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.