9th Season

Wins – 3

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: 1 Win; Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. (May 25, 2009)
NASCAR Nationwide Series: 1 Win; Memphis (Oct. 27, 2007)
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: 1 Win; Nashville (Aug. 13, 2005)

Pole Awards – 12

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: 3 Poles; Homestead (Nov. 16, 2008), Texas (April 5, 2009), Dover (May 31, 2009)
NASCAR Nationwide Series: 3 Poles; Memphis (October 18, 2003), Texas (Nov. 3, 2007), Chicago (July 11, 2008)
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: 6 Poles; Atlanta (March 13, 2004), Homestead (Nov. 19, 2004), Bristol (Aug. 24, 2005),
Homestead (Nov. 19, 2005), California (Feb. 24, 2006), Dover (June 2, 2006)

Winner of the 50th Coca-Cola 600 in 2009

2nd in 2007 NASCAR Nationwide Series Points and 7th in 2008

2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Rookie of the Year

David Reutimann ended the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season in 16th place, knocking on the door of a spot in the Chase for the Championship. In 2010, he plans to barge through the door.

The Florida native returns to Sprint Cup competition for his fourth full season driving the Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) Toyota Camry, sporting the traditional Reutimann family renowned number “00” and the equally familiar paint scheme of the Aaron’s Dream Machine – now in its 11th season with MWR and NASCAR.

Reutimann took huge steps forward in 2009, earning his first trip to victory lane in the rain-shortened version of the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on May 25, 2009. Furthermore, Reutimann’s popularity also soared to new heights. Playfully dubbed as “The Franchise” by his team members, Reutimann finished in the top-five of the Sprint All-Star Race fan vote in 2009.

In 2009, under the guidance of crew chief Rodney Childers, Reutimann set career-bests in pole awards (2), top-fives (5), top-10s (10), average starting position (15.9) and average finishing position (16.4). In addition, Reutimann led 101 laps in nine races in route to a career-best 16th place finish in the point standings.

Reutimann followed the footsteps of his legendary father, Emil “Buzzie” Reutimann, who is still famous for his dirt-track domination all along the Eastern seaboard. The 39-year-old driver grew up to race alongside his father, competing in Modified and Late Model races each Friday and Saturday night for the majority of his youth.

His first break came in 1997 when he started competing in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Southwest Series where he earned Rookie of the Year honors. He competed in the series throughout the next five years, which included a second-place finish in the 2002 points standings.

During the 2002 season, Reutimann landed a career-changing opportunity courtesy of a connection with his long-time childhood friend Brian Pattie. Pattie was working with NASCAR standout Joe Nemechek, heading up the driver’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) team as the crew chief. Nemechek was in need of driving services and under the advisement of Pattie, offered Reutimann the opportunity to drive in a handful of races in 2002. As a result, Reutimann made his NNS debut at Richmond International Raceway on May 5, 2002, finishing a respectable 16th-place after starting the race in the 34th position. Reutimann competed in three more races in 2002 and performed well enough for Nemechek to give him a seven-race schedule in 2003, where he earned two top-five and three top-10 finishes.

It was Reutimann’s sporadic appearances and impressive performances in the NNS between the 2002 and 2003 seasons, including a pole award at Memphis Motorsports Park in 2003, that captured the attention of three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Darrell Waltrip. Collecting his first career pole allowed Reutimann to say on national television that he was looking for a job. At the same time, Waltrip was starting a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) team with new manufacturer Toyota, which was making its first foray into NASCAR racing. For Waltrip, Reutimann was the ideal driver to build his team around and as a result, the 2004 season would mark Reutimann’s first as a full-time driver in one of NASCAR’s top touring series.

During his first truck series season, he won his first career pole, as well as the first pole for Toyota, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in just his second career start. Reutimann would win another pole later that year and set the track speed record during the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to finish the year with four top-five and 10 top-ten finishes. His performance helped him to win the 2004 Rookie of the Year honors in the series and solidify his position as the driver of the Darrell Waltrip Motorsports No. 17 for the next two years.

He earned his first career Truck Series win at Nashville Superspeedway on Aug. 13, 2005. Reutimann experienced his best year in the series during the 2006 season when he finished the year with two pole awards, seven top-five and 19 top-10 finishes that placed him third in the driver point standings at season’s end.

During the 2006 season, Reutimann competed in a handful of NNS races for Darrell’s younger brother Michael Waltrip. Later that year, the younger Waltrip announced in Reutimann’s hometown of Zephyrhills, Fla. that he would be starting a full-time Cup Series team in 2007 with support from Toyota, which was planning to make its Cup Series debut that year. Reutimann’s performance in 2006 led to his hiring at the newly formed MWR for the 2007 season as the full-time driver for Waltrip’s NASCAR Nationwide and Cup Series teams.

The 2007 season presented challenges to Reutimann and his MWR Cup Series team.  While competing in 26 of the 36 races, the No. 00 Toyota team showed considerable progress toward the end of the season and finished 39th in the championship points race.  Reutimann performed well on the 2007 Nationwide Series circuit, finishing second in the championship points race by collecting one win, one pole, five top-fives and 12 top-ten finishes. 
In 2008, Reutimann again competed full-time in the NSCS and NNS and displayed marked improvement in both series, solidifying his position at MWR for 2009.  Racing for MWR and Toyota in NASCAR’s two premiere series gave Reutimann a national stage to showcase his driving talent and established him firmly in the sport.

Among his achievements in 2008, Reutimann stood out by competing in all 36 races on the NSCS schedule, leading the most laps at Richmond International Raceway and posting multiple top-10 finishes.  In the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Reutimann scored his first career NSCS pole award in his home state of Florida. In Reutimann’s second season of full-time competition, he recorded four top-10, 18 top-20 and 24 top-25 finishes to finish 22nd in the NSCS driver point standings.