David 18th in Canada by Kellyanne Lynch
2 August 2008
David Reutimann's #99 Napa Camry finished 18th and one lap down today in the Napa Auto Parts 200, today's Nationwide Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. A speeding penalty cost him toward the end of the race.
The call to start engines came at 3:40pm ET. Scott Pruett's #40 led the field to the green flag at 3:56pm, with the #99 Napa Camry rolling off 32nd. David worked his way up to 27th the first lap of the race. Light rain was reported in Turn 2, but racing continued. On lap 4, David picked up 26th.
The yellow flag waved on lap 7 for rain. David was 25th at the time. Cars headed for pit road, and NASCAR halted the race as crews installed rain tires and windshield wipers - the first time ever in a race for one of NASCAR's top three series. Cars returned to the track at 4:37pm as the red flag lifted.
Pruett led the restart in wet conditions on lap 14. Marcos Ambrose immediately took the lead. David was 25th, but one lap into the run, he picked up a spot. Pruett drove off track on the same lap. David was up to 22nd on lap 16. Passing Brad Keselowski on lap 18 moved him into 21st. Justin Marks slowed on lap 21 with significant damage to the left side of his car.
The second caution was for Marks, who was stopped in the grass. David was 20th at the time due to Marks' misfortunes. Scott Gaylord got the free pass. David made a pit stop, along with a few others. Rain was reported on the front straightaway, and the #99 now had fresh rain tires.
Ambrose led the restart on lap 24. David was 23rd but gained a spot one lap into the run. On lap 27, he got around DJ Kennington and Alex Garcia for 20th.
The third caution was on lap 30; Max Papis went off course and got stuck in the grass. Gaylord received the free pass again. David was marked in 19th but moved up to 18th with Papis' accident.
Lap 33 saw the restart with Ambrose leading and David in 17th. Within three laps, the #99 was up to 15th. David was 13th a lap after that. He was 12th on lap 38.
Cars were heading to pit road. David picked up 10th when Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards made stops. He was 9th on lap 41 as stops continued. Ambrose pit on lap 43 for the last time this race and gave the lead to Jacques Villeneuve. David stopped at the same time. Villeneuve led a lap before going to the pits; meanwhile, NASCAR penalised Ambrose and David for speeding on pit road. Ron Fellows picked up the lead.
David was 20th on lap 44 as Fellows led. Kelly Bires passed one lap later, dropping him to 21st.
Heavy rain drew the fourth caution on lap 46. Villeneuve sustained significant damage under yellow when he couldn't see and got into Alex Garcia, who checked up in front of him. Joey Logano also hit the wall and destroyed the entire left side.
The red flag came out for the seond time on lap 49 at 6:46pm. The race was called within the next ten minutes. David was marked in 18th while Ron Fellows won.
Coverage of tomorrow's Pennsylvania 500 begins at 1:00pm ET on ESPN.
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How did your car handle in the rain? "It was pretty ugly. The race started off and the car was driving pretty good. We were passing guys and then the rain came and we were still going to be okay. We pitted and we got a pit road penalty, which I really thought I was being ultra conservative on that. It is what it is and that messed us up and got us way back. We were running ninth when they pitted us. We should have had a better day but the pit road speeding penalty was my fault so I feel bad for costing the guys a better finish. All in all I'm glad to get out of here. It was pretty hairy and I couldn't see anything."
What do you think about racing in the rain? "It's probably not something we should do unless we come up with a better system to be able to see. The tires worked fine. All that stuff worked okay. I don't have a problem with that, just the lack of being able to see is the big issue and that's pretty dangerous. If we come up with a better scenario there's no reason why we couldn't do it in the future but not with what we have now."