Late Race Pit Stop Erases Another Top-Ten Finish

BRISTOL, Tenn. (August 23, 2009) - David Reutimann finished 17th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway after late-race contact bent the left-front wheel of the No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine and forced an unscheduled pit stop to change the tires and wheels.  Reutimann had run in the top ten for most of the 500-lap event at "The Worlds Fastest Half Mile" and was looking at another solid points night, but the mediocre finish moved Reutimann further away from the top-12 cutoff position for the Championship Chase.

Taking the green flag in the 18th position in front of a sold out crowd of 165,000, Reutimann quickly maneuvered his way through the field breaking into the top ten on lap 21 and moving as high as fourth by lap 147.  Fighting a loose racecar early in the event, the No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine was fast during long green-flag runs and ran comfortably in the top-ten for the first half of the race. 

However as the evening wore on and the track cooled, more rubber was laid down on the concrete racing surface and the handling began to go away as the Aaron's Dream Machine lost grip through the high-banked turns.  Reutimann would drop back as far as 22nd as Crew Chief Rodney Childers and the Aaron's team worked hard during several midrace pit stops to make the right adjustments and get the handling back. 

Making a two-tire change with 80 laps remaining would put Reutimann back into the top ten, but contact with the No. 2 car on lap 475 bent the left-front wheel and caused a serious vibration that forced the Dream Machine back down pit road. 

With only 15 laps remaining and one of the few cars on track with four fresh tires, Reutimann was poised to make a run back into the top ten but was boxed in by traffic and took the checkered flag in 17th.

"The Aaron's Dream Machine was a handful tonight but Rodney and the guys did a great job on pit road keeping me in the top-ten." Reutimann said after the race.  "The bent wheel put us back there at the end and there just wasn't enough time to make it up.  It's disappointing, but we'll try it again in a couple of weeks at Atlanta."

Kyle Busch won the Sharpie 500 followed by Mark Martin, Marcos Ambrose, Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin.  The team is now 160 points away from twelfth in the Championship points race with only two races remaining on the schedule to qualify for the Chase for the Championship.

The Sprint Cup Series has a weekend off then returns to action at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 6.