Darlington: David Reutimann preview

CORNELIUS, N.C. -- Most race fans who follow No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann know his father Buzzie Reutimann taught him an awful lot about racing. The 1997 Dirt Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee's racing exploits are legendary up and down the east coast.

Less familiar is David's mother Linda Reutimann who will visit Darlington Raceway this weekend to celebrate Mother's Day. Don't look for Linda on top of the pit box or in the Sprint cup garage. Instead, David says, she'd prefer a seat in the grandstands to watch the action on the historic track.

REUTIMANN ON MOTHER'S DAY: "I always have my Dad (Buzzie Reutimann) there, I mean, almost always -- and that's really special to me. My Mom (Linda) always spent a great deal of time with me in the grandstands back when we were younger and she tried to keep me out of trouble. She spent lots and lots and lots of time at racetracks. Mom is really, really low key. She likes to come to the races, she may come in to see me for a bit, but then she normally goes and sits in the stands because she always feels like she's in the way or something like that. And let me be the first to tell you that she's never in the way, but she just likes to be very low key and doesn't like to be in the middle of things. I think she comes to a weekend like Darlington a bit reluctantly. She comes because she knows that I like it, but I don't think that it's her style for sure because she's so quiet and reserved. I enjoy having her there with me, so I'm glad that she comes."

REUTIMANN ON DARLINGTON: "Darlington definitely earns its nickname -- that place is just tough! I mean, that name is just spot on. That place is way too tough to tame. It's hot and it's a tough racetrack. It's a long race and it's just a really, really tough racetrack. It's one of those places that will just flat wear you out."

REUTIMANN ON GETTING HIS FIRST DARLINGTON STRIPE: "Geez, I've had so many. I don't know if I really remember the first one. I think my first Darlington stripe came in my first truck race there. I think I got it during the race. Everyone was telling me that I was going to get one at some point. When it finally came I was like, well, at least I got that out of the way. Then as the race went on there was another five or six before the race was over with, so yeah, that place has not been especially kind to me over the years. We are going to try and turn that around this time and improve our season a little bit and get us headed back in the right direction again."

ADDITIONAL NOTES OF INTEREST

* Reutimann has finished 20th or better in six of the seven races that he has been running at the finish in 2010--and 15th or better in five of the seven. In his three DNFs (Did Not Finish), Reutimann was racing in the top-five of all three races at the time of the issue leading him to retire from the race. (5th at Atlanta, 2nd at Bristol, 5th at Atlanta).

-source: mwr