NASCAR Cup Series

Reutimann needed to retaliate to stop hits

Published Oct. 4, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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On Sunday at Kansas Speedway, David Reutimann finally had enough.

The 40-year-old, second-generation racer was tired of playing Mr. Nice Guy.

In racing terms, "nice guy" quickly equates to pushover. And Reutimann’s No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine has been pushed and shoved out of the way by more aggressive racers looking to gain position on the racetrack for the past two years.

As Busch battled his way through the field 52 laps into the race, he found his easy mark. Busch plowed into the back of Reutimann, who was running in the top 10, and sent him into the spin cycle. Reutimann limped back to pit road for repairs while Busch continued on in 11th.

When Reutimann returned to action for the restart, he was scored 39th, three laps down. Any shot of salvaging a solid finish was futile. What Reutimann could recover on Sunday, however, was his reputation.

His crew chief Rodney Childers radioed an "enough already" message to Reutimann. For the second week in a row, Reutimann had a solid run going early in the race only to watch his chances of a decent finish evaporate. At Dover, Reutimann was running 14th on Lap 53 when Ryan Newman hit his left-rear quarterpanel and sent him sailing into the Turn 3 wall. Reutimann finished 35th — his worst effort since Texas.

Childers’ sentiment is nothing new.

One of Reutimann’s closest friends told him at Pocono Raceway in August he "Didn’t have a hair on his ass" if he didn’t pay back Denny Hamlin. One year earlier, Hamlin dumped Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose, who were both in the top five with 25 laps remaining in the Pennsylvania 500. Hamlin went on to win. Reutimann finished 29th.

When Busch attacked Reutimann on Sunday, he pushed the driver over the edge.

Reutimann and Busch had no history of altercations on the track before Kansas. After Bristol, where Reutimann finished second to Busch's No. 18 Toyota after leading 25 laps, Busch criticized his former friend’s driving technique.

“Reutimann was fast, and he was good,” Busch said in the postrace news conference. “And I'm not going to say why I beat him because then he'll fix it, but it has to do with behind the wheel.

“He wasn't driving the place right; I'm sorry. If he fixes how to drive this place, he'd be right there with me. I got, 'Ooh,' because (saying) it was going to be some big deal in the media. Jesus.”

The two drivers hadn’t spoken since Bristol. But 155 laps into the Price Chopper 400, Reutimann let his bumper do the talking.

“There wasn’t anything on the track at Bristol that was the problem — not one thing,” Reutimann said. “We rubbed and raced and banged on each other a little bit at Bristol and that was no big deal. It was just hard racing and it was good. No problems there. I just took exception to some of the things he said about the race.

“I don’t know what happened early (at Kansas). I was just cut off and run over. The end result was we got wrecked. We had a good car and got wrecked for no reason and it ended our day. Our race was 50 laps long and after we got punted it was done.”

Busch accepted responsibility for the first incident but was stunned that Reutimann would retaliate against a driver who is in the Chase for the Sprint Cup — “a guy in the Chase that‘s racing for something.“

Reutimann was racing for something too — his standing in the Sprint Cup garage. On Sunday, Reutimann proved he will no longer be the series' punching bag — he will strike back. And he did.

His Michael Waltrip Racing team has won a race in each of the last two seasons — a statistic that Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth, all drivers in the Chase, can’t claim. No Reutimann isn’t racing for the Sprint Cup this season.

With a little momentum, though, the No. 00 Aaron’s team could finally break through in 2011.

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