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Bristol: Reutimann post race interview

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 99 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finished: 3rd Are you disappointed that you couldn't have raced for the win? "You don't ever know what's going to happen with the weather. I would've like to see ...

Published: Mar 16, 2008, 5:44 AM

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DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 99 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finished: 3rd

Are you disappointed that you couldn't have raced for the win?

"You don't ever know what's going to happen with the weather. I would've like to see it go green a little while longer, to see what we could've done with those guys. With the rain coming and washing us out, a third place finish isn't that bad, either. The race was going pretty good. We were working in the Aaron's Dream Machine. Jerry Baxter (crew chief) and the guys made some really good adjustments on our Toyota. That last long run we were pretty good."

Are you excited for Sunday's race with the car you have?

"I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's race. The downfall is that we have to start 37th. The key will be to just stay on the lead lap early."

What are your thoughts on your performance prior to the rain?

"We were pretty good -- we were just tight early on. That last run there, Jerry Baxter (crew chief) and the guys freed up the car and made it better in the throttle off the corner. I know those guys were going at it pretty hard up there, but we were running them down at a pretty good clip. I had some clear race track and those guys were racing pretty hard. I would liked to have been able to get up there and see what could have happened. At least I could have had a better view of what was happening. We were running them down and then the rain came. I never expected it to last as long as it did -- I expected that we would be going back to green, but that's pretty much irrelevant now. Jerry Baxter and the guys gave me a great car today and Toyota did a great job. Toyota Racing Development does a real great job at making sure that everybody who gets their motors from there gets the same motors with the same horsepower so we all have the same thing all the time and that's pretty cool to have."

How aware were you of where the rain was and how soon it would hit the race track?

"There's a lot of weather forecasters on the pit box at that point and some of them are better than others. My spotter told me that it was raining and I didn't really need him to tell me that because there was some on the windshield, but it wasn't bad. We could have kept going there for a little bit longer I think. At that point I was going as hard as I could to try to get those guys anyway so it didn't really make a difference, I was going just as fast as I could go to get to that point. The rain came and cut it a little short, but all in all I think it was a pretty good effort."

What gambles do you plan on taking tomorrow in order to gain track position?

"I don't really know what Ryan Pemberton (crew chief, NSCS) has up his sleeve on the Cup side, but I'm sure we'll have to do something. We had a very good car in all of our practices and feel like we have a good car for the race, but unfortunately starting 37th is a pretty tough road ahead of us. It may be a situation where we end up taking two tires or staying out sometimes just trying to gain that valuable track position because it's tough to come by here. We have our work cut out for us tomorrow, but I'm glad we had a good run today."

How closely do you watch the points at this point in the season?

"We always look at every aspect of the points. Most of the stuff that I look at is the driver points because I can relate to that easier than I can anything else. You're never really points racing, but you're always trying to gain the most points you can. You're always aware of what's going on around you and whose doing what and whether it's going to be a good day or a bad day for you in points. For the most part, when I go out there I'm racing and not concerned about points -- we're just trying to win the race and I let the crew chief keep up with the points. Hopefully at the end of the year we'll be where we need to be in that equation."

-credit: toyota motorsports

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