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Reutimann: Best Finish Shows Our Progress

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By TONY FABRIZIO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 13, 2007

Coming off a career-best finish of 13th in last Saturday's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond, Zephyrhills' David Reutimann heads into the final stretch of his Nextel Cup rookie season. In this week's edition of his Tampa Tribune diary, Reutimann talks about his team's improving Car of Tomorrow program and his prospects this weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway.
We participated in the Car of Tomorrow test this week at Talladega. There's a lot of interest in next month's race at Talladega, because it's the first COT race on a restrictor-plate track, and the race is part of the Chase.
I thought the car felt real stable and was easy to move around, so I think we'll see the same kind of racing we've been seeing at Talladega. The cars didn't seem to drive much different than the current car, but handling doesn't really come into play much at Talladega. The track is so smooth, and there's so much grip. It's not like Daytona.
We feel good about getting a 13th-place finish last Saturday night at Richmond. Thank the Lord, we had a lot of good things happen during that race. Most of the season, we've been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and this time we were in the right place when we needed to be.
I had a good car, and everything we needed was good. It was just unfortunate that we got the car off about three-quarters of the way through the race. We got it back there at the end, but had we not lost that momentum for a while, maybe we could have gotten a top-10 finish. But I'm happy. We were racing with a lot of good guys, and when you can do that, obviously it means you're gaining on it a little — at least for one weekend.
The Busch Series is off this weekend, so we'll focus on the Nextel Cup race at New Hampshire. It's a one-mile track that hasn't been too bad for me. We had one top-five and another top-10 finish there in the Craftsman Truck Series, and if we hadn't had a plug wire problem during the Cup race there in July, we would have had a decent finish in that one. We did finish eighth there in the Busch Series race that weekend.
We're seeing some progress with our Toyotas at Michael Waltrip Racing. I'd say the cars I've had for the last two Nextel Cup races have been the best cars I've had all year.
NEXTEL CUP ROOKIE STANDINGS: 1. Juan Pablo Montoya 218; 2. David Ragan 204; 3. Paul Menard 176; 4. David Reutimann 156; 5. A.J. Allmendinger 108.

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TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE

new hampshire international speedway • hampshire international speedway • david reutimann • craftsman truck series • last saturday night • wrong place at the wrong time • chevy rock • nextel cup • new hampshire international • tomorrow program • tomorrow test • restrictor plate • three quarters • final stretch • tampa tribune • good car • rookie season • busch series • talladega • zephyrhills

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