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Reutimann Laments Missed Chance

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By TONY FABRIZIO The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 9, 2008

LONG POND, Pa. - Zephyrhills' David Reutimann appeared from a shower in his motor coach drained from 500 hot and frustrating miles at Pocono on Sunday and disappointed about letting a victory slip away the night before at Nashville.

"The car wasn't very good all day," Reutimann said after finishing 19th Sunday. "We never really could seem to make it better."

Reutimann appeared headed for his second career Nationwide Series victory at Nashville before a late caution flag negated the five-second lead he had built and bunched the field.

On a restart with eight laps remaining, Clint Bowyer passed him coming out of Turn 2 and then Brad Kesolowski passed both of them to win the race.

"It wiggled a little on me coming off of Turn 2, and I let Clint get close enough to me," Reutimann said. "I don't think he hit me, but with those cars, if you get close enough, it loosens the guy up.

"I feel like we gave that one away. Those races are hard to win. All races are hard to win. That's a little tough to deal with."

With his third-place finish, though, Reutimann climbed from fourth to second in the standings.

LOTS OF MILES, BUT ...: Kyle Busch became the first driver to compete in NASCAR's three national divisions on the same weekend at different sites, but his triple didn't measure up to the standard he has set this year.

After starting with a second-place finish in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas, Busch wound up 20th in the Nationwide Series race at Nashville and last at Pocono.

He started from the back of the field Sunday because he crashed in practice, and while moving up through the field, he plowed into Jamie McMurray and caused both to crash.
Joe Gibbs Racing repaired his car, and Busch returned to the race 87 laps down. But he spun out with 22 laps remaining.

"We broke the mirror trying to adjust it before the race, and I couldn't see anything out over my right-rear quarter-panel," Busch said of why he hit McMurray. "The spotter didn't say anything. I apologized to McMurray for wrecking their day."

Busch has 10 victories in the three series, including four in Sprint Cup, and he still leads the Sprint Cup standings.

ALL OVER THE BOARD: A.J. Allmendinger ran in the top 10 much of the day and finished a career-best 12th, but the other former open-wheel stars in Sunday's race had a tough day.

Juan Montoya, racing for the third time with Zephyrhills' Brian Pattie as his crew chief, crashed when Bowyer spun out in front of him. Sam Hornish Jr. spun out three times and on the third time, ran into fellow former Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti.

Franchitti, competing in his first Sprint Cup race since breaking his ankle at Talladega in April, wasn't too happy with Hornish, who he said drilled him in the high-speed first turn.

"He must have been doing 50 mph more," Franchitti said. "Maybe his brakes failed or his brain failed, I don't know."

ONE HOT CAR: Drivers have yet another complaint about NASCAR's new car: On a day as warm as Sunday, they're unbearably hot inside.

"We want to keep the cars light and go fast but we're killing ourselves," Brian Vickers said. "We're going to the infield care center after the races and that's ridiculous."

Third-place finisher Denny Hamlin said the new car is "way hotter" than the old car.

"The ventilation is not near as good, even though we have a bigger window," he said. "I just think the way that the exhaust has to run in the car, it's closer to the floor board."

Race winner Kasey Kahne looked fresh after the race and said his team has worked on routing the exhaust heat away from him.

HOT LAPS: Kurt Busch fared much better than his brother, rallying from a Lap 39 spin to finish eighth. It was his first top-10 finish since he was second in the Daytona 500. ...Michael Waltrip crashed on Lap 157, finished 37th and fell out of the top 35 in owners points for the first time this year.

Tony Fabrizio

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