got his nose outside of us coming to the green flag and that just trapped us in the middle and we had to fight back. We got through turn two and had a big run but they got the high line and got back around us. We’ll take an 11th-place finish, especially after coming out of Daytona. Our Aaron’s Dream Machine is pretty in the garage, no marks on it so that’s a good thing. We can make our cars better because they’re not on a wrecker. We’ll come back next week and try to do even better.”

Waltrip Racing Stater Bros. 300 Qualifying Report from Auto Club Speedway

2010-02-20T19:56:00.000-08:00

NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying for the Stater Bros. 300 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. is now complete.

Diamond-Waltrip Racing’s Trevor Bayne and the No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry qualified 10th with a time of 40.568 seconds. Joey Logano won the pole position with a time of 39.717 seconds.

Saturday Recap
- Trevor Bayne will line up 10th on the outside of Row 5 for today’s event.
- This is Bayne’s first top-10 qualifying effort of 2010 and the 10th out of 17 career starts.
- MWR’s David Reutimann is entered in the No. 10 Beringer Toyota Camry for Braun Racing. Reutimann will start 11th on the inside of Row 6.
- Joey Logano won the Coors Light Pole Award for the Stater Bros. 300 with a lap of 39.717, 181.283 mph.
- This is Logano’s eighth pole in 43 NNS races.
- Kyle Busch, Brian Scott, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle round out the top-five.
- ESPN2, MRN and SiriusXM 128 will broadcast Saturday’s races beginning at 5 p.m. Eastern time.

TREVOR BAYNE, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry: “The Aaron’s Dream Machine was pretty good during qualifying. The sun came out when we got ready to hit the track so the track lost some grip. The car got a little tight coming off turn 4, but I think a top 10 starting spot will keep us from getting into trouble.”

Michael Waltrip Racing - Auto Club 500 presented by NAPA - Post Qualifying Report

2010-02-19T19:57:00.000-08:00

David Reutimann posted the fastest lap of the two Michael Waltrip Racing Toyotas during today’s Coors Light qualifying at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. He’ll line up 11th. Meanwhile, Martin Truex Jr. struggled during his attempt despite picking up from practice. He’ll start 34th. Sunday’s running of the California Auto Club 500 presented by NAPA gets underway on FOX, MRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio 128 starting at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

Friday Recap
• David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Qualified 11th
• Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - Qualified 34th
• Michael Waltrip Racing’s technical alliance with JTG Daugherty Racing saw Marcos Ambrose record the 26th-fastest lap.
• Earnhardt Ganassi with Felix Sabates Racing swept the front row. Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray turned in the fastest time of 39.18 seconds while Juan Pablo Montoya ran a 39.29.
• This marks the first time that Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates has claimed both front row starting positions.

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Qualified: 11th
How was your qualifying lap? “I'm pretty happy with how we qualified. We still have some work to do between now and Sunday on our race setup, but I'm happy with how the Aaron's Dream Machine qualified. Our Toyota wasn't han¬dling the way we wanted to in practice. We haven't quite figured out some things in the front end, so we have to do some work on that, but I'm sure we'll get it right by Sunday and be ready to go."

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Qualified: 34th
How was your qualifying lap? “We weren’t very good. It was too tight everywhere so in a way, that’s a good thing. We can fix it. We were tightest off of Turn 2 and in practice, I was spinning out. It’s been a struggle all day so we still have a lot of work to do. Hopefully, we’ll get practice in tomorrow so we can keep working on it.”

David Reutimann California Preview

2010-02-16T19:58:00.000-08:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — David Reutimann is off to the best start of his Sprint Cup Series career. Reutimann made a late race charge from 12th to fifth over the final two laps to secure his best-career finish in the Daytona 500. The fifth-place result is a career-best restrictor plate finish and sixth career top-five. This weekend Reutimann is racing in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

QUOTES

ON BEING THE FIRST DRIVER TO 100 CUP SERIES STARTS IN A TOYOTA CAMRY: “Wow, I’ve never really thought about it, but that’s really something to be proud of. All but one of my starts in the Cup Series has come in a Camry. We’ve definitely had our ups and downs since the beginning, but Toyota has always been a great partner for Michael Waltrip Racing and without them I don’t know if we’d be where we are today. We’re just getting started on our fourth-full season on the racetrack and we’ve all got a little better each year. I’m really hoping that this year is going to be my best year yet, because I know of at least one more thing that I’d like to be the first Toyota driver to do in the Sprint Cup Series - win a championship.”

ON CHARGING FROM 12TH TO FIFTH AT THE END OF THE DAYTONA 500: “I thought that was pretty great. To be honest it was all kind of a blur there at the end, but it was a pretty good run through the pack. We struggled a little on the last couple restarts and it seemed that I just couldn’t get in the right line at the right time and I was starting to get frustrated. Then right before the final restart Rodney (Childers) came over the radio and told me that Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. was either going to win the race or wreck the field trying, so stay on his bumper and let’s see what happens. That’s just what I did. I stayed on his bumper and pushed as hard as I could. Maybe if I’d pushed just a little harder Dale Jr. would be wearing a brand new Aaron’s hat this weekend as my new biggest fan.”

ON RACING IN CALIFORNIA: “Don’t get me wrong, I love Daytona and Speedweeks and everything that goes with that race, but it’s hard to tell who’s going to be fast once we take the restrictor plates off. The race in California is that first real test. When we show up at California on a two-mile racetrack to race and practice it’s when you start to see who put on their big boy pants and came ready to race. This race is also a big race for Michael Waltrip Racing, since Toyota Racing Development is based in Torrence, Calif. We want to show everyone that our Toyota Camry’s are going to be some of the best cars on the racetrack every single week.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

· Reutimann is making his 100th Sprint Cup start in a Toyota Camry this weekend at Auto Club Speedway - the most of any driver. Dave Blaney is second (98) and Brian Vickers is third (96).

· Reutimann has the most starts (259) in a Toyota (Camry and Tundra) since Toyota entered NASCAR competition in 2004. Reutimann has 99 Cup Series, 84 Nationwide and 76 Truck Series starts - and will add two more this weekend as he races double-duty in the Cup and Nationwide races at Auto Club Speedway.

· Reutimann’s fifth-place result last week is his career best in the Daytona 500 and restrictor plate finish. He was the highest finishing Toyota driver placing just ahead of MWR teammate Martin Truex Jr. who finished sixth.

· Aaron’s, proud sponsor of the No. 00, will give away an autographed hat to a lucky race fan through Facebook and Twitter following any top-10 finish. Follow Aarons on Twitter (@AaronsSports) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/AaronsSports)

· In 2009, Reutimann recorded his first NSCS win (Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway) and established career-bests in pole positions (two, Texas-1 and Dover-1) top-five (five) and top-10 (10) finishes and final championship driver point standings (16th).
· Last season, Reutimann ranked third in the NSCS in laps completed (10,408/10,492, 99.2%). Only Ryan Newman and Tony Steward (tied for the most at 10,468 laps) completed more laps. The No. 00 finished on the lead lap in 28 of the 36 NSCS point races and finished four races just one lap down in 2009.

Michael Waltrip Racing's Reutimann and Truex Jr. Finish 5th and 6th in Daytona 500

2010-02-14T19:59:00.000-08:00

Michael Waltrip Racing drivers finished the 52nd annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway as follows:

MWR Race Results
- David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota - Finished fifth.
- Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota - Finished and sixth.
- Michael Waltrip, No. 51 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota - Finished 18th.

NSCS RACE NOTES:
- Jamie McMurray won the 52nd annual Daytona 500 over Dale Earnhardt Jr. who drove from 10th to second in the final two laps.
- Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer and Reutimann rounded out the top five.
- Race ended after two attempted green-white-checkered finishes and ended on lap 207.
- NASCAR red flagged the race for and parked the cars on pit lane around the lap 123-mark for an hour and 46 minutes to repair about an 18-inch hole between turns one and two.
- A second red flag with about 40 laps remaining to repair the hole lasted 46 minutes.
- The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series now travels to Fontana Speedway for Sunday’s 500-mile race.

MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING NSCS DRIVER NOTES AND QUOTES:

Michael Waltrip, No. 51 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota
- Started 43rd and finished 18th.
- Waltrip dodged many accidents throughout the day suffering minor cosmetic damage on the front valence.
- The team worked on handling throughout the race.
- Waltrip reported his Toyota was tight and bouncing in the corners.
- Sunday marked two-time Daytona 500 winner’s 24th and possibly final Daytona 500.
- Waltrip hosted a pre-race hospitality event Sunday for 300 of the 500 Michael Waltrip Celebration ticket holders.

WALTRIP QUOTE: “I was just so proud of my race team today. There at the end I have to admit it was hard to pay attention to what I was doing when Martin and David were up there battling for the victory. I couldn’t be more proud. As good as they were today I think California will be even better. We kind of struggled today. The car was tight and it bounced the front end. But Bobby Kennedy and those guys just kept working and working and we were our best at the end of the race when it really counted. I enjoy driving the NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota today and thank everyone involved with our team.”

David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
- Started 20th and finished fifth.
- Best career Daytona 500 finish as well as first top-10 on the restrictor plate track.
- Restarted in the top-10 on the final restart and worked his way to fifth in a frantic final two laps.
- Aaron’s team came very close to running out of fuel but Reutimann conserved just enough to finish.
- Raced in 20th at halfway mark.
- Capt. Johnathan Hillstrand of the Alaskan fishing boat Time Bandit from the Discovery Channel’s reality television show “Deadliest Catch” attended Sunday’s race and told Reutimann that Phil Harris, captain of the Cornelia Marie, predicted Reutimann would win the Daytona 500 shortly before Harris died on Feb. 9. Reutimann’s Toyota carried C-post decal Sunday in honor of Harris.
- Sunday marked Reutimann’s 100th career start.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: “It was an up and down day. We weren’t the best we didn’t feel like at various times, but all in all the car drove good and the guys made good pit stops. We just kind of got up there when it counted. Our car liked the outside so we just kept pounding away on it. Low and behold in the end the bottom seemed to be better for us in that last little bit. It ended up working out. The guys did a good job with good pit stops and it’s a good way to start the season. Those restarts were just killing us toward the end and we couldn’t do anything right and I couldn’t get in the right line and things kept getting messed up. Thankfully we got the Aaron’s Dream Machine where it needed to be when it counted and it ended up working out pretty well and I had a good run coming to the start-finish. I’m real proud of my guys. I have to thank Aaron’s, Tums and Best Western, Toyota and Toyota Racing Development because we had some good horsepower today. Top-five is a good way to start the season out.”

Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota
- Started 14th and finished sixth.
- Ran in the top 10 throughout the race and posted best career Daytona 500 finish.
- Led with laps 148, 149 and lap 150 to collect five bonus points.
- Restarted second on the first green-white-checkered finish and briefly held the lead before Kevin Harvick nudged him high on the track dropping him a few spots.
- Told team the pit crew’s multiple 12-second stops are “what dreams are made of.”
- Sunday marked Truex’s and Crew Chief Pat Tryson’s first points race with Michael Waltrip Racing.

TRUEX JR. QUOTE: “It was wild, wild, wild. I had a lot of fun today with the NAPA Toyota. I’m proud of the team. The pit stops were amazing for our first race together. If I had to rate it, I would say it was an A++. I had a lot of fun. As for the multiple green-white-checkered finishes, it was what I expected. There were a bunch of tore up cars, but I am sure the fans got their money’s worth. There at the end there was a storm brewing all day and it seemed like every time we took a break our car got even better. It was a lot of fun and a really good race. I thought everyone did an excellent job. We raced super hard up front. The guys used their heads, but never crossed the line. That’s the most fun I have ever had in Daytona.”

MWR Gatorade Duels Race Report

2010-02-11T20:00:00.000-08:00

First Race:
Michael Waltrip finished 25th after an accident in the first of two Gatorade Duels at Daytona. He will start Sunday’s Daytona 500 in 43rd.

Second Race:
Martin Truex Jr. finished sixth and will start the Daytona 500 in 14th.
David Reutimann finished ninth and will start the Daytona 500 in 26th.

FIRST RACE NOTES:
Jimmie Johnson grabbed his first career Gatorade duel win by beating Kevin Harvick by .005 of a second.
Michael McDowell and Max Papis raced their way into the Daytona 500 by finishing 14th and 15th respectively.
Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer and Regan Smith rounded out the top five.

Michael Waltrip, No. 51 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota
Started 10th and finished 25th
Waltrip has two scary moments early while racing the middle line in the draft and worked his way to seventh by lap 4
Reported over the radio that the car was really pushy followed by real loose on lap 13. Raced in the top transfer spot by lap 17.
Came to pit road in 14th while under caution on lap 27 for major handling adjustments. Restarted 16th on lap 29.
No. 51 narrowly avoided the No. 46 car as it spun in front of him on lap 34 to bring out a second caution.
Stayed out during second caution and restarted 13, remains in top transfer spot with 25 laps to go.
Gets hung out of the draft on lap 37 to fall from 11th to 17th
Raced in 15th position with 10 laps to go, but followed closely by Reed Sorenson and Todd Bodine.
Spun and hit from behind by the No. 78 with seven laps to go causing damage to the front of the NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota when he hit the inside wall.
Scott Speed raced his way into the transfer position on the final lap of the second race. Speed’s performance enabled Waltrip to grab the final starting spot in the Daytona 500.

WALTRIP QUOTES

ON SCOTT SPEED RACING INTO THE DAYTONA 500:
“Scott, we're racecar drivers, and he did his job. I'm so grateful and thankful that it worked out. You know, obviously the teams that won the race were locked in, too. You know, people show up to race. Just because you're locked in doesn't mean you roll over or there wouldn't be a race. So I knew Scott would race. I knew he wasn't gonna think about quitting or give up. I'm just thankful that he had a car there at the end he could do the job with.”

ON SIX CARS BUILT AT MWR MAKING THE DAYTONA 500:
“Well, you know, six cars that we built in Cornelius at MWR that are in the 500. Prism racing with Phil Parsons, they're a customer of ours, as is Germain. Then our four cars there with Brad and Tad. You know, our customers that buy parts and pieces and cars for us made the race. So we got happy customers, and that's good for any business. You know, it's real important to be able to diversify and figure out how to bring money into the company in order to help pay the bills. We have great partnerships with the Germains, Max in the Geico car, and Phil and Randy Humphrey with Prism buy stuff from us, as well. I'm mostly proud of all that because there's a bunch of men and women, fabricators, engineers, that figured out how to make cars competitive for this place. So when those guys send us a check for the cars they bought, you know, it's gonna feel pretty good to them to know that we were able to provide them with stuff to have the success they did down here.”

ON THE EMOTIONS OF MAKING DAYTONA:
Well, I guess I've come to expect it a little bit. I know for some reason, for me, this place, it defines my career. It certainly is my first memories of NASCAR racing, was coming here as a kid. I figured when I woke up this morning I'd be crying before the day was over. I just didn't know if it would be because I was happy or because I was sad. And then I damn sure didn't know it would be both within an hour of each other. To be able to smile now, you know, it really feels rewarding because, you know, we took a part-time car, Bobby Kennedy, my buddy, who has helped me out so, so long, put a crew together and gave me a car on Saturday that we qualified fast enough to make the 500 with.”

ON SUNDAY:
“I was real disappointed today because my car didn't handle right. It didn't handle like it did yesterday. You have a pretty good gauge on if your car's like it was or not. That's the splitter. Yesterday, I was just scrubbing the splitter in a perfect way. Today it felt like it was a foot off the ground, and we didn't change anything. For some reason, the car just didn't go back to the ground like it was supposed to, and it wouldn't drive right. I think it eventually messed up my tires.

“So we'll regroup and figure out what David had, what Marcos had, what Martin had, put that setup into our cars. All three of those cars were really competitive. We seemed to be a notch off. We can't do what Penske or Hendrick cars or even Kasey's car did. So that's a little bit concerning. I know we've got a lot of smart people that will work on that and try to figure out how to get us some speed before Sunday.”

SECOND RACE NOTES:
Kasey Kahne won his first career Gatorade duel win by defeating Tony Stewart
Mike Bliss and Scott Speed raced their way into the 52nd Daytona 500 by finishing 13th and 14th respectively
Speed, racing his way in, opened the door for the fourth-fastest qualifier on time — Michael Waltrip
Michael Waltrip makes the Daytona 500 for the third time since 2007 without a guaranteed starting spot.
The No. 51 is also the seventh MWR car since 2007 to make the field without a guaranteed starting spot.
Six Toyota Camry’s associated with Michael Waltrip Racing will now race in the Daytona 500.

Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota
Truex started 17th and climbed to 9th in the first ten laps.
Truex reported his car was very loose over the bumps and the entry was ‘wild’ up top midway through the race.
The first caution of the race on lap 27 Truex raced in 13th - the crew made air pressure adjustments during stop.
The No. 56 restarted 8th on lap 30.
Truex came close to getting to the front three times but was shuffled back.
The No. 56 battled in the top-10 with 10 laps to go and finished sixth.

TRUEX QUOTE: ““It was a lot of fun. The NAPA Toyota was really good. It was much better than it was in practice. We got to the front a few times – got shuffled back. Would get to the front again and get shuffled back. I was about three or four inches a few times from getting that hole that I needed to get to the front and stay there. It was a lot of fun. I learned a lot. The pit crew was phenomenal. Our pit stop was smoking fast so I was excited about that. We’ve got something to work with for Sunday now.”

WERE YOU ABLE TO GAIN SOME DRAFTING PARTNERS FOR SUNDAY’S RACE?
“A few, but at the end everybody just does what’s best for them. Tried to work with Marcos (Ambrose) and David (Reutimann) a little bit. It seemed like every time we would get near each other, we were in bad positions to help each other. Either they had a run coming and I couldn’t get with them or I had a run coming and I couldn’t push them. I had to go by them because I was coming so fast. It was good, the car was good. Made a lot of changes last night that made it a whole bunch better than it was yesterday – that’s encouraging. I think we’ll be even better for Sunday.”

David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
Reutimann, in a backup car, started at the rear of the field and quickly worked his way to 12th in the first 10 laps.
Reutimann climbed to 10th by the lap 28 caution.
Reutimann reported that the car started slow, but was fast on the bottom later in the run.
The Aaron’s Dream Machine pitted for four tires, fuel and returned to the track in 12th.
The No. 00 Toyota needs work on sucking up in the draft.
Reutimann, Truex and Marcos Ambrose drafted together several times during the race.

REUTIMANN QUOTE: “That was a big race for Michael Waltrip and Michael Waltrip Racing. Congrats to Michael and the No. 51 NAPA guys! I know it means a lot to Michael and to NAPA for the No. 51 to get into the show. Daytona has played such a big part in his career and I know that he didn’t want to go out like that, so I know there is a big sense of relief on their part.

The Aaron’s team also did a great job. Our car wasn’t as good as we’d have liked starting out, but it kept getting better during the longer runs. We need to work on our Camry a little to make sure that we can get it to suck up in the draft to the car in front of it, but I’m sure we’ll get that fixed up and be ready to race on Sunday.”

DAYTONA 500 Starting Lineup (UNOFFICIAL)
1 Mark Martin
2 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
3 Jimmie Johnson
4 Kasey Kahne
5 Kevin Harvick
6 Tony Stewart
7 Kyle Busch
8 Juan Pablo Montoya
9 Clint Bowyer
10 Kurt Busch
11 Regan Smith
12 Elliott Sadler
13 Jamie McMurray
14 Martin Truex Jr.
15 A J Allmendinger
16 Marcos Ambrose
17 Ryan Newman
18 Matt Kenseth
19 David Ragan
20 Joey Logano
21 Jeff Gordon
22 Brian Vickers
23 Greg Biffle
24 Brad Keselowski
25 Denny Hamlin
26 David Reutimann
27 Carl Edwards
28 Mike Bliss
29 Michael McDowell
30 Scott Speed
31 Max Papis
32 Paul Menard
33 John Andretti
34 Robby Gordon
35 Travis Kvapil
36 Sam Hornish Jr.
37 Robert Richardson
38 Boris Said
39 Jeff Burton
40 Bill Elliott [PC2]
41 Joe Nemechek
42 Bobby Labonte [PC1]
43 Michael Waltrip

Results Race One
FIN DRIVER
1 Jimmie Johnson
2 Kevin Harvick
3 Kyle Busch
4 Clint Bowyer
5 Regan Smith
6 Jamie McMurray
7 A.J. Allmendinger
8 Ryan Newman
9 David Ragan
10 Jeff Gordon
11 Greg Biffle
12 Denny Hamlin
13 Carl Edwards
14 Michael McDowell
15 Max Papis
16 John Andretti
17 Todd Bodine
18 Joe Nemechek
19 Travis Kvapil
20 Terry Cook*
21 Mark Martin
22 Bill Elliott
23 Robert Richardson Jr.
24 Reed Sorenson
25 Michael Waltrip
26 Jeff Burton
27 Jeff Fuller

Results Race Two
FIN DRIVER
1 Kasey Kahne
2 Tony Stewart
3 Juan Montoya
4 Kurt Busch
5 Elliott Sadler
6 Martin Truex Jr.
7 Joey Logano
8 Marcos Ambrose
9 David Reutimann
10 Brian Vickers
11 Matt Kenseth
12 Brad Keselowski
13 Mike Bliss
14 Scott Speed
15 Paul Menard
16 Casey Mears
17 Bobby Labonte
18 David Gilliland
19 Robby Gordon
20 Derrike Cope
21 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
22 Aric Almirola
23 Dave Blaney
24 Mike Wallace
25 Norm Benning
26 Sam Hornish Jr.
27 Boris Said

Michael Waltrip - No. 51 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota - Daytona 500 Preview

2010-02-03T05:12:00.000-08:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Michael Waltrip hopes to finish like he started with longtime sponsor NAPA AUTO PARTS at Daytona International Speedway by winning his third Harley J. Earl Daytona 500 trophy. Entering his 25th year as a driver, Waltrip is scaling back his schedule but figures they’ll be more trips to victory lane as he is one of the youngest multi-team owners in NASCAR.

QUOTES

WALTRIP ON RUNNING BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT: “We have had a lot of success at Daytona and for this year’s Shootout; I am going to get to work with our new crew chief of the NAPA Racing team Pat Tryson. Rodney Childers will also be on the pit box making it a collaboration since David (Reutimann) did not qualify for the event.

“It means the world to me to have all the support and effort of everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing to give me a Toyota that I can win with. The Budweiser Shootout is a great opportunity to put NAPA in victory lane. It is also an opportunity to learn and be in better shape so that one of our Toyotas has a shot at going to victory lane for the Daytona 500.”

WALTRIP ON DAYTONA: “When I was a kid growing up, Daytona was the only track I really knew. It was the most important track. To me, it defines NASCAR and driver careers. If you can go down there and win. There is no other race more prestigious to win than the Daytona 500. Fortunately for me, I have been able to do it and do it more than once.”

WALTRIP ON EXPECTATIONS FOR MARTIN TRUEX JR.: “I expect him to win races and contend for a spot in the Chase. I think we have put together a very exciting line up for the No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS team. Martin knows how to win and is a two-time Nationwide Series champion. He’s been in the Chase. He’s always been fast. I remember the first day he showed up at Rockingham. Dale Jr. told me that Martin was his guy. I had never heard of or seen him before. He got in the Nationwide Series car and was running as fast as anyone out there. That’s the way his whole career has been. He was fast from the beginning and I expect he’ll do the same in the NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota.”

WALTRIP ON NOT RUNNING A FULL SEASON IN THE SPRINT CUP SERIES: “I’m going to run Daytona -- the Shootout and the 500 -- and that’s the only Cup races I have planned for 2010. I’m comfortable with that. When I think about going to Daytona, I get excited because I know that I know how to win that race. I finished seventh at Talladega this past October and seventh in the Daytona 500 last year. I know I can go win that race and that makes me smile. When I think about California and Vegas, I just haven’t performed at the level that makes me say, ‘I’m going to go out there and do the same thing.’ I don’t miss that, I’m okay with that.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

· The NAPA AUTO PARTS driver will be competing in his 760th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race when the season opener of the 2010 Sprint Cup season, the Daytona 500, gets underway at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) in Daytona Beach, Fla.

· He will be starting in his 47th race at Daytona International Speedway. His best start is second (Feb. 17, 2008, July 3, 2004) and best finish is first (Feb. 18, 2001, July 6, 2002, Feb. 16, 2003). During his career, Waltrip has earned three wins, six top-five and 13 top-10 finishes at DIS. His average start at is 17th and his average finish is 21st.

· Waltrip is one of only eight drivers to win more than two Daytona 500 titles.

David Reutimann - No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota - Daytona 500 Preview

2010-02-02T14:01:00.000-08:00

CORNELIUS, N.C. — David Reutimann and the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota are heading to the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway for the 52nd running of ‘The Great American Race’ the Daytona 500. Reutimann and team know a Daytona 500 win would help make the statement that Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) is a force to be reckoned with in 2010.

QUOTES

REUTIMANN ON 2010 EXPECTIONS: “I think it’s a blessing and a curse. Early on, it was like ‘Wow, the 00 car finished in the top-10.’ That was a big deal. I noticed toward the end of 2009 if we were running in the top-10, it was like ‘Good job.’ They expected that. That’s how it should be, they should expect that. A bad race for you needs to be a 12th-place finish, that needs to be a bad day and anything else than that needs to be a miserable day. That’s how you have to do it, because that’s how the guys in the Chase are doing.”

REUTIMANN ON SELF-POLICING DRIVERS: “As a rule, you try to take pretty good care of drivers

around you. You try to take care of one another. Sometimes, you mess up and you don’t take very good care of them. The main deal, -- what you have to do is put some of the responsibility back in the driver’s hands and try to look out for one another a little bit. NASCAR was in a no-win situation with those rules anyway -- they couldn’t win. At the end of the day, if one driver runs over another one, then that guy is mad at the other guy, but at least they’re not mad at NASCAR. The fans are asking for this, they’re asking for less policing of the racing and I think NASCAR is listening. I don’t think any other sport can say they’re doing this. There is no other major league sport that listens to the fans the way NASCAR does and makes changes. They asked for double-file restarts -- they got it. There’s a lot of things they’ve asked for and I think NASCAR is trying to accommodate them.”

TEAM OWNER MICHAEL WALTRIP ON REUTIMANN’S 2010 OUTLOOK: “I believe that David

(Reutimann) will win races and contend for the Chase. That’s really all you can ask for. It’s really hard to predict that Kyle Busch or Mark Martin could do any better than that. To win a couple races and be a contender for the Chase, unless you’re the Hendrick dynasty, is a bold statement. And I’m comfortable making a bold statement.

“I remember in the closing laps at Texas (Motor Speedway) just a couple months ago when David was racing for the win late in the going. That showed the progress the Aaron’s team made throughout the 2009 season. The progress that David has made the last couple years is amazing. He knows his Aaron’s Dream Machine. He understands his car. He’s a great race car driver and now we’re continuing to provide them with better Toyotas and pieces and parts to race with, so I expect a lot out of him.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

Reutimann is making his 100th start in a NSCS points race in the 2010 Daytona 500.

In 2009, Reutimann recorded his first NSCS win (Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway) and established career-bests in pole positions (two, Texas-1 and Dover-1) top-five (five) and top-10 (10) finishes and final championship driver point standings (16th).

Last season, Reutimann ranked third in the NSCS in laps completed (10,408/10,492, 99.2%). Only Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart (tied for the most at 10,468 laps) completed more laps.

The No. 00 finished on the lead lap in 28 of the 36 NSCS point races and finished four races just one lap down in 2009 .

Reutimann currently has the longest streak of consecutive races finished without a Did Not Finish (DNF) at 41 races of drivers to start every race during that period. He is also one of only three drivers to finish every point race in 2009 - Juan Pablo Montoya and Casey Mears are the other two. Reutimann’s last DNF was Oct. 5, 2008 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Crew chief Rodney Childers will team with Reutimann in 2010. Childers also served as crew chief of the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota for the entire 2009 season.

Sirius XM listeners can tune into channel 128 every Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. to hear Reutimann’s weekly visit on Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody throughout the 2010 season.

Notes & Quotes - David Reutimann MWR Media Tour Event - January 20,2010

2010-01-21T14:16:00.000-08:00

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing

What are your thoughts about the 2009 season and your first Sprint Cup Series win?

“I think we turned a lot of major corners and overcame a lot of major hurdles to actually get to that point. I’ve still got some work cut out for us, but I feel really good about what we have going on at Michael Waltrip Racing. With the progress we made last year, we just need to keep making that kind of progress and those kind of strides to get us a little bit better.”

What has changed to give you confidence as a driver?

“I think we continue to refine our cars -- our cars made all the difference for us last year. There were a lot of different things, but our cars -- we showed up with a better piece when we unloaded. That in itself was a major, major difference. It’s not like we got done at the end of the season and covered them up. They’ve gone back, they’ve cut things apart and redone things. They’ve reworked the front clips and done different things to continue to make the cars lighter, which is always a struggle. I feel like with the engineering support we’re getting from within and from Toyota Racing Development (TRD) -- again, TRD has given us more horsepower and that’s always a plus. With the addition of Pat Tryson (Martin Truex Jr.’s crew chief) and Martin Truex (Jr.) bringing a whole new perspective to our organization and looking at things a little differently, I feel like we’re a little bit farther ahead. Plus, on top of that -- every year since I’ve been Cup racing I haven’t had the same crew chief the following year -- this year I have Rodney Childers, so we won’t have to try to figure each other out like I have in the past. I’m welcoming that -- it’s going to be a nice change.”

Will it be different without Michael Waltrip on the track every week?

“Michael (Waltrip) still wants to race. If Michael gets in the right situation, he can still win races, hands down, no doubt in my mind or anyone else’s in this organization. Hopefully, he’ll be able run the races he’s going to run this year and more, be able to accelerate and add some more sponsorship to run more races. It feels weird knowing -- that when we’re all out at California that Michael Waltrip probably will not be in the field with us, that’s a little bit different but hard to take because Michael is my buddy and he’s been awfully good to me and treated me awfully well. I want to see him happy. I know it was his decision to step back, but I know he’s going to miss it and we’re going to miss having him there.”

What do you think about NASCAR saying they’re going to let you guys drive?

“As a rule, you try to take pretty good care of drivers around you. You try to take care of one another. Sometimes, you mess up and you don’t take very good care of them. The main deal, -- what you have to do is put some of the responsibility back in the driver’s hands and try to look out for one another a little bit. NASCAR was in a no-win situation with those rules anyway -- they couldn’t win. At the end of the day, if one driver runs over another one, then that guy is mad at the other guy, but at least they’re not mad at NASCAR. The fans are asking for this, they’re asking for less policing of the racing and I think NASCAR is listening. I don’t think any other sport can say they’re doing this. There is no other major league sport that listens to the fans the way NASCAR does and makes changes. They asked for double-file restarts -- they got it. There’s a lot of things they’ve asked for and I think NASCAR is trying to accommodate them.”

Have you gotten over the disappointment of not making the 2009 Chase?

“Yes and no. If you look back at it, you’re really disappointed in the way things went. But, at the same time, it’s a new year, new season with some new sponsors on board, you have to put that kind of stuff behind you. For me it’s difficult because we came so far and accomplished so much. Getting in the Chase and running well would have been a really good end to the year to come as far as we did, but it didn’t work out for us so now it makes you that much more hungry to go out there and try to do what we were supposed to do last year.”

What do you think of possibly adding a spoiler back to these race cars?

“I think it’s probably a step in the right direction. I think it’s a positive. Nobody really knows how it’s going to make the cars feel or handle. We’ll have an opportunity, I’m sure to maybe test a little bit -- I don’t know this for a fact, but I would think NASCAR would let us go to a mile-and-a-half race track and try it. Get a little bit of a head start on what it’s going to be like. They’re not just going to throw us out there and say, ‘Okay, we’re changing the wing, see what happens.’ They’ll have a good idea about how the car is going to act and we’ll have a better idea when we go to the first race. I feel like it’s going to be a good addition.”

What areas do you need to improve upon for 2010?

“Pit road, there were times we struggled on pit road and lost a lot of time. You know how hard it is to make it up. That hurt us some. Me, as a driver, me personally making mistakes, that certainly hasn’t helped us. There’s sometimes that the feedback with Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and I -- I was asking for something and he didn’t quite understand how much I was asking for. That’s all part of having a new crew chief. We finally got past that. There were sometimes when our communication wasn’t what it was, not because he wasn’t listening to me or I wasn’t speaking clearly, but when I’m yelling and it’s loose, sometimes Rodney would make a small adjustment when he needed to make a big one or sometimes it would just be the opposite. That all comes down to him getting to know me as a driver and knowing what I’m saying when I’m saying it. When you talk about Chad Knaus (Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief) and Jimmie Johnson, Chad can probably tell by the tone of Jimmie’s voice how much he needs. Rodney and I hadn’t had that opportunity yet. Now, for the second year, we’ve got that. We had meetings during the off-season, we talked about a lot of things we could have done better. Rodney did a phenomenal job. If I had my choice to go down pit road and pick anyone, I’d still pick Rodney Childers -- he's the right guy for me.”

How much will Martin Truex Jr. and Marcos Ambrose push you to be better?

“They will push me a great deal. It’s very important to have teammates that push you. You want competition within, but you don’t want the competition to undermine what you’re trying to build. You have those deals where Marcos (Ambrose) is trying this or they’re doing this, that or the other thing. You want to do it a little bit better, you want to step up your game. It’s important to have it within your organization -- drivers that challenge one another to get better. Also, at the same time, having drivers that try to help, i.e., Marcos Ambrose tried to help me on the road courses. The guy spent a lot of time with me trying to help me do things. Hopefully Martin (Truex Jr.) will also help me, I think he will. There are situations where I can help those guys. If we do that, then at the end of the day we could be one, two, three -- as long as I’m the guy that’s in the one spot, I’ll be happy in that area.”

How has Toyota progressed since entering NASCAR?

“Since I’ve been driving in a NASCAR series, I’ve basically never been with anybody but Toyota. I’ve been with them since their first race and testing the Truck to Nationwide to Cup. I’ve been with Toyota the whole way and seen the growing pains. We had part failures and have all those things that you have as you’re growing and building a program around something. It’s been neat to see the persistence that they’ve had and the work ethic that they’ve had. Motor engineers and the guys that build the motors, coming and sitting down with you and explaining to you what they’re doing and what they’re doing to rectify a situation. I don’t think any other organization has that. Toyota is very in the forefront. They don’t make a lot of noise, but they keep you informed and always refining things. Those guys never, ever quit. Every time you look at a Toyota motor, something seems to be moved or different, trying to get the weight lower and do all the things they do. They’re always thinking about what to make, how to make their mouse trap a little bit better.”

Were you apprehensive to start with a company like Toyota?

“I think a lot of people don’t realize that Toyota is a very American company. If you’ve been on tour with them, and been to the truck plant in (San Antonio) Texas and the places in (Georgetown) Kentucky, where you can see it’s basically a big part of the fabric of America. Going in, NASCAR fans don’t like change a whole lot. They like the same thing -- they like what they’ve seen for a lot of years. I think there was some resistance early on. In the Truck series I noticed a little bit and as time has gone on, I think fans realize that Toyota is not trying to take over. They’re just trying to race and be a part of the program. NASCAR has allowed them to do that. I think they, and us at Michael Waltrip Racing, are happy to be a part of it.”

Do you review your races on tape or do you have a photographic memory?

“Sometimes we do watch the races, but for the most part we have a pretty good idea where things weren’t going like they should have and where we did things wrong and should have done them different. We generally go over those things in the Monday morning meetings, when things are still pretty fresh or sometimes on the plane flight home. Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and I will sit together and (say) ‘This is what happened, this is what I was feeling when we changed that and it didn’t help. We went in the wrong direction.’ Rodney just writes things down and the next time we go back, you don’t make the same mistake if you did make a mistake. Sometimes you just try things and it doesn’t work. It’s not necessarily a mistake. It’s just the car didn’t react to it.”

What do you think about the addition of Pat Tryson to MWR?

“I think it’s important for any organization, a multi-car organization, to have drivers that challenge one another. We have Marcos Ambrose who is a separate team, but the same thing, we all work extremely well together so it’s just like he’s a teammate, because he is. I think it kind of raises the bar, so to speak, and I think the main thing is having a different crew chief that will look at things a little differently and Pat Tryson has won races with a lot of different kind of drivers, drivers with different backgrounds and mentalities. He gives a whole, fresh look to our organization and I think that helps us look in a different direction and find speed where we weren’t looking before.”

What do you think about Marcos Ambrose?

“That guy is phenomenal. Marcos Ambrose is just a talent. Everybody says he’s a road course guy, but you take him to Bristol and he runs good. You don’t just take anyone to Bristol and they run well, that’s a tough race track. He does good at the speedways. The road courses, obviously he’s one of the guys to beat. He’s very, very close -- it wouldn’t surprise me to see Marcos Ambrose win some races this year. It wouldn’t have surprised me last year, the way he was running. He’s an extremely talented guy and I learned a lot from him.”

What do you think of the progress Toyota has made?

“The thing that can be aggravating about the process is that sometimes it’s slow because they are so methodical about testing things. They want zero failures. They’re not going to give us something -- even though you hear about this new cam configuration or whatever it is they’re working on, it’s going to be better but they won’t give it to you until it’s been tested thoroughly. As a driver, you’re like ‘Wow, that’s going to be better, give it to me like now. It’ll be okay.’ That’s the mentality you have, that’s not Toyota mentality. They want zero failures when it rolls out there. That’s what you get. When you get something, it’s been proven to produce and perform or it won’t go on the race car. That’s just how they do it.”

What do you think of racing in Daytona?

“I love it because I consider that to be my home race track. Being from Florida and going over and watching races and being part of that. Early on I was trying to figure out how I was going to get from the stands to the infield without having to jump a fence or hide in someone’s trunk. That was pretty unique. I love going to Daytona -- that place is very special to me. It’s a tough old race track. It’s not the most forgiving place you go to, but it definitely has character and is one of the more cool places we go.”

What do you think of the expectations others have for your season?

“I think it’s a blessing and a curse. Early on, it was like ‘Wow, the 00 car finished in the top-10.’ That was a big deal. I noticed toward the end of the year if we were running in the top-10, it was like ‘Good job.’ They expected that. That’s how it should be, they should expect that. A bad race for you needs to be a 12th-place finish, that needs to be a bad day and anything else than that needs to be a miserable day. That’s how you have to do it, because that’s how the guys who are in the Chase are doing. That’s what the 48 (Johnson) is doing. Jimmie Johnson ran 12th one day and you would have thought that was the worst thing that ever happened. It wasn’t that long ago I would have been doing a back flip, an impression of Carl Edwards after finishing 12th. It’s kind of strange how your perspective changes as you have more success.”

When was the first time you dreamed of winning the Daytona 500?

“I can probably remember running my first go kart and thinking about winning at Daytona. I was probably around six or seven years old thinking about that. My dad was a dirt car racer, so all I wanted to do was be like my dad. Daytona seemed like, although it was only a couple hours down the road, it seemed like an awful long way away.”

When did you feel you could someday win the Daytona 500?

“Not until I sat there and strapped in for my very first Daytona 500. In the Truck Series and Nationwide Series I got to race at Daytona, but the Daytona 500, that’s something altogether different. Going down there and having to qualify in and do all those different things. Even when we made it in the show, this still doesn’t feel real until they give the command to start engines. ‘We’re going to at least start the Daytona 500. We don’t know what else is going to happen, but we’re at least going to start it.”

BEST WESTERN AND MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING IN SEARCH OF STOCK CAR RACING’S FIRST-EVER “OFFICIAL TWEET CREW TEAM”

2010-01-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

Three Internet-Savvy Race Fans Will Be Selected to Travel to Phoenix for the April 10 Race and Serve as David Reutimann’s Team of Twitter Correspondents

CORNELIUS, N.C. (January 21, 2010) – The World’s Largest Hotel Chain®, Best Western, has teamed up with Michael Waltrip Racing to conduct a national job search for stock car racing’s first-ever “Official Tweet Crew Team.” To help kickoff the 2010 racing season, the pair is “hiring” three qualified fans to travel to Phoenix for the April 10, 2010 race weekend and work as David Reutimann’s team of Twitter correspondents.

Fans who visit the Best Western “Official Tweet Crew Team” Web site, www.bestwestern.com/tweetcrewteam, starting today through Wednesday, March 17, will have the opportunity to submit an application, which includes a link to a creative video or picture, to become a member of this historic team. The selected three-person team will join David Reutimann in Phoenix on April 10 and spend the weekend with the 2009 Coca-Cola 600 winner, Tweeting about every twist and turn he makes on-and-off the track. Each Tweet Crew Team member will be provided with a smartphone that has camera capabilities to enable “Twitpics.”

The first-ever “Official Tweet Crew Team” will also give racing fans around the world an up-close-and-personal glimpse into the Sprint Cup Series Race in Phoenix by providing a written play-by-play of the race via Twitter from the team’s different vantage points around the track. Fans can follow all the heart-pounding and intimate action by logging onto www.twitter.com and following the team at @tweetcrewteam. Finally, race fans watching from home or following the team on Twitter will be given the chance to win great prizes throughout the race including official Best Western Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing gear, as well as rewards program points that can be redeemed for future hotel stays and a wide variety of merchandise. One lucky member of Speed Rewards, Best Western’s loyalty program for race fans, will also win a Travel Card valued at $500.

“As we’ve learned over the last decade, the Internet, particularly social media, is an increasingly important communication channel for our guests. We’ve also realized recently it’s no different for the thousands of race fans who visit our hotels each week, making it incredibly important for our brand to continue to reach our guests through creative and innovative digital avenues,” said Dorothy Dowling, Best Western’s senior vice president of marketing and sales. “Our partnership with Michael Waltrip Racing, one of the most forward thinking race teams in the sport, allows us to execute fun and interactive promotions such as the ‘Official Tweet Crew Team’.”

Those selected as members of the first-ever “Official Tweet Crew Team” will receive roundtrip airfare to Phoenix, hotel accommodations, local transportation, as well as a Best Western/Michael Waltrip Racing- branded team uniform and VIP access to the track for the race. The winners will also have the opportunity to join Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann in a race day press conference for the unveiling of the Best Western and Michael Waltrip Racing “Official Tweet Crew Team.”

“I have one of the most loyal and active followings on Twitter and I’m hoping through the Best Western ’Official Tweet Crew Team’ promotion I’ll be able to find three likeminded fans who want to help me share the ins-and-outs of a race team with millions of people all over the world,” said two-time Daytona 500 winner, Michael Waltrip. “In the 62 year history of the sport, this is unlike anything that’s ever been offered to fans – a real chance to be a critical part of a successful race team.”

To join Speed Rewards log onto www.bwracing.com.

For official rules and to enter, please visit www.bestwestern.com/tweetcrewteam.

ABOUT BEST WESTERN INTERNATIONAL
Best Western International is THE WORLD'S LARGEST HOTEL CHAIN®, providing marketing, reservations and operational support to over 4,000* independently owned and operated member hotels in 80* countries and territories worldwide. An industry pioneer since 1946, Best Western has grown into an iconic brand that hosts 400,000* worldwide guests each night. Equally committed to the business and leisure traveler, Best Western recently embarked on a mission to lead the hotel industry in customer care. World Vision is the charity of choice for Best Western in building the world's largest family, with our hotels and staff sponsoring children in need around the globe. Our partnerships with AAA/CAA, Michael Waltrip Racing and Harley Davidson help guests make the most of every trip. For the fastest way to a free night, join Best Western Rewards®, the only hotel frequency program that's truly global. For more information or to make a reservation, please visit www.bestwestern.com.

*Numbers are approximate and can fluctuate.

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AARON’S, INC. ADDS SIX ADDITIONAL NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

2010-01-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

ATLANTA (Jan. 20, 2010) – Aaron’s, Inc. announced today it will add six more Sprint Cup races, plus the Sprint All-Star Race to its 2010 schedule. The additional races increase Aaron’s total to 24 races as the primary sponsor of the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine driven by David Reutimann.

The six additional point races coming in the first half of the season include: Auto Club Speedway, Dover International Speedway, Pocono Raceway, Michigan International Speedway, Infineon Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“We are pleased that Aaron’s expanded our involvement with David and the No. 00 team this season,” said Robin Loudermilk, Chief Executive Officer for Aaron’s, Inc. “We have developed an excellent relationship with David, Michael Waltrip and this organization over the years and they have continued to delivere solid results for Aaron’s. Adding these six races reinforces our commitment to this team and confidence in this sport. We look forward to another exciting year on the track.”

Reutimann said solid sponsorship is one of the most important ingredients to success in 2010.

“I feel like a Lucky Dog every time I get to work with the folks at Aaron’s,” said Reutimann. “They’re a great group of people and we have an amazing relationship that continues to grow. I take a lot of pride in my relationship with Aaron’s and I am excited to have Aaron’s and Lucky Dog on board for six more races. Michael introduced me to Aaron’s and into the MWR organization and I’m very thankful for all the people that support me. In 2010 we plan to reward that support.”

“I'm so lucky to have great partners like Aaron’s. We asked them to step up and they did again!,” said team co-owner Michael Waltrip. “We've been fortunate to win races with them over the years. Aaron’s business has grown exponentially since we joined forces in 2000. We couldn’t be prouder of their continued support of our organization and look forward to the relationship for years to come.”

Aaron’s is in the second year of a three-year Sprint Cup sponsorship agreement with Reutimann and MWR after serving as the team’s Nationwide sponsor since 2000.

In addition to Reutimann’s 24 Sprint Cup races, Aaron’s plans to sponsor nine races on the No. 99 Toyota for newly-formed Diamond-Waltrip Racing and 18-year-old Trevor Bayne in the Nationwide Series. Aaron’s will also sponsor Waltrip’s return to the Nationwide Series at the Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 24.

About Aaron’s, Inc.
Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE: AAN), the nation’s leader in the sales and lease ownership and specialty retailing of residential and office furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories, has more than 1,695 Company-operated and franchised stores in 48 states and Canada. Founded in 1955 by entrepreneur R. Charles Loudermilk, Sr. and headquartered in Atlanta, Aaron’s has been publicly traded since 1982. For more information, visit www.aaronsinc.com.

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Transcript from Martin Truex Jr. Daytona Preseason Thunder

2010-01-18T06:06:00.000-08:00

DENISE MALOOF: Okay, everybody, Martin Truex, Jr., has joined us a little bit early and we were thankful for that. Big doings this year, new team, new car, new sponsor, new everything, I guess, except you still have the same haircut it looks like.

MARTIN TRUEX, JR.: Yeah, a lot of new things, an exciting off-season for me, busy off-season for me compared to what I've normally been used to. But so far it's been a lot of fun.

I'm really excited about the opportunity to drive the NAPA Toyota, and I've been very impressed with the organization in Michael Waltrip Racing and everything they've put into being a successful race team, and coming in this year with the No. 56 to have a great season. So things are looking great. I'm very happy with the team the way it's all came together, very much looking forward to the season. I think it's going to be a great one for all of us, and should be a lot of fun.

DENISE MALOOF: Any fun off-season things that were not racing related that you can share?

MARTIN TRUEX, JR.: No, I didn't get to do a whole lot this year. Probably the most fun thing I did was when I went home for Christmas to spend some time with my family. I had a good time up there in New Jersey, and that's about it. Other than that, I've been working a lot. It's been good.

Q. There's a lot of talk about doing away with the yellow line here and allowing you guys to bump draft and actually giving you guys a bigger restrictor plate. What side of the argument are you on with those kind of rule changes?

MARTIN TRUEX, JR.: I think it'll be good. I think the bump drafting rule, settling down on those a little bit, letting us get after it a little bit more is a good thing. I think it'll be exciting for all of us. It'll be more fun for us drivers. I think we can kind of put it on the edge a little bit more.

The yellow line rule I think needs to stay, just my opinion. I think there's only six or eight feet from the yellow line to the grass. Where do you go when you get in the grass? You've got to keep the cars out of the grass somehow because that would be bad. Of course when you get to the corner, if you're below the yellow line and you come into the corner, you've got to get up onto the racetrack to make the turn. I just think it would be difficult, and guys would try to hold people down on the apron so they couldn't go and things like that. It would just be a mess without the yellow line rule. But the rest of it, I'm excited about. I think it's going to be great for the fans, great for the drivers, and it should be a lot more fun for all of us.

Q. With everything that's new this year, what's the biggest challenge you think you face in terms of making this transition, and what's your sense about how you and Pat are going to work together?

MARTIN TRUEX, JR.: You know, my thoughts -- I had thoughts about what was going to be challenging. I thought being with a new team, with a new crew, with -- like you say, everything being new, I'd have to get in there and kind of figure it all out. I thought it was going to be a lot harder than it actually turned out being. We tested in Atlanta last week, and things went really well, better than I could have imagined. I really enjoy working with Pat. I've known him for a few years. We've been friendly for a few years, but I didn't really know much about how he worked and how he went about his business. I've been really impressed with him and the way he takes care of the guys on the team, the way he interacts with them, the way he works in the shop and the way he kind of does his thing, so to speak.
I think it's going to be an easier transition than I thought. Everybody at MWR has welcomed me with open arms. They've been very good to work with, very straightforward, very fair, and a lot of fun. So it's been -- it's really going well so far. I've had a lot of fun this off-season getting ready. We've had a great test already. I think that their equipment is top-notch, their people are top-notch, and the way they go about their business is pretty impressive, to say the least. I think it's going to be an easier transition for us, it's just a matter of getting in the groove, starting off on the right foot, getting that ball rolling, and then just keep it going.

Q. Have you had a chance to spend any time yet with David, David Reutimann, talk to him about how things are going to go? Did you have a previous relationship with him or anything?

MARTIN TRUEX, JR.: We've spoken. You know, last year towards the end of the year we talked a little bit. You know, we haven't really sat down and said, well, this is the way it's going to be. Obviously we are teammates, we're going to pull in the same direction. I think working together will be no problem at all. David is a heck of a nice guy, easy to get along with, and from what I've seen of him, he's going to be a lot of fun to work with.

I've had conversations with him, with Rodney Childers, his crew chief, same with Marcos and Frankie Kerr and I've seen those guys around the shop and we've spent time together and we've talked. It's going to be easy to be teammates with all these guys. Hopefully we can all pull in the same direction, put all our thoughts together and make the team the best we can. But I think that working together and being teammates is going to be an easy thing for all of us.

Q. What did you learn about the team and the cars during the Atlanta tire test?

MARTIN TRUEX, JR.: I learned a lot about them. You know, we kind of put together a test plan. We had a lot of things we wanted to try. Obviously with Pat, haven't worked with the race cars from MWR, I hadn't drove them. There was a lot of things we wanted to work through. So we did that for the first day, ran through a lot of things, learned a whole bunch, learned a lot of what not to do, what to do, all those things. You just kind of build your test plan and go through it.

That went very well. We accomplished a lot. The guys on the team did a great job of swapping the car back and forth, changing setups, geometry, front end packages and setups, and we went through a lot of things. For a team that's never been together before, for them to get through all that in the first day, like usually you make a plan and you get through about half of it and you end up not getting it all done, but they did a good job with it. They all worked together well, seemed to have good camaraderie. The guys were getting along really good. They seem like they understand each other's job and understand what they're supposed to do, which is great just coming out of the box. I think having an understanding of what your job is, although it sounds small, it's an important part of being part of an hour and a half practice session when you come into the garage. You need to know who jacks the car, when to jack the car, when to let the car down, things like that that sound easy but you have to practice and get in motion and know what to expect from the other guys around you.

So everything from that perspective went well. The car ran great, the car felt good, the engine felt really good, and I was just really impressed and happy about the way everything went. I thought we put together some great results on the track. We learned a lot about each other. Pat did a great job with the car. I felt like our -- like we'd worked together before. Our communication, it was just so easy. I'd just tell him what I wanted and he would give it to me. If we can do that every week, we'll have something. So it went really well.

Q. I saw Ryan at New Smyrna the other day, and I felt like he missed something. It was only the second time he'd be there in his first laps. Did you ever get a chance to race there? What's he missed with that, number one; and number two, either how nerve-wracked or how excited are you to be his teammate this year in 2010?

MARTIN TRUEX, JR.: Yeah, you know, I had never raced at New Smyrna, either. I had just done some testing there. I watched a lot of racing there, modifieds and such. But I'm pretty excited about being teammates with him. It's special, you know, to be part of that. I've been a small part of his career, sort of a car owner for him for the last two years, and it's been a lot of fun. I haven't been able to spend as much time with him as I would have liked, though, and I think this -- even the last -- heck, since I moved to North Carolina, we haven't spent a whole lot of time together. For this to -- for him to be teammates now, hopefully he'll be down here a lot more. We can spend a lot of time together. I'll be not just his car owner but kind of be in his corner and try to spend time with him at the shop, help him with things that I can do a little bit better job than I do with the texting. It's going to be fun to be his teammate. I don't get nervous unless I'm on top of the trailer and he's in the race car and I'm watching. Only time I've ever been nervous in my life is when I'm watching his race.

It's going to be fun. Hopefully we get on the racetrack together before long, and it'll be a lot more comfortable for me.

Q. Will he be your roommate if he comes down?

MARTIN TRUEX, JR.: Yeah, he can stay whenever he wants. He can come to the house and stay whenever he wants. But generally he'd rather sit in his apartment and text me that he's bored. (Laughter.) There's nothing to do here, I'm bored. Well, come on. No, I don't want to. Okay. So he usually just sits in his room and races on-line or something.

Q. Martin, I think I have perceived you as being a sort of mechanically-oriented kind of a driver and now you're in a position to be a star of TV commercials kind of driver. Talk about making that transition, how that's going to be different for you.

MARTIN TRUEX, JR.: Well, it's not really going to be different. I still need to know what shocks and springs are on my race car and what number oil filter I need to get when I go to NAPA. But the commercial thing is going to be a lot of fun. It's kind of new to me. I've done a few little ones. We did a Toyota spot earlier this winter that was a lot of fun. I've done a few of Bass Pros, so it's not anything new. These are kind of a lot bigger with national spots and everything. It'll be fun, something different. Got to know Ron Capps a little bit over the winter, and he's going to be in a few of them with us, too. It'll be fun to do it, and I think we've got one next week, so wish me luck.

Q. If you could just talk a little bit about how important it is to do events like this for the fans, especially in the off-season, generating a little excitement for them, just kind of a little appreciation weekend it seems like.

MARTIN TRUEX, JR.: Yeah, it is. Without having the testing here like we used to, that was kind of what that was. A lot of people would come down just for the test from out of state, all over the country really, and get excited about the season coming up, smell the fuel burning, smell the tires and hear the engines running. This is everything but the engines and the race cars. It's cool that everybody comes down, puts their time in and gives the fans something to get excited about, something to get that ball rolling for the season. It's good for us to come down here and see them all. We enjoy it. It's a lot of fun for us, and we get to see people, all you guys, that we haven't seen in a few months, and look forward to getting the season started.

Q. You've been a Chevrolet guy ever since you got to NASCAR, now you're in a Toyota. I went to the test at New Smyrna Wednesday, and Toyota had rented the track for two days and let 12 teams test. They've got a real -- we're all in this together kind of mentality. Are you getting that just in the limited amount of time that you've spent with these people?

MARTIN TRUEX, JR.: Absolutely, yeah. I mean, we had a lot of Toyota engineers at our test in Atlanta last week, and they were talking about some of the things they do, and I've been to their facilities in Salisbury at TRD, and they kind of showed me what they do and how they go about it.

One thing that's different, I think, is when you're with Toyota, when one person gets information, the other Toyotas get the information. They don't get parts and pieces of it, they get it all. They share everything. It's kind of like one big team.

It was different than that at Chevrolet, kind of the teams were always out on their own. You'd get small pieces of information here and there from Chevrolet. But the teams, if Hendrick went testing and got a bunch of information, they wouldn't send it to Chevrolet for Chevrolet to give to Earnhardt and Childress and whoever. In that sense it's a little bit different.

And the support that the team, the race team, gets from the manufacturer, from what I've seen, is far greater than anything I've ever seen before. So that's exciting to be a part of for me, and it's pretty impressive for Toyota.

Q. Just to follow up on the tire test in Atlanta, at the end of the session there, did you do long runs and feel like there's a tire there with lots of grip, or how did you sort of size up the tire situation once you left there?

MARTIN TRUEX, JR.: Yeah, we did long runs. We weren't a primary test car, so basically we didn't get to run the tires that they were testing until the second day. We pretty much ran the fall Atlanta tire that we raced.

But the second day in the afternoon, they gave us two options that Mark and Carl both had liked, thought were better, and I thought they were better, too. If they do what they say they were going to do and bring back that tire, it should be better.

Now, it was 40 degrees, track was better than it's going to be when we go back, but there was no wear issues. There was no wear then, there won't be when we go back by any means. The durability was fine, they felt better, had better grip. The falloff was about the same as the told tire, but it just was a little bit faster and felt a little bit better the whole run. It should make for better racing and traffic, having more grip in the tire. Obviously Atlanta has always been a place that puts on some really good racing because of the way the grooves are and you can run all over the place. It should be very good. I was very happy with the tire, and I think they could have been a little more aggressive with it still. But I think it'll be head and shoulders above what we had before.

NASCAR TO REPRESENT MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING LICENSING BUSINESS

2010-01-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Jan. 13, 2010) – NASCAR and Michael Waltrip Racing announced today a new partnership in which NASCAR will become the sole licensing representative for the race team. The agreement includes all driver marks within the Michael Waltrip Racing team, including David Reutimann, Martin Truex Jr., Michael Waltrip, as well as young future stars Trevor Bayne and Ryan Truex.

With this agreement, NASCAR’s licensing business, headquartered out of Charlotte, N.C. at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, will utilize its assets to grow the licensed product business and provide retailers with new and more comprehensive product options for the MWR team, including track merchandise opportunities, e-commerce channels and national retail outlets.

“The depth of NASCAR’s licensing group is only matched by its collective experience,” said Ty Norris, Vice President and General Manager of Michael Waltrip Racing. “The licensing and merchandising world is dramatically changing for teams and drivers, and this partnership has positioned MWR properly for the future. Our on-track success has led to off-track demand. This strategic move will increase the offerings and value to our fans.”
NASCAR will also provide retail development, new business, marketing, public relations and media assets in expanding the licensed product portfolio that includes apparel, collectibles, novelty, gifts, headwear and other non-traditional licensing concepts.

“NASCAR is very pleased to have the opportunity to work with Michael Waltrip Racing. We feel confident that we can leverage our resources to provide them with a comprehensive solution that addresses all of their licensing needs, including a complete merchandise and retail strategy, as well as additional exposure for their team and sponsors,” said Blake Davidson, managing director of licensed products for NASCAR. “There is a ton of opportunity with Michael Waltrip Racing in 2010, especially given Michael’s historic career and their strong driver pool of David, Martin, Trevor and Ryan.”

About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for one of North America’s premier sports. NASCAR is the No. 1 spectator sport – holding 17 of the top 20 highest attended sporting events in the U.S. and is the No. 2 rated regular season sport on television. NASCAR races are broadcast in more than 150 countries and 20 languages. NASCAR fans are the most brand loyal in all of sports, and as a result more Fortune 500 companies participate in NASCAR than any other sport.

NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series,) four regional series, and one local grassroots series, as well as two international series. Also, part of NASCAR is Grand-Am Road Racing, known for its competition on road courses with multiple classes of cars. NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races at 100 tracks in more than 30 U.S states, Canada and Mexico. Based in Daytona Beach (Fla.), NASCAR has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Charlotte (N.C.), Concord (N.C.), Bentonville (Ark.), Mexico City and Toronto.

About Michael Waltrip Racing From its 140,000-square-foot shop in Cornelius, N.C., Michael Waltrip Racing fields Toyota Camrys in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Waltrip, David Reutimann and Martin Truex Jr. as well as a NASCAR Nationwide entry for Trevor Bayne and a Camping World East Series entry for Ryan Truex. The team also maintains JTG-Daugherty’s No. 47 Toyota Camry driven by Marcos Ambrose. MWR began more than a decade ago as a modest family-owned NASCAR Nationwide Series team in Sherrills Ford, N.C. and has posted five NASCAR Nationwide victories. In 2007, MWR served as a flagship team for Toyota Racing Development, USA’s entry into both NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide competition. Reutimann earned MWR its first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory in May 2009 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. MWR announced the formation of Diamond-Waltrip Racing with majority owners Gary and Blake Bechtel for the 2010 season. The NASCAR Nationwide team will help develop young drivers for MWR’s Cup effort.

AARON’S, INC. TO CELEBRATE BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WINNING TEAM WITH COMMEMORATIVE NASCAR PAINT SCHEME

2010-01-07T12:46:00.000-08:00

ATLANTA (Jan. 7, 2010) – Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE: AAN) is already a winner when it comes to this year’s BCS National Championship football game between the University of Alabama and the University of Texas. As a corporate sponsor of both universities’ athletic programs, Aaron’s is guaranteed a victory no matter which team wins tonight’s game and will create a celebratory race program for the winning school that incorporates Aaron’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race team.

Aaron’s plans to produce a special National Championship paint scheme that will be featured on their NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racecar driven by David Reutimann. If the University of Texas wins, the Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) No. 00 Sprint Cup Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota will sport the UT burnt orange and official national championship logo at Texas Motor Speedway April 18. If the University of Alabama collects the victory, the car will feature ‘Bama’s famed crimson along with the championship logo in the Aaron’s 499 race at Talladega Superspeedway April 25.

“Aaron’s is in a unique position to be able to commemorate the achievements of this year’s national football champion with our racecar program,” stated Robin Loudermilk, Chief Executive Officer of Aaron’s, Inc. “We look forward to unveiling this racecar during a celebration on campus just before it goes to the racetrack to compete. We can’t think of a better way to honor the winning team’s achievements.”

“This paint scheme is going to be a huge hit with fans, and it’s a privilege for me to be able to drive this car,” said driver David Reutimann. “But the pressure is going to be on me to win. Aaron’s is in a ‘no-lose’ situation with these two great football teams, so I am going to have to get this car to victory lane to keep the winning going.”

The racecar program will be supported with a traveling showcar that will make appearances at Aaron’s stores throughout the winning state weeks before and after the race. Aaron’s is also making available a limited edition line of collectable merchandise that will include a 1/24-scale die cast replica of the racecar and a racing t-shirt. The merchandise will be available exclusively at Aaron’s stores in the winning state, the winning university’s bookstores, the MWR trackside merchandise trailer and at www.shopaarons.com.

About Aaron’s, Inc.

Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE: AAN), the nation’s leader in the sales and lease ownership and specialty retailing of residential and office furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories, has more than 1,695 Company-operated and franchised stores in 48 states and Canada. Founded in 1955 by entrepreneur R. Charles Loudermilk, Sr. and headquartered in Atlanta, Aaron’s has been publicly traded since 1982. For more information, visit www.aaronsinc.com.