Reutimann and Tums Team Fast Acting in Windy City Victory

If you still don't believe that nice guys can finish first, you weren't paying close enough attention to Saturday nights race at Chicagoland Speedway. The perfrmance that David Reutimann put on was one not t be missed. Reut led three times for 52 laps, including the final 32 and he held off a hard charging Carl Edwards to net his second career victory.

The race started with a very spirited rendition of the national anthem by Jim Cornelison, the Chicago Blackhawks anthem singer. Then the field was in the hands of polesitter Jamie McMurray who led the field to the green. His lead was short lived however, as Jimmie Johnson grabbed the top spot before lap one was completed. Jamie Mac continued his slide through the field, getting shuffled to fourth by lap six. Reutimann was climbing and by lap 36, he was battling Greg Biffle for fourth place after starting seventh.

The first yellow flag of the night waved on lap 39 when David Stremme slapped the wall. Johnson led the field to the restart on lap 43, followed by Martin Truex, Jr, McMurray, Biffle and Reutimann. Johnson's #48 Chevy led for a long time, while McMurray's #1 Chevy was right on his tail. Meanwhile, Michael Waltrip Racing teammates Martin Truex, Jr and David Reutimann were solidly in third and fourth respectively.

The lead changed hands on lap 96 when McMurray grabbed the lead when Johnson ducked into the pits for service. However the 48 missed its pit and Jimmie was forced to come back around to his crew again. David Reutimann slid his Tums Camry in front of Truex Jr's NAPA Camry to grab second place on lap 116.

The caution flew again on lap 129 for debris in turn two. After pit stops, Jamie Mac and Jimmie Johnson led the field back to the green on lap 137. It didn't take long for the yellow to come back out when Jimmie's #48 made contact with Martin Truex's #56, sending the Lowe's Impala spinning through the backstrech grass. Neither car received damage. McMurray and Jeff Gordon led the field as the green flag flew again on lap 140.

Gordon grabbed the lead on lap 166, making him only the third leader of the evening. On the next lap, Reutimann passed McMurray for second place and set his sights on the #24 car up ahead of him. Reutimann's teammate, Truex, had slid back to eighth place by lap 178. The yellow flag came out for the fourth time on lap 180 when Bill Elliott's #21 Ford got into the wall and then T-boned by Robby Gordon's#7 ending both drivers nights. Elliott and Gordon both walked away, despite the severity of the damage.

The green flag on lap 189 saw Jeff Gordon, leading Clint Bowyer, McMurray, Reutimann and Carl Edwards down into turn one. It was at this point that points leader Kevin Harvick took his #29 Shell Pennzoil Chevy behind the wall for his crew to adjust on. Points frontrunner Kurt Busch was also having a terrible run of it, racing around 30th place all night.

By lap 203, the race was on! Reutimann was giving Jeff Gordon all he wanted as the two duked it out for the top spot. Reutimann finally grabbed the lead on lap 213 and his #00 Camry was on a rail as he proceeded to gap the #24 car. Then final pit stops began to take place. This was the money stop. If you want to win, you have to have a flawless stop.

Reutimann and Gordon were the first to blink, pitting on lap 233, handing the lead to Bowyer. Clint pitted on the next lap and passed the lead to Edwards. Juan Montoya grabbed the top spot next time by as Edwards and Truex pitted. Then on lap 236, Reutimann regained the lead and never looked back. Despite complaining of a bad vibration and a closing Carl Edwards, Reutimann held on to stun the field and grab his second career Cup Series win!

A tearful Reutimann pulled into victory lane and stood on his car, arms raised in triumph in a shower of beer. This was not just another win, it was vindication. It validated what Reutimann had worked for his entire life and proved that his win in last years Coke 600 was not a fluke, that his run at the Chase was not a fluke and that he will be a driver to contend with in the future. It was also nice to see a driver be genuinely excited about winning a race, instead of the Jimmie Johnson's and Denny Hamlin's that win every week with the same manufactured excitement. David's win, as well as his emotion, was real and you could see the relief on his face. The questions about whether or not he could win a race that went the full distance were answered now. Another question was also answered that night: Yes, nice guys CAN finish first!

The Biff Wins and Reutimann Spins

The third race of the 2010 Chase finished up Sunday and it was not without controversay. First off, congratulations to Greg Biffle and his #16 Roush Fenway team. After two disasterous races at Loudon and Dover to kick off their Chase, a win in Kansas would be the perfect remedy to get them back within striking distance. And after starting 5th, running in the top 10 most all day and leading three times for 60 laps, the #16 Sherwin Williams 3M Ford pulled into victory lane at days end. But despite this dominate performance from "The Biff", he is not what everyone is talking about this week.

No, not a lot of people are concerned with lap 267. Instead, the media is blowing what happened on lap 152 out of proportion. Lets start at the begining. On lap 52, David Reutimann was spun out by Kyle Busch, sending the back end of the #00 into the outside wall. This took away any chance that the Aaron's Dream Machine had of winning the Price Chopper 400. This was also the third time in four races Reutimann has been taken out of a good run. Kurt Busch dumped him in the first fifteen laps at Richmond and Ryan Newman did the same in the first 25 or so at Dover.

That is also why Reutimann's crew chief Rodney Childers told his driver over the radio to eihter start hitting people back or the team would need a new crew chief. Reutimann would erase his reputaion as the series punching bag on lap 152 when he slid up into Kyle's #18 car, slamming the rear of the M&M's Toyota into the wall and spinning out his own car in the process. At first glance, it appeared that Busch would just need a new set of tires and that Reut had just made himself look like an idiot. But the damage was done. The whole rear suspension of Busch's car was destroyed, the rear end housing was bent, the truck arms were bent and the 18 team's top 5 car was relegated to a 21st place finish one lap down. Reutimann's potential top five car was strapped with a 35th place finish, eleven laps down to the leader. But just why is this so controversial?

Well, Busch said after the race that Reutimnn could have "wreck me in any of the first 26 races next year. That would've been fine" because he was in the Chase and "racing for something" implying that Reutimann wasn't since he isn't a Chaser. This ignited a firestorm of controversay in the media that hasn't been seen since Busch dumped Dale Jr at Richmond in 2008.

My opinion as a fan of D-Reut since his rookie year in 2007, and even if I wasn't, I have no problem with what happened. Reutimann was wronged and had his shot to win taken away. And he may have done just that since he won at a similar track, at Chicagoland Speedway, earlier in the year. Another key to this whole incident was that Busch, although he did so in his post race interview, never got on his radio and told his spotter "Tell the 00 that was my fault" or "Tell him that was an accident" or even "Tell him I'm sorry." Any other driver would have done that. But Busch drives like he owns the track. He has been known to run through drivers on his way to the front of the pack , as well as for the win and Reutimann assumed that he was just the next victim since he had not heard otherwise.

There was also the aspect of using cars for payback, a practice frowned upon by many crew cheifs and crew members (for obvious reasons). Media memebrs were talking about how the 18 crew and Joe Gibbs Racing puts so much effort into their cars and didn't deserve to be taken out like that. So I guess that Michael Waltrip Racing's cars don't cost as much as the ones that JGR builds. MWR works just as hard, if not harder, than the Gibbs organization to build race winning cars for their drivers and that first wreck will be just as costly to them as the second wreck will be to JGR.


But feuds between drivers on and off the track have been an ongoing theme this season. Ever since Robin Pembeton uttered the now infamous words "Boys, have at it" back in January, the competition, as well as the tempers have been red hot. Heres hoping that this season ends with the same excitment and passion that it started with.

Hamlin Wins Pocono Snoozer

Another race at the Pocono Raceway, another win for Denny Hamlin and his #11 team. The senior driver at Joe Gibbs Racing, Hamiln has had the Tricky Triangle figured out since his arrival on the circut, sweeping both races there in his rookie campaign. There was also not a whole lot of question as to whether Hamlin would win or not. The FedEx Toyota was the class of the field, leading eighty eight laps on the day and netting the five bonus points for leading the most laps. Hamilin's closest competition was his teammate Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing stablematres Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton. The only teams that led a lap undeer green were the Gibbs, Childress and Penske teams. The action was also hard to find in this race, as the cars get so stung out and it becomes harder to pass, there were not a lot of cautions or chances for teams to use atrategy calls to get out front.

As the race progressed, Jamie McMurray backed his McDonald's Chevy into the wall and Casey Mears, subbing for Brian Vickers, was spun by Elliott Sadler. But on one of the final restarts, the Penske tandem of Kurt Busch and Sam Hornish, Jr led the field to the green. Hornish was able to hold the lead until about fifteen laps to go when he was passed by the #11. Then off of turn three, business picked up. Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano made contact going for position, with Logano spinning off Harvick's front end. The sophmore Logano did avoid contact and move back up to a twelfh place finish.

We fans did get our action after all because on the last lap, A.J. Allmendinger blocked Richard Petty Motorrsports teammate Kasey Kahne, sending Kahne's car down to the grass, back up the track and head on into the wall. At that same time, Jeff Gordon hit the #9 Ford square in the door, sending the back of Kahne's car in the air, and simultaniously collecting Mark Marin, Martin Truex, Jr, Elliott Sadler as well as a few others. After Hamlin won the race, TNT interviewed Kasey Kahne and asked him if he would talk to A.J. before next week, Kasey said that he didn't talk to Allmendinger on a good day, so why start now?

But in the end, all the cameras were focused on the #11 team and how they had netted their fourth win of the young 2010 season and Hamlin's four win in his career at the Tricky Triangle. This could be the year that the FedEx team delivers an upset, lives up to the preseason hype and dethrons Jimmie Johnson as reigning champ.

Ailing Harvick Finds Bud Shootout Win To Be The Best Medicine

Well after two crazy practice sessions that sent five teams to backup cars and the blind draw for qualifying spots, it was time to kick off the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season with the always exciting Budweiser Shootout. One of the teams that was forced to a backup was Kevin Harvick's, but Harvick was not the one who wreck his primary car. Kevin was back in North Carolina until Saturday night, sick with flu like symptoms. Teammate Clint Bowyer is the one who totaled Harvick's #29 Chevy. In the second practice, Harvick's other teammate Jeff Burton parked his #31 Chevy to make a few laps and shake down the backup #29. Harvick surfaced in Daytona the next day and, thanks to crew chief Gil Martin's lucky draw, started second on the outside of Carl Edwards.

The first twenty five lap segment of the race was fairly uneventful and was ended when Michael Waltrip's #51 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota was spun off the front end of Joey Logano exiting turn two. The teams then got ten minutes to debrief with their crews about what to adjust to make their cars drive better and handle good enough to win. At the start of the final fifty lap segment Carl Edwards led the field to the start again. This segment had a little more action and it didn't take long to get started. Kurt Busch got clipped by Mark Martin, sending the "Blue Deuce" through the infield grass. This was a single car wreck, but it was still spectacular because when the #2 cars splitter dug into the grass, the air under the car forced the hood to fly up and block Busch's vision causing him to hit the outside wall head on. This was Busch's second wrecked car in as many days. Other than Mark Martin's car all of a sudden stalling, not much else happened until eight to go.

That is when Michael Waltrip's #51 NAPA car was hooked from behind and put in the wall by Ryan Newman's #39 car. Mikey is on his farewell tour and as of now, the Daytona 500 and the Bud Shootout are the only races on his schedule. That was the last thing Mikey needed. This wreck was followed by a green white checkered finish and Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne running first and second respectively. It turns out that "The Biff"should have pitted instead of staying out because going into turn three, he lost a right rear tire and wrecked several cars. Its still hard to tell if that is what happened or if Biffle's #16 car was hit from behind by Jeff Gordon's#24. Both drivers say it was a flat tire. This froze the field and even though the race was supposed to end under green, the cars rode under caution for a lap and a half and Harvick was declared the winner under yellow flag conditions.

That is why NASCAR is considering having multiple attempts at a green white checkered finish to ensure we fans see a green flag finish every week. They may even implement it as soon as the Gatorade Duel 150s tomorrow afternoon at 2pm on SPEED. The Duels provide some of the best racing of the year and will either make or break several drivers seasons. I'll tell you right now that Michael Waltrip is going to be in the Daytona 500. Because of his qualifying time, if any of the cars that timed in on speed in qualifying last Saturday race their way in, Mikey gets in on his speed. But he won't need it. I firmly believe that the #51 NAPA Camry and its MWR crew will be in Daytona's victory lane tomorrow afternoon. If anyone can win in a restrictor plate race, especially when the pressure is on, its Michael Waltrip. He is in a really great position to be able to go out with a bang on Sunday afternoon in the Great American Race. Good luck Mikey!!! Give 'em hell brotha!!!"

NASCAR To Announce Major Changes Next Thurday

Next Thurday, january 21st, it is rumored that NASCAR will announce dramatic changes to the racing and the cars for the forseeable future. There is speculation that the sanctioning body will make public their intentions to replace the wing on the rear of the cars with the more traditional (and much sportier) blade spoiler, as well as dumping the front splitter in favor of the front valence the cars possesed prior to 2008. There are also rumors swirling that they will eliminate the "No Bump Zones" as well as the yellow line rule at Daytona and Talladega. All of these changes have amazing potential to return the spectacle to this recently lackluster sport.

The most drastic of these changes involves the substitution of the wing with a spoiler. This is a step in the right direction. There is no doubt that a spoiler on a racecar looks a lot racier and sleeker than a big, bulky wing. There is also no chance for air to get under a spoiler to lift the car off the ground. NASCAR says that Ryan Newman's flip at Talladega had nothing to do with the wing. But they also didn't say what they thought did cause the wreck. Now, anyone who knows a thing about airplanes knows that lift is created when air flows over, as well as under, the wings at a particular speed. On a stock car, there is a gap between the wing and the decklid (since the wings are removable) and if a car moves backwards at close to 100mph (as Newman's did) there is going to be air traveling under the now backwards facing wing. This will create lift instead of downforce. I'm by no means a physics or engineering major, but that seems about like how it would work. Anyway, aside from helping to keep the cars grounded, the spolier would also help to create more downforce to keep the backs of the cars glued to the racetrack better. This would lead to better handling cars and thus, better, closer racing.

Replacing the splitter with a valence would really help to complement the spoiler. Not only would it make these cars look like what stock cars are supposed to look like, as well as allow teams the ability to adjust their shock and suspension packages with greater freedom than in the past few seasons when bump stops were manditory for all the teams shocks. There would also be no need to have annoying brackets afixed to the front of the car and there wouldn't be ill handling cars from the splitter hitting the track and sending the car up the banking. The valence would allow the cars to suck up to the track better, as well as allow for more freedom with the amount of shock rebound teams can dial into their cars.

The third bomshell that may drop next week is the elimination of the yellow line rule and "No Bump Zones" in time for the February 14th Daytona 500. This could lead to some of the best racing that fans have seen at Talladega and Daytona in years, especially since it was reported by Jayski.com that NASCAR will also be giving teams a larger restrictor plate for the season opening 500 miler allowing the cars to reach slightly higher speeds and not be in less tight packs. Eliminating the bump free zones in the corners at these tracks would also eliminate boring racing. The drivers would be forced to police themselves (which is how it should be) as well as allow them to race side by side instead of in a single file line for more than half the race (as was the case last November). The yellow line is also something that needs to go. Yes it serves a purpouse, but it causes a lot more problems than it solves.

The yellow line rule has caused a controversial finish in two of the last three races at Talladega in 2008, Tony Stewart forced Regan Smith below the line coming to the finish. Smith, not wanting to start a huge wreck, ducked under the line and, at the same time, passed Stewart. Somehow NASCAR took Smith's not wanting to make a bonehead move as intentionally passing Stewart illegally to win the race. Stewart was awarded the victory and the next day on This Week in NASCAR, panelist Greg Biffle said that next time they went to 'Dega there would be a huge wreck because NASCAR was sending a message to not avoid a wreck if you can. Just do what you have to to win the race. Biffle was right.

In the 2009 Aaron's 499, Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski passed Ryan Newman and Dale Jr for the lead and in the last hundred yards of the trioval, Brad went to pass Carl, Carl went to block and Brad didn't give. This sent Edwrad's #99 off Newman's front end and up into the catch fence injuring several fans.Edward's walked, scratch that. Edward's ran away from the wreckage and crossed the line, imitating the ending of "Talladega Nights." The rookie Keselowski later said he was just doing what he had to to win. NASCAR's message was delivered loud and clear. Had the line not been there, the drivers would have had a few feet of apron to work out their real estate issues. And the yellow line rule is only a recet occurrence. The races held before the yellow line rule were just as sane, if not saner than with the line there.

i don't have a time as to when this announcement will take place, but on January 21st NASCAR may just bring their sport back from the wayside. These new rules will create amazing competition for seasons to come. I urge anyone who reads this, if you have never seen a NASCAR race before, start NOW. If you have, you know what the last few seasons were like and how much better this season will be with these changes. I will keep you abreast of what comes from his announcement. 2010, here we come!!!

UPDATE: NASCAR made it official on January 15th that they will transition from the wing back to the classic blade spoiler in the Sprint Cup Series, possibly as early as the fifth race of the year at Martinville. Series Director John Darby sent a memo out to the Cup Series organizations informing them of the change and announcing that there would be a test Mach 23rd-24th at Charlotte Motor Speedway for all the teams. The next race on the tour after the test would be at Martinsville, the earliest possible opportunity for the new hardware to make its raceday debut. There will also be a Goodyear tire test with Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers January 19th-20th where the spoiler will be used on the back of the driver's machines.

NASCAR Changes Format For Bud Shootout Again

Here we go again. For the second time in three year, the qualification requirements for the Budweiser Shootout were changed again. The opening race of Speedweeks was once only a field of the previous years Bud Pole Award winners and previous Shootout winners. But in 2008, when Coors Light began to sponsor the pole award for NASCAR's premiere series, the format for the race was changed.

Instead of allowing Coors Pole winners in the Bud Shootout, NASCAR decided to allow the top six cars from each of the four manufacturers from the 2008 owner points. Later, they added a wildcard seventh driver who was either a past champion or the next highest car for that manufacturer in the owner standings. This led to a twenty eight car field, which lead many fans and drivers to question where the exclusivity the event once possessed had gone.

Now, in 2010, a new format has been thought up to create more of an emphasis on drivers who have performed well at Daytona through the years. Now the field will include the twelve Chase drivers and rookie of the year from 2009, as well as past Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400 and Bud Shootout winners. Past series champions are also admitted into the 2010 season's inaugural event.

This would be a good setup, if there were more drivers with jobs in the field. NASCAR got what they wanted and got Dale Jr in the show as a past winner (he was twenty fifth in points and would have been out with the top six format), but they excluded several competitive drivers in the process. Drivers who won races and had a strong 2009 are now forced to watch at home. Coke 600 winner David Reutimann, the "Tasmanian Devil" Marcos Ambrose, Martin Truex, Jr, Elliott Sadler and other competitive drivers will be replaced with drivers like Derrike Cope, Geoff Bodine, John Andretti, Terry Labonte and Sterling Marlin who have not run a cup race in several years. Cope's last win was in 1990 and Bodine hasn't run a Cup event since Dover in 2004. So why should they get to race over a proven winner like Reutimann or a hot shoe like Ambrose? Having guys like Jeff Burton and Michael Waltrip in the race is exciting because they will actually contend for the win, but digging up has-beens like Andretti, Bodine and Cope to help raise the level of competition has got to be the most ridiculous thing I've seen NASCAR come up with in some time. Absolutely unbelievable.