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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Reutimann’s Magic Week Continues
In the space of five days, David Reutimann earned his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory and his third career pole...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted May 29, 2009   Dover, DE
David Reutimann, driver of the #00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota, talks to the media after qualifying for first position to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway. (Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images for NASCAR)

As weeks go, David Reutimann will remember this one. Fondly.

Reutimann, driver of the No. 00 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, won his first Sprint Cup race of his career on Monday, when he captured a rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. And on Friday, he followed that up with just the third pole of his career, qualifying at 156.794 miles to take the No. 1 starting spot for Sunday’s Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway.

And if Reutimann didn’t have a lot of time to savor Monday’s victory, well, he had fun at Dover on Friday with his second pole of the season to go with the one he got at Texas Motor Speedway in April.

“It’s been a relatively short week, too, considering that our race was on Monday,” said Reutimann, the Zephyrhills, Fla., native. “The week went by fairly quickly. It’s just back to business this weekend. The funny thing about having things go right and winning a race is the fact that we have a couple days to kind of savor the moment for a day or two for the most and then it’s right back to business as usual. It’s one of those things where you’re only as good as your last race and then you’ve got to go and try to do it again the next week.”

Reutimann said the extra publicity from his surprise victory didn’t add any additional expectations — there were plenty of those already.

“I’ve definitely had a little more attention this week, but in the end there’s always an extreme amount of pressure to perform anyway,” said Reutimann. “There has been that pressure ever since I’ve been in the Cup Series and I don’t think that will ever change. I don’t really think it puts more pressure on me. The pressure is already there and it’s pretty intense as it is.”

Specifically, the pressure now is for points. Reutimann is looking for another strong finish so he can move up in the Sprint Cup standings. Reutimann currently sits 13th in points, just six points behind 12th-place Mark Martin. And, of course, only the top 12 drivers qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR’s 10-race, season-ending playoff round.

“I don’t think I will be approaching things any differently,” said Reutimann. “We still need to do the same things. We still need to run well week in and week out. We need to perform and there’s always the pressure for that. We need to get ourselves back into contention to be in the Chase. That’s our priority right there.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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