History of NASCAR Drivers: Part 6: David Reutimann

Consider yourself lucky! Two History of NASCAR Driver entries in one day! This will be a shorter one, however, as I will be covering the most recent pole winner, David Reutimann.

David Reutimann
#00 Aaron's Toyota Camry
Michael Waltrip Racing
Starts (as of 4/4/09): 69
Wins: 0
Top 5s: 1
Top 10s: 5
Poles: 2

David Reutimann was born in sunny Florida, in Zephyrhills on March 2, 1970. Reutimann is a third generation racer who started with modifieds and late models. He started his professional career in the Slim Jim All Pro Series, winning three races there, and moved up to the Busch Series in 2002 with Joe Nemechek's NEMCO Motorsports. He tried a hand in the Winston Cup series in 2004 with Morgan-McClure Motorsports but failed to qualify for both races. He later found his niche in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2004 with Darrell Waltrip and found success there while also running a few Busch races. In 2007 he was pegged by Michael Waltrip to drive one of his Cup Series cars full-time.

2005

David Reutimann was tapped by Michael Waltrip to drive his #00 State Fair Corn Dogs car for one race in 2005, at the fall Charlotte race. Reutimann finished decently, in 22nd place and on the lead lap.

2007

With Michael Waltrip starting a three-car operation as the flagship team for new NASCAR manufacturer Toyota, Michael Waltrip had himself and Dale Jarrett so he plucked longtime associate David Reutimann from the Truck Series to drive the #00 Burger King/Domino's Toyota. As a whole, Michael Waltrip Racing had a tough 2007 as the team failed to qualify for races a total of 44 times. Reutimann had the most starts that season, with 26 out of the 36 races. He failed to record a single top 10 and struggled with an average finish of 30.5. It was not a year to remember.

2008

For 2008, Dale Jarrett decided on retirement and was planning to run only the first five races of the season in his #44 UPS Toyota. Reutimann started the season in the #00 Aaron's Toyota and had to make every race on time... which he did and firmly planted the #00 in the top 35. He handed the reigns of the #00 to MWR developmental driver Michael McDowell and went on to pilot the #44 UPS Toyota vacated by Jarrett. Unfortunately Jarrett left the #44 almost out of the top 35 and two DNFs the first two races Reutimann was in the #44 forced him outside the top 35. But this time around, Reutimann, as well as boss Michael Waltrip, was able to make all 36 races. He also started to show that he was becoming a competitive driver near the end of the season where he nearly won the fall race at Richmond after leading the most laps and winning the pole for the last race of the season. He also recorded his first career top 10 and ended with four for the season. After his horrible rookie year, his sophomore season saw him improve considerably as he finished 22nd in the points standings.

2009

With the #44 reverting back to Petty Motorsports ownership and UPS moving on to Roush Racing, Reutimann was moved back to the #00 Aaron's Toyota. Lack of sponsorship was a concern before the season started with Aaron's only sponsoring the car for half the races. Michael Waltrip, however, convinced Aaron's to sponsor the car for the entire season. More was expected of him for 2009 and he was able to relax by not having to qualify on time for the first five races of the season. At Las Vegas he recorded his first career top five and has only finished worse than 20th once so far this season. With an in-joke nickname The Franchise (now plastered on his car), he proved his franchise worth by taking the pole away from Jeff Gordon for this weekend's race at Texas. Currently he stands as a Chase contender, sitting 11th in points and not budging with consistent finishes.

Notable Special Schemes
2007 Brooklyn-style Pizza
Fans were able to vote for which pizza and paint scheme would win, between Brooklyn-style pizza or Philly Cheese Steak-style pizza. Obviously Brooklyn-style won and the scheme was run at the spring Talladega race.


2007 Burger King/Domino's
For the Nextel Open, Burger King and Domino's were both primary sponsors for the race.




2007 The Simpsons Movie
Ran at Indianapolis to promote Burger King's involvement with The Simpsons Movie.




2008 Kentucky Derby
A staple sponsor for the UPS car to promote the annual running of the Kentucky Derby. This scheme ran at the first Talladega race.




2008 Toys for Tots
Ran at the Labor Day California race to promote Toys for Tots.

History of NASCAR Drivers: Part 5: Jimmie Johnson

Ugh, another driver I dislike I'm forced to do this for because he unfortunately won a race...

Jimmie Johnson
#48 Lowe's Chevrolet Impala
Hendrick Motorsports
Starts (as of 4/4/09): 261
Wins: 41
Top 5s: 103
Top 10s: 160
Poles: 19

Jimmie Johnson was born on September 17, 1975 in El Cajon, California. His racing career did not begin with cars but with motorcycles. After winning races and a championship in motorcycles, he eventually made the move to offroading. He competed in leagues such as SODA, SCORE International, and Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group and won numerous races, rookie of the year honors, and six championships in the offroad series. After his run with offroad, he joined ASA and eventually paired with Herzog Motorsports in the then Busch Series. 2000 was the year his life changed when Herzog Motorsports lost its sponsor and Johnson went to Jeff Gordon for advice. Jeff Gordon kept his eye on Johnson and later Gordon convinced Rick Hendrick to offer Johnson a driver development deal that eventually led to Johnson's quick domination in the Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup Series.

2001

Johnson started his then Winston Cup Series career with three starts at the end of the season at Charlotte, Homestead, and Atlanta. He didn't finish higher than 25th in those three races. It would not be a indicative of the amazing Cup Series career ahead of him.

The paint scheme shown here is a patriotic Lowe's Power of Pride scheme. Power of Pride would become a special scheme from time to time, usually running at the Winston/All-Star Race or the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte for Memorial Day.

2002-2005

In his rookie year, Johnson lit up the Series right off the bat by winning the Daytona 500 pole. He would go on to have an amazing rookie year, winning his first ever Cup race in the tenth race of the season, at his home track of California. He went on to win two more races that season, sweeping both races at Dover. He also became the first rookie to ever lead the points standings, winding up fifth in points that year, tied with the lowest he's finished in points in his entire full-time Cup career. His year was also marked with an intense Rookie of the Year battle with Ryan Newman. Although Johnson had three wins to Newman's one and finished one spot higher in the standings, he lost Rookie of the Year honors to Newman. Johnson ended the season with six top 5s and 21 top 10s.

The following year built upon his successful rookie campaign. He won three races again, which were his first of five wins at Charlotte and a sweep at New Hampshire. Despite the three wins, 14 top 5s and 20 top 10s, he was unable to match the incredible consistency of Matt Kenseth, who won the championship that year with Johnson finishing second in points.

2004 brought the Chase to the then Nextel Cup Series and with the Chase brought Johnson's newfound ability to turn up the heat in the final ten races of the season. He dominated the Cup Series that year by winning a whopping eight races, at Martinsville and Atlanta while sweeping at three tracks: Darlington, Charlotte, and Pocono. His Martinsville win was marked with tragedy, however, when immediately after the race ended, he was told a plane carrying Rick Hendrick's son and brother as well as other Hendrick Motorsports employees crashed in the mountains near Martinsville. There was no victory celebration that day but Johnson was able to celebrate the following week by winning at Atlanta, an emotional victory for him and the rest of Hendrick Motorsports. Despite winning four of the races in the Chase, he was unable to leap over points leader Kurt Busch. Johnson once again finished second in points... this time finishing a measly eight points behind Busch. He ended the season with 20 top 5s and 23 top 10s

Many figured Johnson would finally win his first championship in 2005. He only won half the races he won the previous year, at Las Vegas, Dover and sweeping Charlotte yet again, but he easily made the Chase for the second year in a row. He was in the championship hunt until the final race of the season when he wrecked and finished fifth in points with 13 top 5s and 22 top 10s, a disappointing season as far as Johnson is concerned.

2006-2007

It looks like a new paint scheme was what Johnson needed as everything came together finally in 2006. He started the season by winning the Daytona 500, finished second at the following race at California, and then won the third race of the season at Las Vegas. He went on to win three more times that season with wins at Talladega, Indianapolis, and Martinsville. He finished the season with those five wins, 13 top 5s, and 24 top 10s. However, he finally ended the season with something he had barely missed in previous seasons: a championship trophy.

And the champion struck again. And he struck hard. The race for the championship came down to the two dominant drivers of Hendrick Motorsports: Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Along with Kyle Busch and Casey Mears, Hendrick Motorsports won half of the 36 races that season - Johnson with ten, Gordon with six and Busch and Mears with one each. Johnson's incredible ten wins that season was the first time any driver had won double digit races since 1998 when Jeff Gordon won 13 races. Coming out of the dust to win the championship was Jimme Johnson, becoming the first driver since, yes, Jeff Gordon in 1997 and 1998 to win back-to-back championships. His ten wins that season were at Las Vegas, California, Texas, Phoenix, and season sweeps at Atlanta, Martinsville, and Richmond. He also became the first driver since, yet again, Jeff Gordon in 1998 to win four races in a row. It was definately a career year for Johnson, also tying career highs in top 5s and top 10s with 20 and 24 respectively.

2008

Now the talk was on in 2008 about Johnson becoming only the second driver in NASCAR history to win three championships in a row, the only driver to do being Cale Yarborough. His overall season was rather poor but he won four times before the Chase, at Phoenix, Indianapolis, California, and Richmond. It wasn't until the Chase he turned the heat up once again and never finished worse than 15th. He took advantage of Kyle Busch's stuttering start to the Chase (after Busch dominated the entire regular season) by winning three more times, to bring his total wins that season to seven, with wins at Kansas, Martinsville, and completing the sweep at Phoenix. His 15 top 5s and 22 top 10s also helped him to become only the second driver in NASCAR history to win three championships in a row.

2009

Despite winning the previous three championships, he was joined in 2009 by two other championship favorites: Carl Edwards, who won the series high nine races the previous year, and Kyle Busch, who dominated 2008 with his eight wins before the Chase started. Once again, as in 2008, he started slow but won the most recent Cup Series race at Martinsville, making that short track his winningest track, replacing Charlotte. Currently he sits fourth in points with one win, two top 5s and 4 top 10s after six races.

Notable Special Schemes
2002 Looney Tunes
Ran at the second Richmond race as part of a race-wide promotion where a bunch of Chevys ran Looney Tunes schemes.




2003 Power of Pride
Ran at The Winston.





2003 SpongeBob SquarePants
Ran at the Pepsi 400 at Daytona to promote Lowe's new Signature Paints and, of course, SpongeBob.




2004 Hendrick Motorsports 20th Anniversary
An all silver scheme that ran at the second Charlotte race to celebrate Hendrick Motorsports' 20th anniversary.




2004 Always In Our Hearts
After the plane crash near Martinsville that took the lives of ten people, including Rick Hendrick's brother and son, all the Hendrick cars for the rest of the season ran with a special memorial decal starting at the second Atlanta race.


2006 Shamu's "Believe"
Ran at the summer Daytona race to promote SeaWorld and its new Shamu show "Believe".




2006 Lowe's 60th Anniversary
Ran at the fall Charlotte race to celebrate Lowe's 60th anniversary.





2007 Power of Pride
Ran at the Coca-Cola 600, along with other cars with patriotic schemes, to honor the US military.




2007 '57 Chevy
A throwback look to celebrate 50 years of the 1957 Chevy.





2008 Kobalt Tools
This scheme ran in various races in 2007 and 2008 and will continue to be run in select races in 2009.




2008 Jimmie Johnson Foundation
This scheme ran at the Labor Day California race in both 2007 and 2008, to promote Jimmie Johnson's charity.

History of NASCAR Drivers: Part 4: Clint Bowyer

Clint Bowyer is my favorite driver so I feel like doing his history now.

Clint Bowyer
#33 Cheerios Chevrolet Impala
Richard Childress Racing
Starts (as of 3/25/09): 114
Wins: 2
Top 5s: 18
Top 10s: 48
Poles: 2

Clint Bowyer is a child of Kansas, born May 30, 1979 in Emporia. His racing career did not start with race cars but in motocross, where, over a period of eight years, he won many championships and over 200 races. In 1996 he switched from motorcycles to cars and eventually found his way into the ARCA series where he caught the attention of Richard Childress. After a few years in the Busch Series, he was moved up into the Nextel Cup Series in 2006.

2005

Clint Bowyer qualified and raced in only one race in 2005, the spring race at Phoenix. There he finished as the first car one lap down in 22nd. For that race he drove the #33 car, a number he would return to in 2009 after three years in the #07.

2006-2007

His rookie year in the Cup Series brought the typical ups and downs of a rookie. He finished second in the rookie of the year standings, behind Denny Hamlin, and 17th in the points standings, racing into four top 5s and 11 top 10s.

Bowyer started the 2007 in the highlight reels. With Kevin Harvick squeaking by Mark Martin for the Daytona 500 win with a massive wreck behind him, Bowyer crossed the finish line upside, getting pinballed around, and on fire before his car flipped back onto his wheels. A hardcore finish for the friggin Jack Daniel's Chevrolet. At Darlington, he won his first career pole and then made the Chase for the first time, along with teammates Harvick and Jeff Burton. Many people questioned Bowyer's place in the Chase as he had yet to prove himself and had not won a single race in his Cup career. He silenced the critics in the first race of the Chase at New Hampshire. He not only won the pole but dominated the race, leading 222 of the 300 laps to win his first career Cup Series race. He then became the dark horse for the championship, chasing Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, and finished a surprising third in the final points standings, with five top 5s and 17 top 10s

The paint scheme = pure awesome. A simple black scheme with Jack across the hood. It was simply badass. I also love how Jack Daniel's incorporated their No. 7 into the car's number (#7 was already being used by Robby Gordon so RCR had to use #07).

2008

The following year saw Bowyer as a Chase favorite but he struggled to make the Chase at the end, narrowly making the Chase ahead of a surprising David Ragan. This time around, Bowyer got his win out of the way early (and in light of the new Chase format where bonus points are awarded for race wins) with his win at Richmond, which was him simply being at the right place at the right time. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Kyle Busch were racing hard for the win and Busch wrecked Junior, allowing Bowyer to zoom past before the caution came out. In the Chase, he finished in the top 10 every other race and finished worst than 12th only once. But he was no match for the torrid pace set by Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Greg Biffle and this time Bowyer finished with seven top 5s, 17 top 10s, and fifth in the final standings.

The only change from 2006-2007 to this year is the use of the new car full-time.

2009

For 2009, Bowyer was placed into an entirely new team with RCR. Casey Mears had left Hendrick Motorsports after driving the #5 Kellogg's Chevrolet and the sponsor, General Mills, for the new RCR car had a problem with a driver being in its car after previously being sponsored by a competitor. So Bowyer was separated from the team he had been with for the past three years and placed in an entirely new team with no owner points while Mears was placed in the #07. At the last minute, just before the Daytona 500, Bowyer's new #33 Cheerios Chevy gained the owner points of the defunct #01 DEI car and was guaranteed a spot in the first five races of the season. So far, once again Bowyer has defied critics. Many saw him not making the Chase this season given his new team but after five races, he sits third in points (behind Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch) with two top 5s and three top 10s in those five races.

Notable Special Schemes
2006 The Sopranos
Ran at the Las Vegas race to promote The Sopranos' 6th season premiere.




2006 Country Cocktails
Jack Daniel's promoting one of their lines of drinks at the Coca-Cola 600.




2006 Happy Birthday
Jack Daniel's celebrated its birthday with this scheme at Bristol.





2006 Texas
A neat Texas-themed scheme that ran at, obviously, Texas.





2007 DirecTV Hot Pass
A scheme to promote DirecTV's NASCAR-related packaging, at Atlanta.




2008 BB&T
A personal sponsor, one of the races he ran this scheme was for his win at Richmond.




2008 DirecTV
DirecTV had been a sponsor for Bowyer since 2006 but stayed with the #07 when Bowyer went to the #33.




2009 BB&T
Same scheme, different number.

History of NASCAR Drivers: Part 3: Kurt Busch

So Kurt Busch won the race after his little brother Kyle which means the elder Busch is next...

Kurt Busch
#2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger
Penske Racing
Starts (as of 3/11/09): 296
Wins: 19
Top 5s: 63
Top 10s: 118
Poles: 10

Kurt Busch, like his brother Kyle, was born in Las Vegas, NV, and raced in the same circuits Kyle did while growing up. Kurt was born August 5, 1978, and has become overshadowed by his younger brother, despite Kurt himself already having a Cup Series championship under his belt. Kurt Busch used to be a huge dickhead like his brother but has recently mellowed, possibly due to getting punched in the face by Jimmy Spencer, getting suspended by Roush during his last two races in the #97, and his marriage to Eva Bryan.

2000

Kurt Busch started in the Truck Series but found himself in the #97 John Deere Ford with Roush for seven races in 2000, preparing his way for his rookie season in 2001. He had decent success in his seven starts, finishing in the top 20 three times and finishing no lower than 37th. John Deere would not stay with Busch for his rookie season...

2001

As a rookie, Kurt Busch did not fare so well. First of all, he was without a sponsor for the first seven races of the season until Sharpie eventually signed on, a relationship that lasted for the rest of his tenure at Roush Racing via the Newell Rubbermaid company. 2001 was a struggle as Busch recorded only three top 5s, 6 top 10s to go along with a pole. A low point came in his season when he failed to qualify for the second to last race of the season, at Atlanta, and finished 27th in points, losing rookie of the year honors to Kevin Harvick.

His Sharpie paint scheme uses the idea of a Sharpie marker drawing all over his car, perfectly blending his sponsor with the paint scheme.

2002

If 2001 was a struggle, 2002 was by far the opposite. Rubbermaid relegated Sharpie to just one of many products owned by Rubbermaid and became the primary sponsor. It was also the year of Kurt Busch's first Cup Series wins, which would also be his first of five wins at Bristol. He would go on to win back-to-back races at Martinsville and Atlanta and then win from the pole at the season ender in Homestead, recording four wins for the season. He saw himself finishing in the top 5 12 times and in the top 10 20 times. His final points standings was an amazing 24 point swing from 2001 as he finished third in points, behind only Tony Stewart and Mark Martin.

2003

While he matched his wins from the previous year - sweeping Bristol and also winning at sister tracks California and Michigan - he would not fare as well in 2003. With only nine top 5s and 14 top 10s, he finished 11th in points. However, his new uniquely colored silver and red Rubbermaid Ford would go down in history with its involvement in the closest electronically scored finish in NASCAR history, losing to Ricky Craven at Darlington by only .002 seconds.

2004

The beginning of the Nextel Cup era was kind to Kurt Busch. Rubbermaid decided to go for a split sponsorship between its Sharpie (and its playful scribble paint scheme) and Irwin Tools (with its boring plain blue paint scheme) brands. 2004 was definately a career year for Kurt, even though he recorded one less win than the previous two years. He won yet again at Bristol for his fourth career win there and swept at New Hampshire. With the first Chase lineup in NASCAR, Kurt Busch was not considered the favorite to win the championship. However, he went on to record top ten finishes in all but one of the Chase races. The one race he didn't finish was a 42nd place finish at Atlanta, which bunched up the points standings. Kurt Busch was also prevented from a 43rd place finish by none other than his little brother Kyle, who DNFed in 43rd. For the season ender at Homestead, a horseshoe was shoved up his ass. He not only won the pole, but he somehow got incredibly lucky when his entire wheel came off his car while heading for pit road during the green flag, causing a caution to come out. If it weren't for the wheel coming off, his unscheduled pit stop would have sent him a lap down. He also missed hitting the pit road wall by inches. He ended up winning the championship by only eight points over Jimmie Johnson and 16 points over Jeff Gordon, the closest finish in NASCAR history. Kurt Busch recorded ten top 5s and 21 top 10s in his championship year.

2005

Kurt Busch followed his championship year with much promise but an announcement during 2005 shocked all of NASCAR: He would leave Roush Racing at the end of the 2005 to replace a retiring Rusty Wallace in the famous Blue Deuce. With everybody questioning his reasoning for leaving a team that had just won a championship, he won three more races - at Phoenix, Pocono, and Richmond - and finished in the top 5 nine times and the top 10 18 times. He also made the Chase for the second year in a row. However, a run-in with the police while the Series was in Phoenix allowed Roush to make his excuse to dump the driver who decided to leave him. Kurt Busch was suspended by Roush Racing for the final two races of the season and was replaced by Kenny Wallace for those two races. Kurt Busch still finished in the top ten - in 10th - thanks to the Chase which did not allow anybody outside the top ten to finish higher than 11th.

For some reason, Sharpie removed its scribbles from the paint scheme this year and Irwin Tools went to a lighter shade of blue.

2006-2007

The learning curve in his new ride proved to be troublesome. 2006 was almost as trying as his rookie year, especially since he had won the championship two years prior. His lone win that year came at Bristol, but he had a career high six poles that year to show the speed the car had. He did not fare as well as he hoped, though, with only seven top 5s and 12 top 10s. He also missed the Chase and finished way off the mark in 16th. Rather amusingly, he finished the season the way he started: with a crash resulting in a DNF.

2007 was a little bit better for Kurt Busch in the #2 Dodge. Even though he had one less top 5 (6) and two more top 10s (14) than the previous year, he won two races and made the Chase. His wins came at Pocono and Michigan and he finished 7th in the points standings.

2008-2009

But his comeback in 2007 did not last. 2008 was a struggle for Kurt Busch, his lone win coming not from his performance on the track but from gambling in the pits with the oncoming rain, winning a rain shortened race at New Hampshire. He recorded a miserable five top 5s and ten top 10s and finished 18th in the final points standings. Many thought Kurt Busch's time was up.

But so far in 2009 he's proving his critics wrong. After only four races into the season, he already has two top 5s, three top 10s, and a dominating win at Atlanta. He also currently sits third in points, behind Jeff Gordon and a surprising Clint Bowyer (he seems to surprise a lot). He could have had four top 10s, after having a strong car at Las Vegas, but a pesky engine cylinder stunted his run.

As for his paint scheme, nothing much changed except for the new car and the replacement of the white along the bottom trim with a lighter shade of blue.

Notable Special Schemes
2002 Little Tykes
Rubbermaid promoted its toddler toy line with a win at Homestead.





2004 Coca-Cola C2
Coca-Cola invaded the Pepsi 400 at Daytona with special Coca-Cola C2 paint schemes for all of its Coca-Cola Racing Family drivers.




2004 Superman
DC Comics and a few of the Ford teams joined together to promote the superheroes of the comic books at Michigan. Kurt Busch ran the Superman scheme.



2005 Crown Royal
Crown Royal began to pop up on the #97 (soon to be #26) in numerous races in 2005.




2005 Smirnoff Ice
Smirnoff Ice jumped from the #17 to the #97.





2007 World Beer Cup
Gold paint scheme to congratulate Miller Lite on its World Beer Cup win. Used in the Bud Shootout.