Michael Waltrip Racing drivers finished the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., as follows:
MWR NSCS Race Results
· David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry - Finished 15th now 8th in points.
· Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry - Finished 39th now 20th in points.
NSCS RACE NOTES:
· Jimmie Johnson held off Kevin Harvick over the final 30 laps to take the victory by 1.523 seconds
· Jeff Burton, Mark Martin and Joey Logano rounded out the top-five
· Johnson’s win at Auto Club Speedway is his 48th Sprint Cup victory in 293 starts
· Johnson now matches Herb Thomas for 12th on the all-time win list
· The race featured 26 lead changes among 13 drivers
· The race was slowed by six cautions for a total of 30 lap
· The race lasted just over three and a half hours
· NASCAR estimated 72,000 people attended today’s race
MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING NSCS DRIVER NOTES AND QUOTES:
David Reutimann Race Summary:
The No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry charges into 2010 with back-to-back top-15 finishes to start the season. Reutimann and crew were impressive in the early going of the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. as he carried momentum from his 11th place qualifying effort from Friday afternoon. Reutimann raced as high as seventh on lap 38 before coming to pit road under green flag conditions. The No. 00 team removed a rubber from the right rear that caused Reutimann to report a tight-handling condition following the stop. The team struggled to return the car to winning form following the adjustment, but managed to continue a solid effort over the remained of the race. Reutimann battled over the last 30 laps to move from 18th into the top-15.
David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
· Started 11th and finished 15th
· Reutimann immediately moved into the top-10 as the race went green and was up to ninth by lap 7
· Lap 29, Reutimann reports minor damage to the right rear after a brush with the wall
· The minor damage caused the No. 00 to be “loose off”
· Reutimann came to pit road on lap 38 under green for four tires and fuel in seventh position
· The No. 00 was back in the top-10 by lap 42 and in ninth by lap 52
· Came to pit road under caution on lap 58 to repair right rear fender, four tires, fuel and removed a rubber out of the right rear restarted 18th on lap 61
· Caution flew again on lap 94 as Reutimann reported a tight handling condition and said the rubber needed to be replaced in the right rear. Reutimann restarted 20th on lap 98
· By lap 125 Reutimann was passing Joey Logano and Kyle Busch for 13th
· Lap 139, the No. 00 comes to pit road for two tires and minor chassis adjustments
· Reutimann brushed the wall again on lap 147, but reported no damage. He reported that the No. 00 would not run the bottom line.
· On lap 151 crew chief Rodney Childers reported rain in the forecast, but still about 50 miles out.
· On lap 167 the No. 1 car runs into the back of the No. 00 causing minor damage, but both cars continue
· Reutimann comes to pit road early under green on lap 180 for four tires and fuel—restarts 24th.
· Rain caused a caution on lap 197 as Reutimann was in 19th
· After a short rain delay the No. 00 restarts 16th and moved up to 11th by lap 206
· On lap 210 the No. 00 and the No. 12 start beating banging as they battle for 12th position
· Reutimann restarted 13th on lap 230, but struggled on the restart to fall to 18th, before working his way back up to 15th.
REUTIMANN QUOTE: "It's just disappointing. We started out OK in our Aaron's Dream Machine. For the better part of the day we were just okay. We made one adjustment there and the car just really, really didn't like it. That just got us behind a little bit. It just seemed like our car wouldn't get going on a restart. It was taking eight, 10, 12 laps for us to get going. A lot of the other guys were able to get out and get away from you. Overall I'd have to call today just a bit of a disappointment. I really felt like we were going to have a better car. We still have our Aaron's Dream Machine in one piece. Not a great finish, but an okay finish and now we'll go on to the next one."
Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary:
The opening laps of the California Auto Club 500 presented by NAPA saw Truex climb from 34th to 12th before the team’s first green-flag stop. However, just 64 laps into the event, the No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota suffered an engine failure. Truex, coming off of a top-10 run at Daytona was relegated to a 39th-place finish. He currently ranks 20th in the championship points standings.
Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota
· Started 34th and finished 39th after the engine expired on lap 64.
· Truex climbed to 15th by lap 24.
· Crew chief Pat Tryson informed his driver on lap 24 that he was the fastest car on the track.
· Truex, running in 12th, made contact with the wall on lap 46. The car was OK and Truex opted to bide his time as there was plenty of laps left in the race to challenge for the win.
· The NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota was competitive despite needing to turn better. It was tight in traffic, but neutral when Truex ran by himself.
· The No. 56 lost power on lap 64.
· Car owner Michael Waltrip encouraged his driver and told him that he saw quite a few cars hit the wall.
· Tryson said after the race, “We had a car that could’ve won the race. I’ve got myself a wheel man.”
TRUEX QUOTE:
“It’s really unfortunate for the NAPA Toyota. We had a really good car and had something to build on. My best year ever in NASCAR Sprint Cup, the same thing happened. We went to Fontana and blew up. Hopefully this will be good for us too because we have to look at the silver lining in all of this. The sport is too tough not to.
“The guys did a good job all weekend. I am really proud of Pat Tryson. To come from where we did on Friday with the race car was a big, huge improvement. We have something to work on. It is pretty disappointing after starting the way we did last week.”
DIAMOND-WALTRIP RACING NNS NOTES AND QUOTES:
Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, finished 11th in Saturday’s Stater Bros. 300 NNS race. Bayne is now 24th in NNS championship point standings.
Trevor Bayne, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
· Started 10th and finished 11th
· Fought a tight-handling race car for the majority of the race
· A great pit stop by the over-the-wall crew on lap 121 allowed Bayne to pick of three spots on pit road
· Raced inside the top 14 for all 152 laps of the Stater Bros. 300
· Grabbed his 8th top-15 finish in only 17 NNS starts
BAYNE QUOTE: “At the beginning of the race we were a little bit tight so we made some good adjustments. We never got the front end turning any better but we just unhooked the rear where I could get it set in a little bit better. That was a good change. We found the high line late after following Brendan Gaughan and Carl Edwards and a couple people that really ran the top well. That rocketed us towards the front. The middle of the race we got on the top and ran down people in front of us by four-tenths of a lap. That was what set us apart in that center section of the race because we could make some moves to get up towards the front. That put us in position to get good pit stops and everything that followed. Very last stop, we were one of the first teams to pit for four tires and I thought we’d be digging to the front and I got trapped in the middle. The 88 (Kelly Bires) barely got his nose outside of us coming to the green flag and that just trapped us in the middle and we had to fight back. We got through turn two and had a big run but they got the high line and got back around us. We’ll take an 11th-place finish, especially after coming out of Daytona. Our Aaron’s Dream Machine is pretty in the garage, no marks on it so that’s a good thing. We can make our cars better because they’re not on a wrecker. We’ll come back next week and try to do even better.”
