Rain finally wins, with Reutimann in front

Monday, May. 25, 2009

David Reutimann, gambling by keeping his Toyota on the track as dark clouds gathered once again, won a rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 Monday at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

NASCAR called off the race at 6:26p.m., more than six hours after it began. And Reutimann heard the news he had won his first Sprint Cup race as he stood anxiously next to his rain-splattered car on pit road.

“Things like this don't happen to guys like me,” said Reutimann, whose best finish in his first 74 starts was a fourth this season at Las Vegas. “I felt like I was out there for a month.”

Reutimann had waited out a two-hour delay in a race that originally had been scheduled to begin at 6p.m. Sunday. Although rain postponed it until Monday, it became the shortest in the race's 50-year history, lasting 227 laps instead of 400 and 340.5 miles instead of 600.

Pole-winner Ryan Newman, continuing a string of strong finishes for newly formed Stewart-Haas Racing, finished second and Robby Gordon was third.

Reutimann won without leading a green-flag lap. When rain forced a yellow flag on Lap222 – the day's fourth caution for weather – he was running in 14 {+t}{+h} place.

The rain had been coming and going all day. With the race past its halfway point of 200 laps, this caution forced every driver and crew chief to make a decision: Come into the pits for a tire change and gas, in case the race continues; or stay out with immediate improved track position if it's called early.

Kyle Busch, leading at the time, went to the pits, as did 12 others, including chief contenders Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards.

Reutimann, Newman and Gordon stayed out.

“I didn't even put much thought into it,” said Rodney Childers, Reutimann's crew chief. “We can either take a chance at winning, or come out in 24 {+t}{+h} place on the restart.

“I don't know what (the others) were thinking. But I'm glad they did.”

The rain already had wrung nearly all the drama from the race. Busch, who started on the front row with Newman, had the strongest car during the early stages. He led 173 of the race's 227 laps and appeared to be the fastest toward the end.

Jeff Gordon, who finished 14 {+t}{+h}, kept his Sprint Cup points lead, 44 points ahead of Tony Stewart, who finished 19 {+t}{+h}.

The first rain caution came just eight laps into the race. Another shower came on Lap72, stopping the race for 56 minutes. At 3:20p.m., the rain came again, this time stopping the race for 22 minutes.

Reutimann also delivered Michael Waltrip Racing its first victory in its three seasons of existence. Reutimann moved from 15 {+t}{+h} to 13th in points, six points and one place out of what would be a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Newman's fourth consecutive top-five finish continues a hot stretch for Stewart-Haas. Owner/driver Stewart won last weekend's Sprint All-Star Race. Newman's finish bumped him up to one spot to seventh in the standings.

Stewart and Reutimann had angry words during one of Monday's delays. When Stewart complained Reutimann was racing too aggressively so soon, Dwayne Bigger, a mechanic on Reutimann's crew, got involved and sarcastically kissed the ground in front of Stewart.

During a television interview minutes later, Stewart referred to Bigger as “Billy Bad Butt.”

Reutimann said Stewart called him with congratulations after the race.

Reutimann, 39, is from Zephyrhills, Fla., but now lives in the Catawba County community of Sherrills Ford. The early portion of his career was spent racing modified and late-model cars on dirt and paved tracks.

He won a NASCAR truck series race in 2005 and an event in what's the Nationwide Series in 2007. But he didn't have a full-time Cup ride until he was hired by Waltrip in 2006.

“If hoped if I acted the right way, somebody would want me,” Reutimann said.

NASCAR has had poor luck with its signature races this season. The season-opening Daytona 500 also was rain-shortened. Newman defended NASCAR on how it handled its decisions over two days this time.

“You don't start a race unless you know you can finish it,” he said. “So they were boxed in on Sunday. (Monday) was different. They thought they could get it in, so I don't think it was any kind of premature call on shortening it. We don't race in the rain, period.

“So, we turned the Coca-Cola 600 into the Coca-Cola 24 Hours.”

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