Coca-Cola 600 - 5/26/09
Michael Waltrip Racing earned their first Sprint Cup win in the rain shortened Coca-Cola 600, this afternoon's race at Lowes Motor Speedway. Driver David Reutimann had stayed on track during pit stops before the fourth and last red flag period of the night; his #00 Aaron's Dream Machine was out front when the race was called. Michael Waltrip finished 30th, and Marcos Ambrose was 26th.
Due to rain, the race was postponed until Monday at noon. Bobby Allison gave the call to start engines two minutes later.
Ryan Newman led the field to the green flag ten minutes later and led lap 1. Mikey rolled off 38th, David 19th, and Marcos 21st.
Kyle Busch took the lead going into lap 4. Mikey was 40th, David 20th, and Marcos 21st.
"Still down there. Still there. Clear clear," spotter Ty Norris said. "Caution's out, caution's out. Got some sprinkling. Got some rain."
Lap 9 saw the first caution for rain.
"Okay, guys. Get ready. What you got there, Michael?" crew chief Bootie Barker asked.
"Uh, I don't know," Mikey replied. "Not any chatter, but a little bit of right front. Or I shouldn't say right front. Just a little bit of front end push. Just not bad. Just feels like it hadn't transisionted into something new yet." He said the front was skating a little bit. "That's what I would call it, just a minor skate."
Bootie told Paul to drop the inner liner pressures. "Four tires. No fuel, guys, no fuel. 4200. Okay, I'm thinking the 99 is coming. We'll have to go around him. Let him know."
"Yeah, just make sure he's not taking two or something. All right, pit road is open."
"Yeah, he's staying out. I gotcha, Michael. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2," Bootie guided Mikey into the box. "One lane one lane one lane. All the way. 42."
"All right, they're saying, when you come around, it's going to be one to go," Ty noted.
"Good job, guys. Good pit stop," Mikey praised his crew.
"10-4."
Mikey was one of eleven drivers to pit.
"They're saying one to go. I don't know how they can. It just started to rain a little more on the front here," Ty said.
"And I'll give you lap times when it stretches out," Bootie promised. "I don't want to mess you up when you're working."
"Yeah, no bother," Mikey replied. "We're in good shape. If I'm in a blob, it doesn't matter."
"The leaders were running the bottom, Michael," Ty noted. "The guys who were making hay were running the top. Just to let you know."
"Lots of hay being made, is what you're saying?"
"Yeah, like when you got up there and went around the 43. That's what I'm saying. They're not going to go this time. I think we're getting one to go again."
"It seems fine. It was raining in Turn 2. That was a little freaky. But now it's raining on the front, which doesn't hurt anything."
"Okay.
"Get ready. You're going to be coming to the green," said Ty. "All right, be ready. Pace car's off. Outside only. Ready? Green green green. Everybody's rolling. Clear one back. Clear half back. Looking low, inside inside. Inside."
Racing resumed on lap 12. Mikey was 39th, David 19th, and Marcos 20th.
"Slow one on the top. He's not there yet, five in front of you. Slow one low. Got one inside. Got one with him, trying to go with him. Inside. Still there inside, still there. Clear there. Clear clear. 29 up there on the top side, backing up pretty quick. Still there. Still there. Clear high now, clear high. Clear two back."
Kevin Harvick had some damage on his car.
"One back to the 7, up on the high side. Still clear two back. Clear, clear."
Harvick was smoking, and he headed for the pits.
"Really really tight right now," Mikey reported.
"10-4," said Bootie.
"Caution's out, caution's out. The 29 got into the wall in Turns 1 and 2." He warned Mikey about debris.
The second caution was on lap 17 for Harvick. Mikey was 37th, David 16th, and Marcos 23rd.
"Guys, get ready. Anything could happen," Bootie told the crew. "10-4, Michael, turn your brake fans on." He said they would likely stay out.
"No splitter issues at all, that I can tell. Just feels normal," Mikey reported.
"10-4. Just stay out, just stay out."
"Seems the adjustment made it push worse, but we'll see here in a few laps."
"10-4. Paul, if he continues to say it's tight, we'll go back on that and will get ready for the other, okay?"
"All right, one to go when you come around here. Still be twenty laps before the manditory caution," Ty said. "All right, be ready. Coming to the green. Coming to the green. Pace car's off. Ready? Green green green. Everybody's rolling."
Kyle Busch led the lap 21 restart. Mikey was 34th, David 16th, and Marcos 23rd.
"One back to the 7, on the high side. Outside, on your quarter. Outside, on your quarter. Still there. Clear behind him if you need it. Clear three back. Still out there." Ty cleared him back to the #13 and the #98. "Still outside. Still there, still there. Going to be there off the corner. He's trying to close up. Outside, outside. Still there, still there. There you go. You're all clear. Nice job. Half back. He's taking a look again. Outside. Clear now, clear now. He's going to have a run outside, outside."
Due to rain, the race was postponed until Monday at noon. Bobby Allison gave the call to start engines two minutes later.
Ryan Newman led the field to the green flag ten minutes later and led lap 1. Mikey rolled off 38th, David 19th, and Marcos 21st.
Kyle Busch took the lead going into lap 4. Mikey was 40th, David 20th, and Marcos 21st.
"Still down there. Still there. Clear clear," spotter Ty Norris said. "Caution's out, caution's out. Got some sprinkling. Got some rain."
Lap 9 saw the first caution for rain.
"Okay, guys. Get ready. What you got there, Michael?" crew chief Bootie Barker asked.
"Uh, I don't know," Mikey replied. "Not any chatter, but a little bit of right front. Or I shouldn't say right front. Just a little bit of front end push. Just not bad. Just feels like it hadn't transisionted into something new yet." He said the front was skating a little bit. "That's what I would call it, just a minor skate."
Bootie told Paul to drop the inner liner pressures. "Four tires. No fuel, guys, no fuel. 4200. Okay, I'm thinking the 99 is coming. We'll have to go around him. Let him know."
"Yeah, just make sure he's not taking two or something. All right, pit road is open."
"Yeah, he's staying out. I gotcha, Michael. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2," Bootie guided Mikey into the box. "One lane one lane one lane. All the way. 42."
"All right, they're saying, when you come around, it's going to be one to go," Ty noted.
"Good job, guys. Good pit stop," Mikey praised his crew.
"10-4."
Mikey was one of eleven drivers to pit.
"They're saying one to go. I don't know how they can. It just started to rain a little more on the front here," Ty said.
"And I'll give you lap times when it stretches out," Bootie promised. "I don't want to mess you up when you're working."
"Yeah, no bother," Mikey replied. "We're in good shape. If I'm in a blob, it doesn't matter."
"The leaders were running the bottom, Michael," Ty noted. "The guys who were making hay were running the top. Just to let you know."
"Lots of hay being made, is what you're saying?"
"Yeah, like when you got up there and went around the 43. That's what I'm saying. They're not going to go this time. I think we're getting one to go again."
"It seems fine. It was raining in Turn 2. That was a little freaky. But now it's raining on the front, which doesn't hurt anything."
"Okay.
"Get ready. You're going to be coming to the green," said Ty. "All right, be ready. Pace car's off. Outside only. Ready? Green green green. Everybody's rolling. Clear one back. Clear half back. Looking low, inside inside. Inside."
Racing resumed on lap 12. Mikey was 39th, David 19th, and Marcos 20th.
"Slow one on the top. He's not there yet, five in front of you. Slow one low. Got one inside. Got one with him, trying to go with him. Inside. Still there inside, still there. Clear there. Clear clear. 29 up there on the top side, backing up pretty quick. Still there. Still there. Clear high now, clear high. Clear two back."
Kevin Harvick had some damage on his car.
"One back to the 7, up on the high side. Still clear two back. Clear, clear."
Harvick was smoking, and he headed for the pits.
"Really really tight right now," Mikey reported.
"10-4," said Bootie.
"Caution's out, caution's out. The 29 got into the wall in Turns 1 and 2." He warned Mikey about debris.
The second caution was on lap 17 for Harvick. Mikey was 37th, David 16th, and Marcos 23rd.
"Guys, get ready. Anything could happen," Bootie told the crew. "10-4, Michael, turn your brake fans on." He said they would likely stay out.
"No splitter issues at all, that I can tell. Just feels normal," Mikey reported.
"10-4. Just stay out, just stay out."
"Seems the adjustment made it push worse, but we'll see here in a few laps."
"10-4. Paul, if he continues to say it's tight, we'll go back on that and will get ready for the other, okay?"
"All right, one to go when you come around here. Still be twenty laps before the manditory caution," Ty said. "All right, be ready. Coming to the green. Coming to the green. Pace car's off. Ready? Green green green. Everybody's rolling."
Kyle Busch led the lap 21 restart. Mikey was 34th, David 16th, and Marcos 23rd.
"One back to the 7, on the high side. Outside, on your quarter. Outside, on your quarter. Still there. Clear behind him if you need it. Clear three back. Still out there.
Due to rain, the race was postponed until Monday at noon. Bobby Allison gave the call to start engines two minutes later.
Ryan Newman led the field to the green flag ten minutes later and led lap 1. Mikey rolled off 38th, David 19th, and Marcos 21st.
Kyle Busch took the lead going into lap 4. Mikey was 40th, David 20th, and Marcos 21st.
"Still down there. Still there. Clear clear," spotter Ty Norris said. "Caution's out, caution's out. Got some sprinkling. Got some rain."
Lap 9 saw the first caution for rain.
"Okay, guys. Get ready. What you got there, Michael?" crew chief Bootie Barker asked.
"Uh, I don't know," Mikey replied. "Not any chatter, but a little bit of right front. Or I shouldn't say right front. Just a little bit of front end push. Just not bad. Just feels like it hadn't transisionted into something new yet." He said the front was skating a little bit. "That's what I would call it, just a minor skate."
Bootie told Paul to drop the inner liner pressures. "Four tires. No fuel, guys, no fuel. 4200. Okay, I'm thinking the 99 is coming. We'll have to go around him. Let him know."
"Yeah, just make sure he's not taking two or something. All right, pit road is open."
"Yeah, he's staying out. I gotcha, Michael. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2," Bootie guided Mikey into the box. "One lane one lane one lane. All the way. 42."
"All right, they're saying, when you come around, it's going to be one to go," Ty noted.
"Good job, guys. Good pit stop," Mikey praised his crew.
"10-4."
Mikey was one of eleven drivers to pit.
"They're saying one to go. I don't know how they can. It just started to rain a little more on the front here," Ty said.
"And I'll give you lap times when it stretches out," Bootie promised. "I don't want to mess you up when you're working."
"Yeah, no bother," Mikey replied. "We're in good shape. If I'm in a blob, it doesn't matter."
"The leaders were running the bottom, Michael," Ty noted. "The guys who were making hay were running the top. Just to let you know."
"Lots of hay being made, is what you're saying?"
"Yeah, like when you got up there and went around the 43. That's what I'm saying. They're not going to go this time. I think we're getting one to go again."
"It seems fine. It was raining in Turn 2. That was a little freaky. But now it's raining on the front, which doesn't hurt anything."
"Okay.
"Get ready. You're going to be coming to the green," said Ty. "All right, be ready. Pace car's off. Outside only. Ready? Green green green. Everybody's rolling. Clear one back. Clear half back. Looking low, inside inside. Inside."
Racing resumed on lap 12. Mikey was 39th, David 19th, and Marcos 20th.
"Slow one on the top. He's not there yet, five in front of you. Slow one low. Got one inside. Got one with him, trying to go with him. Inside. Still there inside, still there. Clear there. Clear clear. 29 up there on the top side, backing up pretty quick. Still there. Still there. Clear high now, clear high. Clear two back."
Kevin Harvick had some damage on his car.
"One back to the 7, up on the high side. Still clear two back. Clear, clear."
Harvick was smoking, and he headed for the pits.
"Really really tight right now," Mikey reported.
"10-4," said Bootie.
"Caution's out, caution's out. The 29 got into the wall in Turns 1 and 2." He warned Mikey about debris.
The second caution was on lap 17 for Harvick. Mikey was 37th, David 16th, and Marcos 23rd.
"Guys, get ready. Anything could happen," Bootie told the crew. "10-4, Michael, turn your brake fans on." He said they would likely stay out.
"No splitter issues at all, that I can tell. Just feels normal," Mikey reported.
"10-4. Just stay out, just stay out."
"Seems the adjustment made it push worse, but we'll see here in a few laps."
"10-4. Paul, if he continues to say it's tight, we'll go back on that and will get ready for the other, okay?"
"All right, one to go when you come around here. Still be twenty laps before the manditory caution," Ty said. "All right, be ready. Coming to the green. Coming to the green. Pace car's off. Ready? Green green green. Everybody's rolling."
Kyle Busch led the lap 21 restart. Mikey was 34th, David 16th, and Marcos 23rd.
"One back to the 7, on the high side. Outside, on your quarter. Outside, on your quarter. Still there. Clear behind him if you need it. Clear three back. Still out there.
Lap 23 saw Mikey in 35th. David was 15th, Marcos 24th.
"Coming inside, inside. Clear low. Still out there. Still there. Have one with him, outside. Going to have a run outside. Going to be coming outside. Right on your bumper."
On lap 26, Mikey was back to 34th. David was 14th, and Marcos was 27th.
"One on the bottom, on the bottom. Inside. Still down there. Clear half back to the 43 now, 43. Half back. 43's got a run."
"31.59," Bootie read off the last lap time.
"Inside, the 43. He's there. 98 trying to come with him. Will be clear there. One back to the 7."
"It's extremely tight," Mikey reported. He was 38th on lap 31.
"10-4," Bootie replied.
Ty let Mikey know the caution was coming. "One trying to look up top. Clear there about seven back. We'll settle in. Ten more."
"Just pushing so bad," Mikey said.
"10-4," Bootie replied.
"I mean, this could be career push, career push. No front action at all."
"All right, 10-4 on that."
David was 13th, and Marcos was 29th.
"And to make matter worse, I can back it into the turn at any given moment," Mikey added.
"10-4," Bootie replied.
"Coming inside, inside. Clear there. Seven more."
Lap 32 saw Mikey back to 39th.
"Looking low, looking low, inside."
"I think something just... I mean, I don't know."
"Guys, get ready for anything. Get ready," Bootie told the crew.
"We gotta do something, man. Son of a gun. It's amazing what this car's doing!"
"Okay, we will. Just hang in there. Six laps."
"I need more ____ than that."
Mikey was 40th on lap 35. He was 41st two laps later.
"A look inside, inside. Four more."
On lap 39, Mikey was 42nd. The only driver behind him was Kevin Harvick.
"All right, caution's out, caution's out."
"Okay, Michael. I'll take it it's severely loose getting in and plowing its ass off."
"No, it's not severely loose. It's mother crazy son of a gun ridiculous in the centre of the corner. It's like I'm on America's Funniest Videos or something. It won't turn at all."
"10-4. Paul."
"It feels like a shock's off of it. I know it's not, because y'all could see if it was. It just really feels... I cna't explain it. My brain ain't big enough to use the proper words to explain it."
Bootie said he'd work on it and he'd guide him around the #99 of Carl Edwards getting into the pit box. He guided his driver down pit road.
"Take your time. Whatever you need to do. Pace car's in 1," Ty noted.
"All the way all the way all the way. 4200," Bootie cued Mikey out of the box.
"All right, man. One to go, one to go," said Ty.
"Let's just work our butt off on this thing, man. I'm just trying ot tell you what it's doing. It's just really bad tight tight tight."
Bootie told Mikey to continue to tell him what the car was doing. "We'll keep after it. I promise."
"All right, we'll be coming back to the green."
Tony Raines stayed out to lead a lap. Mike Bliss went to the garage.
"Pace car's off. Be ready. Green green green. Everybody's rolling. Clear half back."
Jimmie Johnson led the lap 45 restart. Mikey was 38th, David 16th, and Marcos 34th. Cars went four-wide in front of Mikey.
"Still out there, sitll out there. Still there on your quarter, still there. Going to be there off the corner. Inside, the 88's got a run."
Mikey was 35th on lap 46. David was 14th, and Marcos was 32nd.
"Still there. 88's still there. Clear four back behind him. "
On lap 47, Mikey was 36th.
"Still outside on your corner. Still there. Still there. Got one outside, the 39. Going to be with that 87. Clear there three back."
Mikey was 37th by lap 49.
"Clear there, four back. Still on your corner, still there. Going to be there off the corner. Clear there. Clear clear."
Lap 51 saw Mikey in 38th. David was 13th, and Marcos was 31st.
Kyle Busch was back in the lead by lap 52. Meanwhile, Mikey gained 37th. David was 12th, Marcos 31st.
"All clear, all clear," said Ty.
One lap later, Mikey was 36th.
"31.40," Bootie read off lap times. Then he read off lap times. "35.
"37.
"55."
"Inside, that 87. Inside. On your quarter. Got the 7 on your bumper. All clear, whatever you need. The 7's still there, half back. Big run from the 7 up top. Be closing. Outside. 7's trying to go up top with him. Outside, outside. Clear behind him."
"81."
Mikey was 38th on lap 61. David was 11th, and Marcos was 30th.
Mikey said soemthing about the inevitable. "I got to practice driving sideways for fifteen or twenty laps. Now it's plowing."
"10-4. Copy that," Bootie replied. "81."
"34's right there on your bumper. Inside, inside," Ty warned, referring to Tony Raines.
"94."
On lap 66, Mikey was 39th. David was 10th, and Marcos was 29th.
"32.05.
"31.90."
"Big rain drops off 2," Mikey reported.
"10-4, let them know, guys," Ty replied.
"10-4," said Bootie.
"BIG rain drops."
"10-4. Gordon and a bunch of other ones are telling them too," Ty said.
The third caution came out for rain on lap 71.
"Caution's out, caution's out."
"Okay, Michael, I'm listening to you."
"Well, if you didn't hear me by now, I don't know what to say. For the last three laps, I just totally slammed on the brakes and tried to get the nose to plant. I'm driving like I'm at frickin' Richmond, and it just plows so incredibly severely that I know you're listening to me, but I don't know what to tell you. I've never felt the car this exaggerated. The only way I can turn is to slam on the brakes."
Bootie said he'd heard Mikey. The rest was in static.
"It was fine for five or six laps, because the front end didn't even know we were at the track. I just drove it off the right rear, and next thing we know, we're junk. It's just ridiculous, bad."
Bootie talked about putting in rubbers.
"Well, just remember you had me spun out there. You had me spun out, and it didn't affect the front end one bit."
"10-4 on that. 10-4."
He suggest packer. "Do things that, in the history of the world, has made it at least respond to something, instead of just throwing rubbers in the right rear. But it's up to y'all. I'm just suggesting."
Bootie warned Mikey the #99 would be in the box when he got there. "Ty, I couldn't see. Is anyone in front of us?"
"The 7, the 7."
"Okay, if he pits this time, you might have to stay out."
"10-4. Ty, tell him to work with us. Get us points. Don't be mean," Mikey requested.
Bootie called Billy and Ron over. He said they'd look at the front splitter and other options.
Robby Gordon did stay out and picked up the lead. Mikey was 2nd. David was 6th after his stop, and Marcos was 38th.
"How 'bout you, Bootie?" a crew member asked after a long pause.
"Yeah, I'm here," Bootie replied.
"About the same as it was in practice."
They said there were two to three inches across the front edge.
The race went under the red flag around 1:05pm ET. The rain was sudden, and the sky was blue. The jet dryers took to the track. At 1:50pm, drivers were called back to their cars. Nine minutes later, NASCAR told drivers to refire engines.
"Buddy, you have a copy?" Ty asked.
"I got you, Ty," Bootie replied. "He's still getting hooked up. Okay, Ty, you got me? Okay, I'll give you the low down. Probably, when the pits open, the 7 are going to come." Bootie said they'd make a couple adjustments.
Ty warned that NASCAR probably wouldn't take much time before going green.
"I'll let you know. If you think it's going to be a one to go situation, then we'll just come on yet."
Ty said he didn't think it would, but he'd tell him. "And Robby said he was coming first time by, I'm sure."
Mikey said they should give them a few laps to make sure the track was okay.
Bootie explained what they were doing to his driver. "Ty, the front change will be quick. The stuff we're doing in the rear, we'll come back around to get the shocks."
"10-4." Ty warned Mikey that pit road would not be open the first time around.
"Track looks like it's still damp over here in 4, so I don't know. Maybe they'll run a few laps."
"Okay, excellent. All right, guys," Bootie said. "All right, there's our lap. Okay, Michael, 4200, please. Everybody knows the plan."
Mikey led lap 75 under yellow before making his stop.
"We're going to come on regardless, Michael, get these changes done. Snowman, when you're done, you get out from under that car and... okay, I'm just going to be watching you."
"They're saying pit road is still closed."
Bootie said they were still going to come.
"They've got trucks cleaning off pit road."
Bootie led Mikey into his box.
"We're not going to have as much time as normal. They're picking up the speed on the pace car ten or fifteen miles."
Bootie said that was okay and told Mikey to stay in the box.
"Middle of the back, middle of the back," Ty warned.
"Okay, Michael. We're fine. I'm watching."
"You're going to have to have some pace if you're going to get going here."
Bootie led Mikey out.
"Go ahead and pick it up just a little bit. They're hauling ass down here. Pick it up just a little bit, not too much. All right, go go go."
"All right, we're all good. We got everything."
Scott Riggs picked up the lead when Mikey pit.
"Back of the field to the start/finish, they're saying the track looks pretty good," Ty reported.
"Okay, Michael, we got all the changes done. I know it sucks." Bootie said they'd keep working at it.
"10-4. We'll keep working. We're not going to quit."
Bootie told Mikey to put on his b-blowers. Meanwhile, Riggs went to pit road. Kyle Busch was now in the lead.
"All right, that 36 is going to be allowed to go behind you and the 5. If he tries to. He's not trying anymore. All right, pace car's off. Ready? Green green green. Everybody's rolling."
Busch led the lap 80 restart. Mikey was 38th, David 3rd, and Marcos 29th.
"Clear one back. Still inside, the 34. Still there. Still there. Clear clear. Inside inside. Back to clear, clear. Still down there on your corner, still there, still there. 33 still there. Still there on your quarter. Clear, clear half back. Clear one back."
Mikey was up to 35th on lap 82. David was 2nd, and Marcos was 31st.
"Looking inside. Three-wide, three-wide. Two-wide. That 36 is still down there. Clear there, clear."
On lap 84, Mikey was 36th. Clint Bowyer's #33 had passed.
"30.90."
"It's really really messed up," Mikey complained.
"10-4," Bootie replied.
Ty warned Mikey that the #36 had a run. "Clear three back behind him, the 7. Top side. Still down there. Still there. You're all clear, three back."
"31.25."
"That 7's going to have a big run. He's right there on your bumper. Still clear two back. He's going to have a big run, a big run. Still clear one back. Still outside on your corner, still out there. Clear up behind him if you want it, one back. 7's going to have a run outside outside, outside. Clear there two back."
On lap 90, Mikey was 37th. Robby Gordon's #7 had passed.
"Clear the 88. Still half back to the 36."
Mikey was 38th two laps later.
"31.87."
"Loose in, plowing," Mikey reported.
"10-4," Bootie replied.
"Real skaty. Real real messed up, every corner of the car."
"Okay, 10-4."
"It's the baddest damn thing I've ever felt."
"10-4."
Mikey was 37th on lap 94. Dale Earnhardt Jr had dropped back to 42nd with an ill handling car. David was 2nd, and Marcos was 30th.
"36 right there, looking outside."
David got into the wall on lap 95 and fell to 4th. He'd been saying his car was free on entry. He continued to lose spots.
Mikey was 38th one lap later.
"It feels ridiculous. Totally ridiculous. I can't get near the corner, and then it just plows."
"10-4. Guys, come here."
"Loose in doesn't even..." He got cut off.
"10-4. Got that."
"Just, just really crazy. I wish someone else could feel how shitty this thing feels."
"10-4, man. 10-4. We're working on something else."
"Inside, inside," Ty warned.
On lap 101, Mikey was 39th. David was 5th, and Marcos was 30th. Three laps later, David was back to 7th.
"Okay, Michael, 32.24. You've actually caught a lot of people in front of you who are struggling. So just keep doing what you're doing," Bootie encouraged. "32.31."
"Just, just crazy," Mikey said. "I mean, I guess I should just be quiet and drive."
"10-4. I understand that. 32.28."
"I mean, at Richmond, is the only way I'm making the turns."
"10-4."
"It's the worst car I've ever tried to drive, ever."
"10-4. I copy that. I'm clear on that now. Just keep doing what you're doing."
"I mean, if I've got in-car camera, I can't do anything more."
"10-4. I know.
"32.45.
"37.
"28.
"31."
"Leader at the line... now," Ty warned.
"47.
"31.
"43.
"34."
"Leader line, now."
"46."
On lap 120, Brian Vickers took the lead.
"The leader's going to be in three. Six back, five back. Need to run up top, need to run up top. Four back to the 18. Still clear up top. Outside, clear there."
Vickers passed Mikey on lap 122, putting the #55 one lap down. David was 12th, and Marcos was 31st.
"Two back up top, the 42. He's going to have a big run. Outside, and it's one back to the 48. Clear behind the 48, about three back to the 9. 9 car outside. Clear about four back to the 29."
"Okay, Michael, we're going to pit in about ten laps. Just hang in there."
On lap 127, Earnhardt Jr and Denny Hamlin pit.
"Two back to the 29," Ty said. "Still clear two back. Now he's got a run. Outside. Clear there, three back to the twenty. 20's going to be outside off the corner."
Marcos pit on lap 129, along with qutie a few others.
"Okay, Michael. Pit this time, pit this time. 4200."
"Clear two back. Pit this time. One back to the 99. 4200 at the line, man. 4200. You got them coming outside. 4200 at the cone, 4200."
Bootie led Mikey to the box. David had also pit at this time.
"4200 to the cone, all the way to the cone. All right, here we go."
On lap 131, Vickers made a stop.
"You've got two of them side-by-side. Six back. Got two of them outside, two of them. Outside outside outside. All the way to the top. Behind the 17, three back to the 44."
Joey Logano led a lap before making his stop.
"31.37."
Dave Blaney was next to lead, and he made a stop next.
"22."
Stops had cycled by lap 134, and Kyle Busch was back in the lead. Mikey was one lap down in 35th, David was 13th, and Marcos was 25th.
"24."
"Still there, still there. Still out there on your quarter, still there. Clear clear."
"18."
"08.
"31.15. Great lap."
On lap 137, Mikey was up to 34th. David was 12th, and Marcos was 26th.
"Now it's going to the other side," Mikey informed his crew chief. "Very very loose for five or six laps."
"10-4."
"Both ways for five or six."
"10-4. I know. A few laps, then it goes away. I'm with you. 31.40.
"31.28.
"31.50."
"One back to the 2, one back to the 2. Outside. Still clear." He said some thing about the #99 in 9th place.
"Yup. Yup. Gotcha. 10-4," Mikey replied.
"31.65."
"Inside, inside. Clear behind him. Three back to the 14. Inside, inside. Clear there."
"31.87.
"31.78.
"90."
"Still clear two back. Still clear. The 44 is going to have a run. Outside. It will be clear behind him. Two back to the 11."
Mikey was 35th on lap 151 after AJ Allmendinger passed. Brian Vickers was back out front.
"Clear there, two back."
"31.68.
"31.74.
"31.84.
"31.90."
"Just won't turn, dead centre," Mikey reported on lap 157.
"10-4."
"We've got some rear steer in, on and off, which is okay."
"10-4.
"Yeah, lap times are doing better, Michael. You're doing good.
"31.96."
"11's got a run. He's going to be outside, outside. Still outside on your quarter. Still there."
"31.89.
"31.19."
"Caution's out, caution's out. Rain, I guess, or something."
Lap 165 saw the fifth caution.
Bootie said he'd been listening and asked if there were anything else besides Mikey being tight in the centre of the turn.
"No, just loose as crap on entry, but I can deal with that." "The front end just doesn't turn at all. I just scrub through the middle. I don't stick."
"10-4. We were half a second faster than before, so we'll just try to tweek on it and not screw it up."
"They're bringing the cars down pit road," Ty said.
"No, it's not rained one drop, so they must know something we don't," Mikey said.
"It has nothing to do with the rain. They want to have some Memorial Day tribute. They're asking all the pit crews to go to the edge of the pit box."
Flags were lowered to half mast. The race was stopped as President Obama had asked everyone for a moment of silence at 3pm for the veterans.
"They're going to, 3 o'clock, moment of silence, so they're going to shut down the engines when you get stopped," Ty said.
Engines refired at 3:01pm.
"All right, fire them back up," Ty instructed.
"Everything's good. All right, guys, like we talked about. Four tires and adjustments, guys. Second time by."
"Give me two drinks this time, please," Mikey requested.
"10-4."
When cars restarted, Jimmie Johnson stalled on the track.
"All right, Michael, we can't do it right now. We don't have our eighth man. We're trying to get it," Bootie said.
"It's pretty cool, if you ask me," Mikey commented. "I appreciate somebody thinking of that. I know everyone has someone in their family who served."
Ty told Mikey pit road was closed, then leaders would pit, then they'd come in next. "Here come the leaders."
"The 00 is the only car on the lead lap who has the side wiped off of it. That can't help him much," Mikey said.
"10-4."
"Okay, it will be 4200 with second gear. Shift when the right side drops." Bootie guided his driver to the box. "All the way, all the way. 42. Whoa sh... 42."
"It's all right, guys. I thought I could beat him. I just couldn't get around him."
"Nah, I thought he was going to hit you. Yeah, we're looking about thirty laps to half way, Michael."
"It's raining," Bootie said.
"Copy," Ty replied. At 3:19pm, he said the race would be red flagged.
"This should be all right. It's barely raining in Turn 1. It's good everywhere else.
"On further review, it's starting to rain on the backstretch now."
"10-4."
"I just, I explain all I can, I hope. I hope my information is good enough. It just doesn't have a front end under it at all in the centre of the turns out five la did there made it loose as crap for about five laps there." He said it brought the front around. "Not ideal, but it's better than it was."
Bootie told Mikey he was clear on what he said.
"Yeah, I had it before, so I know it's there. At this track, I can't run up high, and I tried to run up high,a nd I run two tenths slower than I did on the bottom with the brakes on. I know y'all know I'm trying hard, and I am trying hard, but I can't keep up with them, but if I do anything than ride, it just plows plum out of the universe."
"10-4."
"So tell me when you think it's wet, Ty, because it's hot, but it's not really hot."
"Yeah, go ahead."
"Go ahead what?"
"Official said to stay in the car for just a moment," someone said.
Ty said there was no reason to crank up the jet dryers, because it was raining all over the track.
"I can't hear you," Mikey said.
The red flag lasted until 3:42pm ET.
"Got me?"
"Everyone hear me all right?" Mikey asked.
"10-4. I think we ought to give ol' Dwayne a raise."
"There's another pretty bad storm about twenty miles away," Ty reported.
"Can you come up with any good news, Weatherman?" Mikey asked.
"We just call it as we see it. What makes you ask?"
"I mean, there's always a storm coming. Maybe it's 25 laps away, at least. We'll know we're official. I would like to run all night. That would be my goal. I suspect there are a bunch of these pricks I can't outrun today, but I know I can outlast some of them."
"We can outrun some of them now," Bootie replied.
"All right, here we go," said Ty.
"One to go," Bootie said.
"Ol' Bill Elliott is on the lead lap," Mikey commented. "He's really old."
"Before the race, they said his first start here was 1976," Ty replied.
"He's doing a hell of a job, I'd say."
Kyle Busch led the restart on lap 180. Mikey was 33rd, David 14th, and Marcos 28th.
"Ready? Green green green. Still outside. Still outside. Still outside on your quarter, still there still there. Still outside, still there. 11's still outside, got the 83 with him. Got the 2 out there with him, outside. Will be clear there, clear there. One back. Clear four back. Half back to the 14. Still clear, still clear. Still down there, still there. Three-wide there. Got the 19 up top, the 14 on the bottom. It will be clear there, use whatever you want. Clear two back. Still outside to your corner, still there, still up top. Still on your quarter, still on your quarter. Still there."
On lap 185, Mikey was up to 32nd. David was 13th, and Marcos was 27th.
"Still out there. Going to be there off the corner. Still out there on your quarter. Still going to be there, still going to be there. Clear clear clear."
"30.74," Bootie read off lap times.
David was 12th on lap 186.
"65."
On lap 188, Mikey was 31st.
"71.
"78.
"81.
"93."
On lap 193, Kurt Busch pit with a right front vibration. The #2 team put on two tires.
"81.
"95.
"95."
"Clear two back to the 5 car, clear two back. Working the bottom. Inside. Clear behind him, five back."
On lap 195, Mikey was 30th. David was 13th, and Marcos was 26th.
"31.21.
"31.10.
"Last lap was an 08. This was was a 35."
"Still out there. Clear now, clear. Still all clear, two back."
"07. Good lap.
"36."
Mikey was 29th on lap 202; he had passed Casey Mears. Marcos lost the lead lap.
"34.
"40.
"30.
"21. Good lap times.
"40.
"15. Good lap.
"33.
"40.
"65.
"60.
"53.
"74.
"65."
"You're good, man. You're really gaining on these two guys, these two spots in front of us," Ty praised.
"57.
"Last time was a 47, this one was a 54.
"Michael, we're going to stop in about ten laps."
"It's tight in the centre."
"10-4. All right.
"Caution's out. Caution's out, rain."
This was the sixth caution on lap 222.
"All right, Ty. From what I've seen, it's going to blow through. What do you think?"
Ty said he didn't have the radar in front of him.
"10-4. It looks like it's spotty. Shit. Guys, get ready. Most likely, we'll get four and an adjustment. Michael, there are four cars in front of us on our lap. Actually two, but there are nine behind us. It's one of those touchy situations. But I think it's going to blow through, from what I'm seeing."
Marcos got the free pass.
"Yeah, I don't have the radar, so you just have to talk to yourself, not to me."
"Yeah, I'm just talking aloud to myself. It's easier to do." Bootie said leaders were pitting now. "Okay, Michael, we're going to get four. Okay, guys, stop him back a little bit. The 19's going to be coming around him. 4200, Michael. Shift when the right side drops."
David stayed out and picked up the lead. The car had needed a lot of adjustments anyway, and David would have lost at least five spots on pit road. Ryan Newman and Robby Gordon also did not pit.
"All right, so we're coming, right?" Ty asked.
"10-4," Bootie replied."4200."
"Remember, stop him short, because that 19 is coming around. Don't change gears until they drop the right side, brother."
"Okay, I gotcha. 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." Bootie guided Mikey into the box. "All the way all the way all the way. 42 42. 4250, if you need it, Michael. 4250 if you need it."
"That was some good exitting there," Mikey commented.
"Damn right."
"It's starting to rain a little harder. More is coming this way. We'll see."
"It's pouring right now. It's really raining," Mikey said.
"10-4. You've got the 98 and then you on our lap, I think."
"The 71 is up there somewhere."
"I think he stayed out," Bootie replied.
"Man, I swear, I don't know what to tell you. It's so tight in the middle, it's so loose in. Then you get all by yourself, and you're all right. I drove right around a dude, and I tried to run the same line, and it plowed. It's really raining now."
Bootie said Mikey made his best time on the bottom. "But I did see what you were talking about. There's no way you can tell. That was by far our best run, so we'll keep working on it from there.
"Well, if MWR ever needs a monsoon, this is it."
"I'm praying," Mikey replied.
"Yeah, I'm praying with you."
Mikey noted it was raining in Turn 4 when it had been in Turn 2.
"Yeah, we need to lose the track here, pretty quick," Ty said.
"That's an excellent observation. I'll go with that."
"He only has eleven more laps of fuel."
"The rain is getting heavy in 2, so we'll see."
"Yeah, they're bringing them down pit road now." Ty said it was coming from Charlotte by the lakes.
"Sounds like we're surrounded."
"West is pretty good."
"I hate to be a whiner, but we had one of these taken from us last year on the last lap. So maybe if we were given one."
Bootie asked if Mikey had his b-blowers and brake fans on during the last run.
"Yes. I've had them on since the race started, and the reason's why, as the temperatures got higher, I pushed worse, so why wouldn't I?"
"All I'm saying is that we had a red flag condition. I didn't tell you to turn them back on."
"I wasn't being a smart ass. I'm just saying why wouldn't I? We were plowing?" He confirmed the fans had been on since the start. "The car has gotten a lot better, but it's still nowhere near where it needs to be."
"10-4, 10-4."
The race was red flagged at 4:19pm on lap 227. Drivers got out of their cars. David stayed just outside of his, leaned over the covered #00 in the rain without an umbrella. People like second place Ryan Newman and his father Buzzie came to see him, but for the most part, he stood alone in the rain. As the rain came down harder, Mikey and Ty joined him. Soon, crew people were by his side. A crowd formed around the driver of the Aaron's Dream Machine who, despite being given a bottled water, would not eat or drink. It appeared that he wasn't even allowing himself to breathe.
The race was called at 6:28pm, and David was declared the winner. Mikey won his first Sprint Cup race as a car owner and David and crew chief Rodney Childers their first Cup race ever.
Next Sunday is the Sprint Cup's Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway. Coverage begins at 1:30pm ET on FOX. The Heluva Good 200 takes place the day before, airing at 2:00pm on ABC.
Coca-Cola 600 Post-Race Transcript
An interview with:
DAVID REUTIMANN - Winning driver
RODNEY CHILDERS - Crew chief
MICHAEL WALTRIP - Car owner
BUZZIE REUTIMANN - Father
KERRY THARP: We should be joined by our winning driver, David Reutimann, in a few seconds, and crew chief Rodney Childers. We have team owner Michael Waltrip at the podium and we'll roll with Michael.
Congratulations with this victory, Coca Cola 600. Your thoughts about your initial win as the owner of your own race team?
MICHAEL WALTRIP: It's incredible to be able to progress from where we were in '07 as a new organization, and then compete all throughout the latter half of '08 and into '09 at a level I've been really proud of. We've seen cars run in the top five, a couple of solid finishes for me last year late in the season with a chance late in the race at Daytona with a chance to win.
I'm real proud of the progression and real proud of the job that David did today. Obviously his crew chief made an awesome call. I think they were surprised that more people ahead of them didn't make the same call. But what a great call.
You got to be proud of the result because these things are really hard to win. David and I both have been in position to win races before, had fate take it away from us. So I like to think of this as payback. David won the race, and I couldn't be happier.
KERRY THARP: Speaking of David Reutimann, driver of the 00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota. David, your thoughts, emotions? I imagine those minutes out there on pit road seemed like hours and hours. Congratulations on this win today.
DAVID REUTIMANN: I think we sat on pit road eight hours today is what it felt like. We just kept waiting. Rodney and I talked. I was like, I've been in situations like this before, obviously not in a Cup race, but different situations. This deal never goes my way, so I don't see why it should now (laughter).
We talked about what we were going to change on the car when we came down pit road. Rodney told me, I'm either going to get us a win or lose us 10 spots, one or the other. It's a gamble. I said, I'll stay out. That's what he told me to do. That's what I do. When I'm told to do something, I generally do something. Don't say nothing, Mike. 0 With that being said, I'm proud of the whole organization. Everybody has done a great job. Man, it's fun, but it felt like I was out on pit road for a month. I wanted either the sun to come out and it quit or just pour. It just kind of stayed in between. Mike assured me that's what it needed to do, we were going to be in good shape. I told him he was crazy. I continued to tell him there was no way this was going to work.
I'm still waiting for Mr. Helton to come down and say, Hold up for a second, we changed our minds, we're going to do something different, try to finish the deal tomorrow (laughter). I've been avoiding him I think for that.
KERRY THARP: Crew chief Rodney Childers, talk about that decision you made that ultimately led you to Victory Lane.
RODNEY CHILDERS: Like David said, I didn't even put much thought into it, to be honest with you. I told him, Hey, we're running 14th, to make the adjustments we need to make, we're going to lose four spots on pit road and come out 18th. There's 24 cars on lead lap. So we either take a chance on winning this deal or we restart 24th. We stayed out. Like David said, it seemed like it was never gonna end standing out on pit road. Definitely wore my shoes out, for sure.
It's just a cool deal. I've always wanted to win my first race here. It means a lot to me, this track. Born and raised 30 minutes from here in Moorseville. You know, I think when I was about 12 years old I told my parents I would win my first race here. At the time I thought it was going to be as a driver. It all turned around to work out good.
Just really proud of all the guys. You know, they deserve this. We kind of gave a couple of them away this year. We've just worked hard as a team. It's a lot of fun.
KERRY THARP: NASCAR is a family sport. At the far right we have father of David Reutimann, Buzzie Reutimann. Your thoughts about your son winning this race today?
BUZZIE REUTIMANN: I'll tell you what, if you could have heard our driver whining out behind the wheel of that car, I was sitting there, Rodney said, Stay out, I thought, Oh, no, we made a mistake. If they restart this race, we're going to get killed. He complained about everything there, too tight, too loose, pushing the front end, car was going backwards, I'm getting run over out here, all that sort of stuff. I have to hand it to Rodney, he did make the right call.
I tell you what, people, it's been a long road. It's taken us a long time to get here. I'm afraid I'm going to wake up in the morning and find out I'm dreaming all of this. Wow, words can't describe how great a father would feel to see his son to win a race. Seeing that number 00 up on top of the board, one of the greatest feelings in the world.
KERRY THARP: We'll take questions for this championship Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota.
Q: David, what did your daddy say to you during the rain delay? What has it meant to have Rodney, somebody you competed in earlier years, be your crew chief?
DAVID REUTIMANN: Well, I actually think dad was probably as nervous as I was because he kept coming over and asking me if I wanted anything to eat or drink. I said, no, I don't want anything to eat. You should drink something. I'm fine, I don't want anything to drink. I think he was as nervous as I was about it.
I told dad the same thing, these things don't ever go our way, I don't know why it should now. It felt really good to do that. To have Rodney and I race against each other in different series before, nobody expected us to have any kind of success I think right off because it takes time for a crew chief and a driver to gel. But we just brought Rodney in. Man, I like what he does. He doesn't ever really get excited. I get excited. I get on there. His standard reply is, 10 4, man, we'll make it better. And that automatically calms you down and I need that because I get hyper a lot of times. It doesn't always benefit us.
I'm proud of the guys. We had good pit stops today. We didn't have exactly the car we needed, but we were working on it to get it to that point. Rodney made the great call and got us the win. That's what it comes down to.
Q: Michael, can you talk about why David is one of your drivers. He's not young, you had to find sponsors for him every year.
MICHAEL WALTRIP: Not that good looking.
Q: Very few top 10s in the first few years. Why is he here?
MICHAEL WALTRIP: We couldn't find anybody else (smiling). Works for cheap. Don't ask a whole lot out of anybody. So it just worked out for us.
Well, I will now tell you the serious answer to that question. My brother started a truck team. We wanted David to drive the truck. He was our first choice. If we could get him, that's who we wanted. He was successful at the truck. We moved him into the Nationwide car. He was successful there. We knew the commitment that he has to racing. He is all in when it comes to racing a car. He was born and raised in the back of a hauler chasing his dad all over the country racing dirt cars and winning races. So it's just a part of his DNA, it's who he is.
He was a guy that was an easy sell for me to Aaron's because of how he handles himself and the way he races a car. His first year in Cup, of the three years in '07, he clearly outran the other two. He was the fastest guy we had. '08, that was the case again. So every race that he would run, every lap he would make, it proved to us that we made a good decision.
I love David. He's a great person. The reason why we were smart enough to pick up on him was because Joe Nemechek gave him a car to race a few years back. I think he went to Memphis and sat on the pole or something. I knew David Reutimann, but it was a Nationwide car and he just got in it and was fast.
So what he did prior to coming to us, it just showed us he had the ability to be a guy that could be special. We were real fortunate. I think David will tell you that it's been more of a family relationship for the Waltrips and the Reutimanns than owner/driver/employment. We believe in him. We love him. It started with Darrel. He did a good job there. Everybody at Toyota appreciated the way he did things. We were able to sell him into the sponsors as he progressed into the Nationwide car and into the Cup car.
But I will say that there was nothing the best part of the whole day today was a couple things. But one was when his dad hugged him, winning one of these races. That's incredible, great feeling, because of their history. For me as an owner to get to hug my driver, that was something that I dearly missed today with not winning the Daytona 500. I was waiting for him to come hurt me because he would have hugged me in a way that hurt. I kind of warned David, I'm feeling pretty good about this hug I'm fixing to give you. So that hug was for David and it was also to sort of make up for something that I missed out on when I won a race one day.
Q: David, I noticed during the 2 hours, 3 minutes you stood out there on pit road not eating, not drinking, not doing anything, that you never got an umbrella. Were you afraid if you put an umbrella up, that was going to jinx something?
DAVID REUTIMANN: No. I just knew leaning on the car was working. So I figured I shouldn't change up my system any. Mike is like, You're not going to leave, are you? Mike, if a tornado, hurricane comes, doesn't matter, lightning, I'm staying right where I am till the bitter end or till we go back green again. I wasn't going to move.
I was leaning on the car, it was still raining, so I'm going to stay where I'm at and see what happens.
Q: Rodney, were you a little surprised that the 13 cars ahead of you didn't do the same thing?
RODNEY CHILDERS: I don't know. You know, once you get, I don't know, from about 12th to 25th, that's when people really make a big gamble. The weather had been so sporadic all day, you really couldn't tell what was going on.
You know, the guys in front of us, they probably thought that we would end up going back green and finishing the deal out. They had good enough track position that they didn't want to give it up, either.
We were kind of in a spot, like I said, we were gonna lose some spots, but it was a gamble that we were willing to take. Like I said, I don't know what they were thinking, but I'm glad we did what we did.
Q: David, is the Aaron's sponsorship a full season sponsorship or is that kind of unfolding or partial?
DAVID REUTIMANN: It's full for this year. But for next year, it is not. We're looking to fill in for the next year. If you'd like to get on the car, you can talk to Michael. If anybody wants to get on the car, you can talk to Michael (laughter).
Q: TV showed a bit of the exchange with Tony Stewart in the break. If you were on the lead lap, I'm unclear what his beef was, why he had an issue with you actually racing for position.
DAVID REUTIMANN: Well, what you do in a situation, when you have a very long race, a guy runs you down from half a straightaway or another car gets to you, at that point it doesn't really pay off for anybody to race one another. So generally kind of the unwritten rule, everybody does it, you motion a guy by and let him go so you don't hold one another up. Doesn't make any sense to race hard at that point in the race.
I think Tony felt like I raced him a little harder than I should have. That's all it was. That's all it was. Tony and I are cool. I talked to him. He gave me a phone call on the way in. Tony Stewart has in many ways been one of the guys that's helped me out the most because there's been many, many times where I've been in his way and there's been a lot of those times, especially my rookie year, he never came down and chewed me out, got all over me or anything like that. He always tried to help me. This is another situation where he was just trying to help me.
Yeah, I mean, we didn't see eye to eye on it. I think he's one of the best guys out there, one of my heroes. That's what bothered me so much, you don't want your hero being mad at you. In the end, there's really no problem. I think there wasn't a whole lot going on. Maybe was good for TV for the short amount of time, although it was not intended to be that way. But, yeah, in the end, no big deal. Tony and I are good.
Q: David or Michael, if you were the franchise before today, what are you now?
DAVID REUTIMANN: Go ahead, Mike.
MICHAEL WALTRIP: We took that off his car because I think it went to his head a little bit. He started running into stuff. We said we're going to remove that. Now he won, so we're not going to put it back on there.
But, you know, he has been and in my opinion will always be the cornerstone of MWR because of what he's accomplished for us, especially getting his first win. We wanted people to notice him. He was doing so many wonderful things. So we nicknamed him that.
He's actually the one that told us to take it off the car, right?
DAVID REUTIMANN: Yeah. Things weren't going too good, so I figured we better try something different (laughter).
Q: David, you're the sixth guy to score his first win in the 600. The other guys are David Pearson, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth and Casey Mears. Your reaction to being listed among that group?
DAVID REUTIMANN: I mean, to be listed there's some pretty significant names on that list. Although, yeah, honestly I really didn't even know how to feel about this whole thing. When you try so hard and you struggle and things are starting to go your way and then they don't, over a while you maybe become to the point where you're like, I don't want to get my hopes up and get too pumped up because you don't know what's gonna happen. Now I'm having a hard time relaxing and enjoying the moment. I know I will.
That's one of the last things that Tony Stewart told me on the phone, Enjoy 'em because they're hard to come by. You're talking about a guy who's won a lot of races. He knows how hard they are to come by. It's an honor to be on a list with some of those guys, very talented guys. Man, this is probably one of the greatest days of my life with the exception of the birth of my daughter. This is pretty cool.
Q: David, you came up in an era when the sport was looking at a lot of young drivers. Were you ever worried that you might have gotten passed up because there was that youth movement or was that ever a concern as you worked your way up from Busch and Truck?
DAVID REUTIMANN: Yeah. Through many interviews, I sat where people asked me, How does it feel to know you probably will never get to the Cup level? I would ask them why. They would say, It's a longshot. It's a longshot I even made it this far, so why should I start worrying about the odds? It's one of those deals with I figured if I acted the right way and did the right things on the racetrack, did those things, at some point somebody would want me somewhere. I was hoping anyway. So I was just racing. That's all I was trying to do, keep my head down and focus in on what we had to do at the time, hoping at some point maybe somebody may notice.
When I started racing, I wasn't racing to be an NASCAR driver. I was just racing to race, to be able to be like my dad, make a living at racing. So, you know, when I was at East Bay Raceway running for $350 to win in a late model feature, I wasn't concerned about being here, I was concerned about making it to next week. That's been the mentality my whole life.
Now as you come up and you finally get this opportunity, you're like, Wow, this is really, really big, more than I could ever imagine. Things like this don't happen to guys like me. It doesn't. You guys know that. How often does it happen? Can anybody here tell me? It doesn't happen. I'm thrilled. I know I'm blessed to be in the situation I am with the team I am, the car owner, the people that surround me. So I never take any of that stuff for granted, never, ever. Not a day goes by that I'm not thankful for what I have, good days or bad, because opportunities like this are few and far between. I've been blessed to be in the right situation.
Q: Could you identify the pit crew member that FOX was referring to as Billy Bad Butt all afternoon.
DAVID REUTIMANN: I think I missed that. Was the guy bald?
Q: Yes.
DAVID REUTIMANN: That would be Dwayne Bigger. He's a mechanic. I hated that kind of happened. But he's my crew guy. Anybody up and down pit road, even if their driver is wrong, we're going to take up for their crew guy. I hated that happened. I didn't want him and Tony to have any kind of altercation. That would have never happened. I hated that it went down like that.
He's doing his job. I don't want anybody to fault him for that. I wish it hadn't gone down like that. But in the end, you know, crew guys stick up for their drivers. At least when you got a good crew they do. Like I said, I've had guys stick up for me even when they knew a hundred percent I was wrong, they still stood right there with me and made sure I didn't get beat up.
Tony is a pretty big guy. He didn't say he was going to beat me up.
Q: David, what exactly were they saying to each other? Do you like that nickname for him?
DAVID REUTIMANN: I think he likes that. There's definite T shirt possibilities for that at some point.
No, they were just you know, I was like this is kind of getting out of control a little bit. I was trying to be the voice of reason in there. So I don't really know exactly what was said.
Really at the end it wasn't all that big a deal. I think Tony was a little aggravated. Tony is a fiery guy. That's just his nature. Dwayne is equally as fiery. You put those two personalities together, you have those kind of things happen sometimes. In the end, it's really no big deal. It's not a problem, you know, I don't think.
Q: David, did you have to stay by your car during that whole time or was that your decision? Can you talk about the rain would start, stop, were you ever looking like how much wetter does it need to get before they finally call this thing?
DAVID REUTIMANN: I was thinking that a lot. I got out of the car, I leaned up against it. I knew when I got out of the car it was raining. I was leaning up against the car, it was raining. I just said, I'm just gonna stay here. Plus it was a pretty good walk back to my pit box. I thought we were going to go back green, so I didn't want to waste too much energy. I was happy where I was.
When I got out of the car, originally there wasn't a whole lot of people around there. So I could just kind of think about what was going on. As the day progressed, it got a little more congested down there. You know, nobody made me stay there. I just didn't want to go any farther.
Q: Did you think about how wet it needed to get?
DAVID REUTIMANN: Yeah, it would never rain hard but it would just be kind of steady. Made it very difficult to get the race in. I was thinking, Man, at some point when is enough enough? But I understand what NASCAR is doing. They're trying to give the fans a race, a full race, what they paid for. They're doing their best to do that. I totally respect that. At the same time you're standing out there, there's more weather coming, it's off and on, off and on. How long do you drag the deal out?
In the end, you're at the mercy of what they're trying to do. I think they did the right thing by trying to get the race in at all costs. The fans deserve that. I think that was the right move.
Q: David, I know you've told this story a million times, but what shop were you at when you got the phone call? You said you thought people were playing pranks on you.
DAVID REUTIMANN: I was actually at home fixing to have dinner. I was working at Nemco Motorsports for Joe Nemechek. I was trying to drive a Nationwide car for him. I moved up there and sponsorship kind of fell through. I was working in the fab shop building crush panels, side skirts, other stuff like that. The guys were always busting on me. Dwayne was one of them. He's been with me that long. They would get on the loud speaker, Roger Penske is on line one, Richard Childress is on line two. All kinds of guys. This would go off and on during the course of the day.
Then I got home. Phone rings. I pick it up. The guy said he's Darrel Waltrip. Come on, I can't even get home and they're bugging me. I stuttered. I started to say like, Man, you guys just leave me alone. The caller ID was on the back of the phone. I flipped it over and looked. It was not a number I recognized. Certain wasn't a 704 area code. The name Waltrip was attached to the end of it. Wow, this is for real. It was Darrel Waltrip calling me at home just before dinner. That was phenomenal.
I had never spoken to Darrel Waltrip in my life. I watched him on TV, that was it. I never shook his hand. Never even set close to the guy. Never got a chance to see him in the garage. Never had any interaction with him at all except for that one night at home. Said he had a truck team, a Toyota truck team, was wondering if I was interested in driving it.
I offered at that point to drive to wherever he was and sign on a dotted line. It's been a great relationship. Mike is right, it's been like a family deal. He's been like a second dad to me. He chewed my butt just like my dad has before. Every time he's done it, it's made me a better driver. I owe a lot to Darrel Waltrip and the Waltrip family.
Q: Michael, does this make your decision about your role next year more difficult or easier, knowing you have a team that's now a winning team, and maybe now you can step aside?
MICHAEL WALTRIP: I don't know that it affects it at all. I just want to drive a car. I want to be the best I can be in the NAPA car. That's all I'm focused on. I really respect what David and Rodney are able to extract from their car. I love to see our cars running well. So there was a point during the race today when I was probably the fastest of our cars, but we couldn't put a race together.
I don't think it's gonna affect my decision what I'm gonna do going forward one way or the other. It just makes me real proud to be able to say that we had a plan and we were able to execute it.
Q: I noticed the 55 team also went in with the 00 into Victory Lane. How important is this to Michael Waltrip Racing as a whole and how important is it to morale for both teams?
MICHAEL WALTRIP: Well, I will say, and Rodney has worked at other places before, but I think our team, MWR, is more cohesive than anyplace I've ever worked certainly. We all want to see each other do well. It's genuine. Whether you are an Aaron's guy or NAPA guy, you just wanted to be there to hug. Same way with Marcos' team. They're a part of our organization. That's something I'm proud of at MWR. Some of the folks that worked in other places, they said, This is just a good place to work. People like coming to work here. When you have that going on, then obviously you're going to get results, things are going to go better if that's the attitude of your employees. That's something I'm really proud of.
Q: David, what is it going to be like to see your name on that trophy they have this year? Did you try to lift it?
DAVID REUTIMANN: I definitely didn't try to lift it. I knew it looked pretty big. Mike told me before, have you seen the trophy because it's really, really big and heavy. Yeah, I mean, they gave me a ring. That's stuff that nobody can take away from me. It's pretty amazing that we're going to be on such a cool trophy. I mean, it amazes me that all this cool stuff is happening right now. It's just such a blessing to be a part of this deal.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to actually seeing it on there and actually seeing it, 'cause that will make it real I think to me. I can't wait for that.
Q: Do you have a place for it at your house?
DAVID REUTIMANN: Do I get one? We'll probably put that at MWR.
MICHAEL WALTRIP: I think you should take it home.
DAVID REUTIMANN: I don't have a place for it.
MICHAEL WALTRIP: Might have to sleep with it a while. I've got a couple stories about some trophies I'll tell you later (laughter).
DAVID REUTIMANN: Well, I never saw that one coming. I'll find room for it somewhere, for sure. I would add onto a house to house that baby. Really, I get a duplicate of it? Nobody told me that. Why am I always the last one to find out this stuff?
Q: Michael, is David still so much fun to mess around with that you guys still do prank calls and stuff on him?
MICHAEL WALTRIP: No. You know, he's earned his position at MWR, so nobody messes with him much. I shouldn't say that. They do kind of jacks with him a lot.
DAVID REUTIMANN: All the time.
MICHAEL WALTRIP: Like why he doesn't come to the gym, where he's been, what he's doing.
DAVID REUTIMANN: No prank calls. For the record, I go to the gym. I don't work out with Michael because his trainer is completely crazy.
MICHAEL WALTRIP: Yeah, but she gave me my first ab. That's big.
Q: David, you're six points out of 12th. Talk about the win, what that can do as far as your Chase hopes, momentum, motivation.
DAVID REUTIMANN: Well, our team's pretty self motivated. I don't think we need to do anything in that way to motivate our guys. Gets you closer to pack to where you're supposed to be. We've been inside the top 12 a good portion of the season, slipped back a ways. The only way you're going to get back in the hunt is to run well and finish well. We've run well the last couple weeks. We just haven't had the finishes to show for it.
That's great. I'm glad it got us closer to where we need to be. But we got to get deeper inside that top 12 in order to kind of solidify ourselves. If you do have a bad race, it doesn't hurt as bad. Where you are right now, things can change so quickly, everybody is so close in the points, you have a bad race, you're back to 15th again. You have to do all you can to avoid that.
Q: There will be some people who question the calling of the race, probably those who did pit. Talk about the effort that went into the last two days, trying to get this in. Do you think the fans got what they hoped for?
MICHAEL WALTRIP: Well, I mean, I've never questioned NASCAR's commitment in their decision making process. Last night, people were like, We should wait longer. It wound up raining all night. That decision was obviously the right one. There's weather coming now. NASCAR knows it takes close to two hours to dry a track, so that decision was the right one. There's been men and women working here for three or four days trying to get this event in. You have to have some compassion for them, as well.
NASCAR went as hard and as long as they could to try to dry it. When they saw it wasn't going to happen, they made the decision.
Who deserved to win the race? Who won the race off pit road? Who stayed, who didn't? You can argue that all day long. I think given the information and the call that Rodney made, he being the first one to make it, I just would hang my hat on that.
As a winner of a rain shortened race before, eventually they'll quit asking all those questions.
KERRY THARP: Congratulations to everybody from Michael Waltrip Racing.
-credit: nascar
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=329500
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