Martinsville, Va. (March 31, 2012) – The No. 92 BTS Tire and Wheel Distributors/ fleetHQ/QMI Chevrolet from which David Reutimann emerged Saturday afternoon after a 20th place run in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway bore the signs of the type of day the driver and the team had on NASCAR’s oldest track.
“It was a tough one, that’s for sure,” said Reutimann as he looked over his bruised and battered truck.
Reutimann lost a lap early after heavy contact with the No. 23, but the team fought back with a bold pit call by crew chief Jason Overstreet. He elected to leave Reutimann out during the second caution period for Joey Coulter’s spin on lap 76 and get the lap back on the wave around.
“We gambled early that we would get a quick caution and be able to make some changes to the truck and change tires,” said Overstreet.
The crew chief’s gamble paid off when an accident in turn four brought out the caution on lap 93 and Reutimann was able to bring the truck to the attention of the crew.
“After a couple of adjustments, the truck was a lot faster,” said Overstreet. “We had just gotten so far behind that we couldn’t get to the front.”
“The truck was getting better on that last run,” said Reutimann. “We just went into (turn) one there at the end, the tire just popped and we hit the wall.”
The team lost a lap during the accident on lap 228 but the crew was able to lessen the damage; bringing Reutimann to pit road for repairs, tires and fuel three times without losing any more laps. But with a broken sway bar, he was unable to work around any of the other one-lap down trucks, leaving the No. 92 with a 20th-place finish.
“Definitely not the day we wanted, but we were able to learn a few things there at the end,” said Reutimann. “I think it will help us when we go to Rockingham in two weeks and as we move forward this season.”
