The start of a new season brings promise and optimism for every team in Nascar and Michael Waltrip Racing is no different. Every team is undefeated and and they each have an opportunity to win the Sprint Cup title at season's end.
So when the 2011 season rolled around, it was expected MWR would build upon the strides it made in 2010, strides that included David Reutimann winning at Chicagoland Speedway, Martin Truex, Jr coming within laps of winning the Daytona 500 and both drivers contending for Chase berths. As Speedweeks 2011 in Daytona progresses, it looked as if this was going to be the best season yet for the Toyota organization. Reutimann and Truex had competitive cars and Michael Waltrip (making an occasional start, this time to honor the ten year anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death and his first Daytona 500 win) had won the Camping World Truck Series race and finished third in his Gatorade Duel qualifying race. Then race day came and all of that optimism and luck vanished. Waltrip bumped Reutimann a little too hard and started a large pileup that ended their days and Truex was taken out in a wreck within laps of the finish.
The team's luck spiraled out of control from there. Truex saw a sure win at Richmond disappear when a crewman left a lug nut loose after a pit stop and Reutimann has had fast cars and never had any luck to go with it. Both drivers have been capable of reaching victory lane, but the circumstances have just never been right. Luck is just as big a factor in this sport as talent.
So when the Sprint Cup cars rolled into Kentucky Speedway for the first time, it was going to be a great weekend. Reutimann was fast off the truck, Truex's team made gains and Mikey was going to make the race and honor his brother Darrell's induction into the hall of fame. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans.
About half of the cars had made qualifying laps and Mikey was one of them. He timed in fourth quickest and was a lock to make the race and maybe even get a great finish. Until the rains came. Nascar decided to abort the rest of qualifying in favor of getting the Nationwide race in on time, which meant that Mikey and his No. 15 team had to pack up and go home because they didn't have enough 2011 attempts to make the field. Waltrip and his team had a car capable of doing something really special Saturday night and didn't even get to race because of a technicality. David and Martin both started mid-pack.
When the race started, Truex's team had some definite work to do, as they were running around twentieth place. Reutimann on the other hand, had raced his way up to the top ten and then the top five. On a round of pit stops, a caution caught Reutimann's No. 00 Tums team a lap down and it looked as if that little black cloud had followed them to Kentucky. But they quickly got the lucky dog, got back on the lead lap and raced back to the leaders.
Mikey may have missed the race, but if one of his teams could win the race, it would be just as big for the Owensboro, Kentucky native as winning the event himself. On the final restart, Reutimann got the best restart of the season and passed Jimmie Johnson for second as they came to the white flag. Unfortunately, the Tums driver needed the race to be called the Quaker State 401 because he would have passed Kyle Busch for the win easily with just one more lap.
Yes, Reutimann winning the inaugural Kentucky cup race would have been the highlight of the year for the whole MWR team, but a second place finish is still something for the Rodney Childers led team to be proud of. It was their first top five this season (and their second top ten), but it was also the kind of finish that they should have been getting all season long. They proved Saturday night that they are a team that can contend for wins on a weekly basis and a team that should be taken seriously. Reutimann's style is to fly under the radar, and because of that, he rarely gets the credit he deserves. He's a great guy and a heck of a racer and one way or another, he and his team will win a race or two before the season is over. It's just a matter of time.
No comments:
Post a Comment