Reutimann gets surprise win at Chicagoland
It was a tearful victory at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday when David Reutimann won his first cup in 42 races. The feel-good win of the year had the NASCAR driver “about to cry” and crew chief Rodney Childers choking back tears to congratulate Reutimann on his amazing win.
“I really wanted this one for David. He wanted to win one on his own,” said Childers after Reutimann received 129 points on leader Kevin Havrick in the Sprint Cup standings. It was Reutimann’s second Sprint Cup victory in the Lifelock.com 400.
Reutimann was relieved to finally finish a race all on his own. The last race he won was the Coca-Cola 600 in 2009, and Reutimann only won because he was sitting at the front of the red-flagged field when the race was called due to the rain.
"I heard so much stuff for winning a rain-shortened event," he said in Victory Lane of his previous win. “Tonight we earned it.”
Havrick struggled to a dismal 34th place finish, crushing his hopes and spirits after winning Daytona last week. Havrick is the points leader and has won twice on this circuit but wasn’t a threat on Saturday.
There are seven remaining races and then the top 12 are locked into the playoffs. Reutimann is in 15th place, only 96 points away from 12th. It’s doable, but Reutimann can’t rest on his laurels just yet. Two other drivers sit on the cusp of the final 12 cut off. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in 13th after finishing 23rd at Chicagoland and Mark Martin, perennial favourite, is in 14th. Clint Bowyer displaced Earnhardt to grab the 12th place spot with a fourth place finish on Saturday.
During any race there is a 161 point swing possible between two drivers. Gordon is now just 103 points behind Havrick. Gordon cut Havrick’s lead in half, although that could once again change in one race. Gordon was looking like the race winner until Reutimann initiated a 15 lap duel for the spot and eventually won it with 54 more laps to go.
“I knew David was strong,” said Gordon; he has been win-less all season, “He ran us down.”
Reutimann also held off Carl Edwards and beat him to the strip by two seconds.
“Congrats to David Reutimann, he’s one of the nicest guy you could ever meet. If I had to get beat by someone, he’s the guy I’d want to get beat by,” Edwards said of the very humble Reutimann. Edwards finished second and Gordon was third after leapfrogging teammate Jimmie Johnson.
Johnson finished Saturday in 25th place, but the troublesome finish isn’t going to affect his second place Chase standings and he may have other things to think about right now. Johnson is a four time champion and new father. His wife Chandra gave birth to a daughter on Wednesday. He had a good start on Saturday, taking the lead in the first lap from pole-sitter McMurray and held on to it until the 93rd lap after relinquishing it to fall back into third.
Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet spun off Turn 2 after restarting from a yellow on lap 131. He maintained control throughout the backstretch grass but was unable to recover in time to place better than 24th.
Kurt Busch also had an unsatisfactory race. He compares his No.2 Dodge to a Nationwide car trying to beat a Cup field, “This is a joke,” he radioed in frustration during a pit stop to change the shocks and the springs. Busch ended up in 17th place, the second consecutive race he has finished outside of 15th. Busch won at Chicoagoland Speedway in 2008.
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