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closePole winner hopes Friday's run a sign of things to come in 2009
By Jim Utter
jutter@charlotteobserver.com
Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008
HOMESTEAD, Fla. - David Reutimann hopes his pole in Sunday's season-ending Ford 400 is just the start of success in the Sprint Cup Series and that it carry into the 2009 season.
"Last year we were just worried about getting in races, much less even worrying about poles. Our team has come an extremely long way," said Reutimann, who earned his first four career top-10 finishes this season.
"We still have more ground to cover, but I think we're getting closer."
Reutimann credits much of his turnaround in the second half of the season to Michael Waltrip Racing's decision to build its own chassis.
"Not that our cars were bad before, but our newer cars have geometry that we worked on during pretty extensive testing. The cars are much, much lighter by an extreme amount," he said. "Overall, just a better car when we showed up at a race track."
Reutimann is currently 22nd in points. He was as low as 31st this season, following the spring race at Texas.