David Reutimann preview

David Reutimann, Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver David Reutimann plans on double-duty this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Reutimann will drive the No. 99 Pastrana-Waltrip Racing Toyota in Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide race and the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine in Saturday’s Sprint Cup race. Reutimann brings confidence and optimism every time he boards the team plane for Texas Motor Speedway and circles the date on his calendar months in advance in anticipation of a strong run. Both of Reutimann’s victories in the last two year’s have come on the high-speed 1.5-mile ovals similar to Texas where Reutimann captured the pole in 2009.

REUTIMANN QUOTES

ON TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Texas is a track that we really like a lot. It’s a fun racetrack and a place where I enjoy going. For some reason it’s been a racetrack that I’ve enjoyed running ever since my days in the truck series. It’s one of my favorite racetracks. I think I probably like it so much because we’ve run so well there in the past – that probably helps a lot. In the end I think it’s just the overall design of the racetrack and the fans that come out for the event and the way they promote it. The feel of the whole weekend just makes it a fun weekend. I don’t know exactly what it is, but we definitely enjoy running there. I’ve always ran well there and I haven’t had a chance to run two races in a weekend there in some time. This may be my only shot all year to run both races, so I’m going to go out there and try to make the most of it.”

IS TEXAS ONE OF THE RACETRACKS THAT YOU CIRCLE ON THE SCHEDULE AND SAY WE SHOULD PERFORM WELL HERE: “Absolutely! There are a couple racetracks on the schedule that we look at that way and Texas is definitely one of them.”

DO YOU FIND ANY BENEFIT TO RACING BOTH THE NATIONWIDE AND CUP RACES IN ONE WEEKEND? “I think sometimes it’s helpful. Obviously both the Nationwide and the Cup cars are different, so there’s not a lot of stuff that crosses over, but I feel like it never hurts to get more time on a racetrack. I’m always learning something whenever I’m on the racetrack no matter what series it’s in, so I don’t think it’s a huge benefit, but it definitely doesn’t hurt you either. If you run good in the Nationwide race there is no guarantee that you’re going to run good in the Cup race, but any time you are behind the wheel is a good thing.”

ON QUALIFYING AT TEXAS: “It’s really just about feel. You know how good your car is and you have confidence in your car. Qualifying is important everywhere. I wouldn’t say that qualifying at Texas is more important than say a place like Martinsville, Phoenix or even Richmond, but qualifying is always important. You need to start towards the front. There are guys that are up there every week that are going to qualify up front and you want to race around and be one of those guys.”

-source: mwr