David wrecked out of Nationwide Gateway race by Kellyanne Lynch 19 July 2008 David Reutimann led twice for thirty-three laps in the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250, tonight's Nationwide Series race at Gateway International Raceway. An accident with Brad Keselowski took him out of contention with sixty laps to go. His Michael Waltrip Racing #99 Aaron's Dream Machine finished thirty-four laps down in 25th. David dropped one position to 4th in the championship standings. The #99 team had plans to bring the car they brought to Gateway to Dover as well. However, during practice, the car caught on fire. The crew did extensive work to get their #99 entry race ready for tonight. Trevor Hoffman of the San Diego Padres was in the #99's pit box tonight; crew chief Jerry Baxter is a Padres fan. Jamie McMurray led the field to the green flag at 9:53pm ET with David Reutimann starting 14th. One lap into the run, the #99 was 13th. On lap 5, David gained another spot. He passed Steve Wallace for 11th on lap 7, Jason Keller for 10th on lap 9, and David Stremme for 9th on lap 12. David picked up 8th on lap 14 and had the fastest car on track. NASCAR announced during the race that they may have a competition caution on lap 20. Lap 21 saw the yellow flag wave for the first time for this reason. Cars pit under caution. David came in 7th and came out 3rd while Joey Logano came off first. Morgan Shepherd stayed on track to pick up the lead. Racing resumed on lap 25 with Shepherd leading. Logano almost immediately took over the top spot. David restarted 4th, but on lap 27, he got around Shepherd for 3rd. On lap 31, the #99 got around Reed Sorenson's #40 and took the 2nd spot. On lap 48, David made the pass for the lead. He got out to over two seconds ahead of Logano within the next eight laps. By lap 60, he was over three seconds ahead of Logano. The second caution was on lap 62 for Kelly Bires, who cut across Brad Teague and wrecked himself. Bires' #47 was smoking heavily as he drove his battered car to the garage. Leaders pit under yellow. Jerry asked if David wanted him to free up the car for later in the race. "It's pretty free now up front," David replied. "Let's not touch it." The crew gave him a towel to wipe something out of his eyes. Spotter Shawn Reutimann told David to go all the way to the wall when he came out of his box although Edwards was there. The #99 and #60 wound up making some contact. Shawn said he thought Edwards was going to check up. Carl Edwards was the first driver off pit road while David came out 3rd. Edwards led the restart on lap 67. David peaked inside Logano's #20 a few times before passing along the inside three laps into the run. The third caution was on lap 71. Much of the lightening on the track had gone out. NASCAR radioed all the drivers and asked about visibility. The drivers said it was fine. Racing resumed on lap 74 with Edwards leading and David in 2nd. David made the pass for the lead on lap 97. By lap 100, the #99 was over a second ahead of 2nd. David was over two seconds ahead eight laps later. Lap 111 saw the fourth caution for Brad Coleman, who rear-ended the wall on his own. David was right there as he was approaching Coleman to lap him, and he drove through the smoke. Eric McClure received the free pass. The #99 led the field onto pit road. David reported that the car was pretty good but sliding the nose. The team made an adjustment and changed four tires. David lost five spots on pit road. Kenny Wallace led a lap under yellow. When he pit, Jamie McMurray took over the top spot. McMurray led the restart on lap 115. David was 6th. Caution came out almost immediately for a huge wreck behind the #99. Landon Cassill's #5 hit Scott Wimmer's #29, sending him into Reed Sorenson's #40. As the #29 spun and got hit repeatedly, other cars were collected, including Mike Bliss and Steve Wallace. The red flag came out at 11:15pm on lap 116. Twenty-five minutes later, the race returned to yellow. Racing resumed on lap 121 with McMurray leading and David in 6th. Logano took the lead on lap 123. One lap later, David was 5th. He picked up 4th from Brad Keselowski on lap 132. Brad Keselowski turned David into the wall with 60 laps to go, drawing the sixth yellow flag. Keselowski had told David that he was going to go with him so that they could both go around the slow #17 of Jamie McMurray, who only had two tires on it. Cars pit under yellow, and Jason Leffler won the race off pit road. Leffler led the restart with 55 laps to go. David was four laps down in 24th and off the track. McMurray slowed on track with 48 laps to go and headed for pit road. Edwards had taken the lead not too much before then. With about 24 laps to go, David came back on track. He was 34 laps down in 26th. He went on to finish 25th, passing Steve Wallace who was in the garage. Carl Edwards won. Next week, NASCAR goes to Indianapolis. Coverage of the Sprint Cup Series' Allstate 400 at The Brickyard begins Sunday at 1:00pm ET on ESPN. The Nationwide Series' Kroger 200 takes place the day before. Coverage begins at 7:30pm on ESPN.