NASCAR Cup

Michigan II: David Reutimann Monday rain notes

BRISTOL LURKS AROUND THE CORNER FOR REUTIMANN AND NO. 00 BURGER KINGÂ® TOYOTA CAMRY TEAM BROOKLYN, Mich. (August 20, 2007) -- This morning David Reutimann watched from his motorhome as rain fell on Michigan International Speedway (MIS) ...

Published: Aug 23, 2007, 7:40 PM

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BRISTOL LURKS AROUND THE CORNER FOR REUTIMANN AND NO. 00 BURGER KING® TOYOTA CAMRY TEAM

BROOKLYN, Mich. (August 20, 2007) -- This morning David Reutimann watched from his motorhome as rain fell on Michigan International Speedway (MIS) continuing to hinder the running of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series 3M Performance 400, which was washed out Sunday.

"When the race gets rained out like it has, it pretty much upsets the week for everybody," Reutimann said. "They had the jet dryers on the track this afternoon and now it's starting to drizzle again. We'll see if we can get it in today. If not, we'll be back here tomorrow."

After qualifying 12th in the No. 00 Dominos.com Toyota Camry, Reutimann is anxious to get the race in, go home and then move on to Bristol Motor Speedway, where the BURGER KING® Toyota Camry returns as the primary sponsor.

"It's been a long weekend," Reutimann said. "Thankfully, we're 100% prepared for Bristol and the car is ready to go. It's just difficult on our crew guys. We've been in Michigan for five days now and the weather hasn't been good to us today. Once we get this race in, we can shift our focus fairly quickly to the Bristol race and return to our work plan for this week."

Not only did Reutimann miss out on a normal work week of activities, but he also missed his five-year-old daughter's first day at Kindergarten today.

"I was so disappointed that I missed Emilia's first day at school," Reutimann said. "Lisa (Reutimann's wife) took her to school and she told me that it went really well. Unfortunately, it's kind of how things go when you get to do what you love. You are forced to be in situations where you miss out on things that are so important. There will be other firsts for her, but the first day at school is hard to miss. She's doing well and I'm thankful for that. We're all just ready to go home to our families."

Following his effort at MIS, Reutimann knows his No. 00 BURGER KING® Toyota Camry team is under a time crunch to make it back to Michael Waltrip Racing, load and send the transporter on the road to Bristol, Tenn. Reutimann's crew chief has assured him that they are ready for the Sharpie 500 weekend at the .533-contrete oval.

"It's going to be such a quick turnaround for all the teams," crew chief Frank Kerr said. "The hauler drivers are going to be the ones to have the most trouble. Thank goodness we had all of our Bristol stuff ready. We just have to fine tune on some things on Wednesday and of course, we will all chip in and help our hauler driver. We'll be more than ready for Bristol."

With Bristol having a new concrete surface, there is a level of uncertainty for teams according to Kerr.

"It's going to be a guessing game because no one knows," Kerr said. "Our BURGER KING® Toyota Camry team will have to go off of what the Busch car does on Friday and take an educated guess. We missed the race there earlier this year and we are not going to miss it this weekend."

Since 2004, Reutimann has posted one NASCAR Busch Series top-10, one NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series top-10 and one NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series pole award (2005) at Bristol Motor Speedway.

"I have always faired well at Bristol and I'm looking forward to racing on the new surface in the No. 00 BURGER KING® Toyota Camry for the first time," Reutimann said. "Fortunately, I was able to test a Busch car (No. 99 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota Camry) there in July. The new surface was great. I think they are changing the tires a little bit from what we tested, which will bring a whole new level of uncertainty like Frankie mentioned. Goodyear always brings a good tire. It's the same old Bristol, which is a difficult track. The new surface will make the racing better if that's possible because there's nothing like racing at Bristol at night."

Live coverage of the Sharpie 500 on Saturday, August 25th begins at 7 p.m. live on ESPN and PRN Radio.

-credit: mwr

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