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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: ‘The Franchise’ Finds Speed
David Reutimann is quietly having the best year of his Sprint Cup career.
Tom Jensen  |  Posted April 03, 2009  
David Reutimann who refers to himself as “The Franchise,” at the Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway last week. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

David Reutimann somewhat jokingly refers to himself as “The Franchise,” a tongue-in-cheek reference to his status within the Michael Waltrip Racing organization. Well, then again, it might not be that tongue-in-cheek.

Now in his third season driving Toyota Camry Sprint Cup cars for MWR, Reutimann is the one constant the organization has had. In three years, the Zephyrhills, Fla., native has had three crew chiefs, multiple sponsors, multiple teammates and even different car numbers.

Yet through all the changes, Reutimann has reflected his own personality: Solid, steadfast and productive. In each of his first two seasons with MWR, Reutimann finished higher in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points than either team owner/driver Michael Waltrip or whoever was in the team’s third car.

Six races into the 2009 Cup season, Reutimann is ranked 11th in the points standings on the strength of five top-20 finishes, heady stuff given that the team was struggling just to make races two years ago. Earlier this season, he scored a career-best fourth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

And Friday morning at Texas Motor Speedway, he was second fastest of 48 cars Sprint Cup cars setting time, blistering the 1.5-mile track at 189.693 miles per hour. “The Franchise.” It fits.

Not surprisingly, the better Reutimann and the No. 00 get, the more he wants. “Before, where you were just trying to stay in the top-20 or get a top-20 finish or top-15, now you’re going solely to be there for top-10s and top-fives,” he said Friday at Texas. “That’s the way your mentality changes.”

Reutimann will be the first to tell you that most of this year’s success is the result of the team’s improvement, not anything he’s done. “The reality is, at this time last year, we weren’t ready to run in the top 10,” he said. “We just weren’t a good enough team at that point to be able to do that. Everybody has gotten better, things have evolved and things have gotten much better. Now we’re to the point where, I think I’ve said it before, a top-15 should be a bad race for you that day. If everything goes right, you don’t have problems and you finish 15th - a bad day needs to be 15th or a little bit better. That’s what it needs to come down to. And that’s the only way you can maintain or gain any kind of points on people because as quick as you have some bad races.”


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