Aaron’s Dream Machine Leads 83 Laps and Collects Seventh Top-Five of 2008

JOLIET, IL (July 11, 2008) David Reutimann won the pole for Friday nights NASCAR Nationwide Series race and led 83 laps early before the Aaron’s Dream Machine faded to fifth at the end of the 200-lap event.  This was the first pole win for the Aaron’s team this season.

As the sun set over the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway Reutimann led the field to the green flag and proceeded to drive away from the competition in the early laps.  The Dream Machine had built up a five-second lead over second place by lap 20 and was consistently turning the fastest laps on the track.

Reutimann lost the lead on lap-87 when the No. 29 of Jeff Burton passed, but caution came out two-laps later and gave Crew Chief Jerry Baxter his second shot to fine-tuning the Dream Machine.  The car needed to be better later in a long run as the tires wore to help the Dream Machine turn through the high banks.

Restarting second on lap 93, Reutimann was passed by the No. 18 of Kyle Busch who went to the lead, but Reutimann passed Burton the same lap to maintain second.  The Dream Machine would run second throughout the long green flag run.  Baxter brought Reutimann back into the pits under green with 50 to go for one last shot at making the car better.  However, as the laps wore down, the Dream Machine would lose positions as the handling went away. 

Reutimann fought to hold off a charging Greg Biffle who made a last lap run at Reutimann, but fell short and Dream Machine took the checkered flag fifth.

"We had a great Aaron's Dream Machine at the beginning and we just seemed to be one adjustment behind all night.  We took a big swipe at it there at the end trying to do something to make the car better and it just didn't react like we needed it to.  The team did a great job and we ended up top-five, but it’s disappointing. We just couldn't quite keep up with the race track as the night progressed."

The fifth place finish was the seventh for the team this year and stepped Reutimann up one spot to third in the driver points race and moved Michael Waltrip Racing up one to fifth in the owner points battle.

Aaron’s received tremendous coverage on ESPN2 and MRN and Sirius radio as pit reporters monitored Reutimann’s progress throughout the race and covered the team’s pit stops.  Aaron’s was also in the national media through live interviews with Reutimann before and after the race.  Aaron’s associates Mark Hindricks and Chad Reuber and their guests had the opportunity to meet David before the race and get an up close look at the race team as they stayed in the pits to watch all of the race action.

The next race for the No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine will be next Saturday at Gateway International Raceway in St. Louis, MO.  You can watch all of the race action live on ESPN2 at 9:30 PM eastern.