David Reutimann

Reutimann in 2013.

**Emil David Reutimann** is an American professional stock car racing crew chief and former driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Pepsi Cup Series, driving the no.35 Ford for Front Row Motorsports in 2014. Reutimann is remembered for being the winner of the 2009 Coca Cola 600 due to rain.

## **Career**

### **2005: First Start**

In 2005, Reutimann made his Pepsi Cup Debut, driving the no.69 State Fair Corn Dogs Chevrolet Monte Carlo as Micheal Waltrip Racing’s second Pepsi Cup entry. Reutimann qualified 26th and finished 22nd.

Reutimann would not run any Pepsi Cup races in 2006, however despite this, it was announced in December 2006, that Reutimann would drive MWR’s no.00 Toyota full-time in 2007.

### **2007: Rookie Year**

Reutimann’s rookie year began on a bad note as he and his fellow MWR teammates, were found to have illegal fuel additives in their cars.   This culminated in MWR being fined $100,000, on top of that, all three MWR cars were penalized with a loss of 100 driver and owners points and their qualifying time from pole day on Feb 11 were thrown out.

Reutimann did qualify into the 500, and ran in the top twenty throughout most of the event, before being taken out of the 500, following a crash on 173.

The following race, at California, Reutimann was involved in a vicious crash. With 4 laps left in the race, Greg Biffle tapped his bumper, sending his car head-on into the wall. Upon impact, the car exploded in flames and slid backwards. The red flag flew, as Reutimann had instantly fallen unconscious. Paramedics came to the wreck, extinguished the flames, and helped a sore, dazed Reutimann out of his racecar. He was airlifted by a helicopter to a hospital. Reutimann suffered a minor concussion, a cracked rib and a few bruises; despite the injuries he returned to the track the next weekend at Las Vegas.

The following eight races were a nightmare for Reutimann as he didn’t finish inside the top 30, until the 2007 Crown Royal Presents The Jim Stewart 400 at Richmond, where he got his first top thirty finish with a 28th place run.

However the following four races saw more bad performances until Michigan, when Reutimann scored his first top twenty, by finishing 15th.  The rest of the season would end up repeating a cycle of bad finishes below 30th followed by a good finish above the top 20. By the end of 2007, Reutimann scored four top twenties with a best finish of 13th at Richmond in the fall.  He placed an abysmal 39th in points.

### **2008: Improvements**

Reutimann began the first five races of 2008, driving the 00, gaining three top twenties at the Daytona 500, Atlanta, and Bristol.

Beginning at Martinsville, he would start driving the No.44 Toyota at MWR, replacing Dale Jarrett after he retired at Bristol.

Reutimann showed massive improvement throughout the 2008 season, gaining four top tens with a best of 9th at California and Richmond in the fall, including his first pole in the finale at Homestead.  He placed 22nd in points.

### **2009-2011: Return to the 00**

Beginning in 2009, Reutimann would return to his old No.00 car after MWR shut down the No.44 team, after UPS left for Roush Racing.

Reutimann’s first highlight of 2009, was his first top five with a fourth place run in the 2009 Shelby 427 at Las Vegas, with several top twenties. He would also get his second career pole at Texas, and finish in the top ten again at Phoenix the following week.

On May 24, he qualified well in the Coca-Cola 600 but the race was delayed due to rain. The next day on lap 222 his crew chief Rodney Childers made a call to conserve fuel which put Reutimann in the lead. A few laps later on lap 227, a rain shower soaked the track for the second time of the race, red-flagging it with Reutimann in the lead. Reutimann spent a 1-hour wait praying and planning backup plans with boss Michael Waltrip and his pit crew. Despite blue skies being shown nearby the track, officials declared that the rain would last for the remainder of the night and called the race, thus giving Reutimann his first Pepsi Cup series win in the Coca-Cola 600 and Waltrip giving him a full-time sponsorship until 2011.

A week after his amazing victory, Reutimann would win his second pole of the season at Dover, finishing the race in 18th on the lead lap. The next week at Pocono, Reutimann would end up finishing 3rd, and would get another top 5 at Loudon a couple races after. Reutimann would end up getting five more top 10's at Indianapolis, Michigan, Atlanta, Kansas, and Phoenix. Reutimann would go on to finish the season 16th in the point standings.

The following year, he would start the season with a personal best finish in the Daytona 500, finishing 5th. Reutimann won his second career race at the 2010 at Chicagoland when he ran in the top five throughout the night, and passed Jeff Gordon with over seventy laps remaining, and help off Carl Edwards for the win.  He would also get five top fives, and seven top tens. However nine finishes outside the top 20, and three DNF’s earlier in the season led to an 18th points place finish.

In 2011, Reutimann would run horribly since his rookie year four years prior, not scoring a top ten until the 2011 Coca Cola 600. His only highlights of the year were a second place finish to Kyle Busch in the inaugural race at Kentucky Speedway, and a scary crash at Watkins Glen with David Ragan.

At the end of the year, due to the bad performance, Reutimann could not reach an agreement with Aaron’s for 2012 leading to his release from MWR.

### 2012: Multiple Rides

In 2012, Reutimann signed with Tommy Baldwin Racing, to drive their no.10 Chevrolet for most of the schedule, while also signing a deal with the newly-formed BK Racing to hopefully run the full 2012 season split between both teams.

Reutimann was announced to drive BK's no.93 Toyota in that year's Daytona 500, while the TBR 10 was being driven by Danica Patrick in 10 races, to gain some Pepsi Cup experience before going full-time the following season. Reutimann started 38th in the 500, but crashed on lap 196 causing him to finish 26th.

For the next nine races, Reutimann drove TBR's no.10. In his first nine starts in TBR's 10 car, Reutinmann's best finish was 21st in the fourth race of the year at Bristol. Reutimann caused a controversy at the April Martinsville race when the No. 10 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet stalled on lap 497, drawing a caution. He was accused of intentionally causing the caution after limping around the track for a few laps at speeds well below the rest of the field. The result was a broken timing belt and Reutimann was credited with a 35th-place finish. He insists he was just trying to keep the car in the Top 35 in owner's points; the team left Martinsville just one point outside a guaranteed start

At Darlington, Reutimann returned to BK's no.93, where he managed to finish the race, and bought the 93 to a 36th place finish, several laps down. The following week at Charlotte for the Coca Cola 600, Reutimann was moved to BK's third part-time entry; the no.73 while other driver Travis Kvapil was moved back to the 93. However only 40 laps into the 600, Reutimann's transmission broke, forcing him out of the event in 49th.

Reutimann returned to TBR in the following event at Dover. At Pocono, he drove Phoenix Racing's no.51 Chevrolet after the team couldn't find a driver for the event. He would then take the next two races at Michigan and Sonoma after deciding to take some weekends off from racing. He would return in TBR's no.10, for the race at Kentucky and the next two races, where he scored his only top twenty of 2012, by finishing 11th in the Coke Zero Firecracker 400 at Daytona. Reutimann would participate in the remaining races of 2012, except for Indianapolis, Watkins Glen, The Bristol Nigh Race, the fall Atlanta event, Chicagoland, Dover, Kansas, and Texas. He would make the first start for the new team, Xxxtreme Motorsports at the fall Phoenix race in the No. 44 No Label Watches Ford, finishing 40th after a vibration.

### 2013: BK Racing

On January 18, 2013, BK Racing announced that Reutimann would drive the No. 83 Toyota during the 2013 season, replacing the 83's previous driver, Landon Cassill.

Reutimann started the season a high note, finishing 16th in the Daytona 500. However the team would struggle through the season, not recording another top-20 finish and a whopping nine DNFs. Reutimann finished 33rd in points. Reutimann departed from BK after the season.

### 2014: Final Starts

Reutimann began the 2014 season without a ride in any of NASCAR's top three divisions, however in March it was announced that he would drive the Pepsi Cup No. 35 Ford for Front Row Motorsports in six races, although he qualified for all six, his best finish was 29th at Auto Club and Richmond. It was the last time he ran a NASCAR-sanctioned race.