David Reutimann finished 34th; Dave Blaney finished 33rd
RICHMOND, Va. (September 10, 2012) – Tommy Baldwin Racing (TBR) suffered a disappointing night at Richmond International Raceway. Rain postponed the start of the Federated Auto Parts 400 but cleared in time for all 400 laps of competition. David Reutimann started the 300-mile race from the 37th spot but struggled with the handling of the No. 10 Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat Chevrolet. He finished the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) event in the 34th position, seven laps down. Dave Blaney also battled the handling of his TBR Chevrolet. He started in the 33rd position, and the No. 36 Chevrolet finished in 33rd place, five laps down.
David Reutimann – No. 10 Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat Chevrolet: Reutimann drove the No. 10 Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat Chevrolet to the 37th starting position for Saturday night’s race. The race began under caution due to the rain, and the field took the green on lap seven. Reutimann quickly moved into the 33rd spot by lap eight and into the 31st position by lap 16. He radioed that the car would not turn in the corner, and by lap 28, the No. 10 Chevrolet fell back to the 34th position and held the spot until the competition caution on lap 47.
During the caution, Reutimann explained that the Chevrolet struggled rotating in the center and with drive off the corner. Crew Chief Tommy Baldwin called the Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat Chevrolet down pit road for the team’s first pit stop. The TBR crew changed four tires and made major chassis adjustments.
The No. 10 Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat Chevrolet restarted in the 33rd position on lap 51. Two laps later, the No. 34 had an accident on the frontstretch and brought out the caution. The team stayed out and restarted in the 32nd position on lap 57. Reutimann drove into the 31st position and held the spot until lap 72 when he fell to 33rd place.
The Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat Chevrolet fell a lap down on lap 94, and Reutimann told the team that the drive off the corner was better but he struggled driving in the center of the corner. He drove into the 31st position before making a green-flag pit stop on lap 131. The Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat crew changed four tires and made an air pressure adjustment.
Rain began to fall and brought out the caution on lap 139 with Reutimann in the 34th position, three laps down. The No. 10 team elected to take the wave around during the caution and held the 34th position, two laps down. The field waited more than 50 minutes for the rain to clear and the track to dry before returning to racing.
The field restarted on lap 155 with the No. 10 Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat Chevrolet in the 34th position, two laps down. Reutimann held on to his position for most of the run until he fell to 35th, three laps down on lap 188. He radioed that the car was still really tight.
As green-flag pit stops began, the No. 10 Chevrolet moved into the 31st position before pitting under green on lap 229. The Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat team changed four tires and put rubber in the right, rear spring. Reutimann returned to the .75-mile track in the 35th position, four laps down.
The No. 15 machine spun on the frontstretch on lap 236 and brought out the yellow flag. Reutimann told his team that the Chevrolet was the best it had been all night. Baldwin called the No. 10 down pit road to top off fuel and make a wedge adjustment. The Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat Chevrolet restarted in the 34th position, four laps down, on lap 240.
Seven laps later, Reutimann told the crew that the car was not good on old tires. He fell another lap down on lap 271 and sat in the 35th position, five laps down. Rain in the area brought out the sixth caution of the night on lap 277. The Zephyrhills, Fla., native told the crew the Chevrolet was about the same. He continued that the changes helped in the center of the corner at first, but now, his car was struggling to turn again. The Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat team made a four-tire pit stop and wedge adjustment.
After a small shower, the field was able to restart on lap 283 with the Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat Chevrolet in the 35th position, five laps down. By lap 335, Reutimann told the crew that it was like they flipped a switch and the car is just working now. As he continued to post fast lap times, he drove into the 34th position.
On lap 366, Baldwin called the No. 10 Chevrolet down pit road for the team’s final pit stop. The Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat crew made no changes during the four-tire pit stop. Reutimann returned to the track in the 34th position and held onto the spot to finish the 400-lap race in 34th place.
The No. 10 team is still 33rd in the NSCS Owner Points and locked into the top-35 by 159 points. Reutimann is 34th in points. He trails teammate Blaney by 22 points and leads David Stremme by 132 points.
“We struggled for most of the night,” explained Reutimann. “The guys kept working on the handling, but we just couldn’t turn well in the center of the corner. The last two runs of the race they hit on something, and we were fast. At one point, we were running the fastest laps on the track. We were just stuck so many laps down at that point. We’ll look to getting back at it in New Hampshire in two weeks.”
Dave Blaney – No. 36 Chevrolet: Blaney started the Federated Auto Parts 400 from the 33rd position under yellow flag conditions. Once the green flag dropped on lap seven, Blaney drove the No. 36 Chevrolet into the 29th position but fell back to 30th place. He told the crew that the car was really loose driving in the corner and tight in the center of the corner.
NASCAR Officials called a competition caution on lap 47 with Blaney in the 30th position. Crew Chief Ryan Pemberton called the No. 36 Chevrolet down pit road for the team’s first four-tire pit stop and major chassis adjustments. The field returned to green flag racing on lap 51 with the No. 36 in the 29th spot.
Two laps later, the No. 34 had an incident on the frontstretch, and NASCAR Officials called a caution. The No. 36 Chevrolet stayed out and restarted in the 28th position on lap 57. Blaney fell to the 30th position and told the crew that the car was spinning out getting into turn one. By lap 74, he radioed that the car was tightening up a little bit, but by lap 84, he said the tight was hurting worse than the loose condition.
The No. 36 fell a lap down on lap 100 while in the 30th position. Blaney moved into the 27th position by lap 127 as his car’s handling begin to come in. He continued to pass cars late in the run and drove into the 22nd position when rain brought out the caution on lap 139. Pemberton called Blaney down pit road for a four-tire pit stop and rubber adjustment. The No. 36 returned to the track in the 22nd position, one lap down.
After rain continued to pour, NASCAR Officials pulled out the red flag for over 50 minutes to dry the track. The field restarted on lap 155 with the No. 36 Chevrolet in the 22nd position, one lap down. Still struggling with an ill-handling racecar at the beginning of a run, Blaney fell to the 30th position by lap 168. By lap 184, he told the crew that he could not use the brake because he was so loose getting into the corner.
On lap 204, the No. 36 Chevrolet fell a second lap down while racing in the 29th position. As the run continued, Blaney began to drive back through the field. He drove into the 27th position when green-flag pit stops began on lap 221. By lap 227, he held the 24th spot. On lap 236, the No. 15 car spun on the frontstretch and brought out the caution. Pemberton called the No. 36 down pit road for another four-tire pit stop.
Blaney restarted in the 27th position, two laps down, on lap 240. He fell to the 30th spot by lap 242 and told the crew that the car was bad enough at the start of the run that they needed to make a change on the next stop.
When the caution was called for rain on lap 275, Blaney continued to dissect the car’s handling and told the crew that the car still would not turn. The Chevrolet was free into and off the corner but tight in the center of the corner. Pemberton told the crew to make a wedge adjustment during the four-tire pit stop.
The field restarted on lap 282 with the No. 36 Chevrolet in 31st place, three laps down. Ten laps later, the Hartford, Ohio native told the crew that the changes did not help and the handling was getting worse. The No. 36 Chevrolet’s lap times improved at the end of the run, and Blaney drove into the 27th position before pitting on lap 356. The team changed four tires and made another adjustment.
Blaney returned to the track in the 35th position, six laps down. When green-flag pit stops completed, the No. 36 Chevrolet held the 32nd spot, five laps down. He fell back one spot to finish in 33rd place.
The No. 33 Chevrolet held onto the 35th position in NSCS Owner Points. The team is locked into the top-35 by 124 points and trails 32nd place by 12 points. Blaney also held onto the 33rd position in NSCS Driver Points. He is 62 points behind A.J. Allmendinger and 22 points ahead of teammate Reutimann.
“The way the car was handling was really different,” Blaney said. “No matter what changes we made, we were really loose in and off the corner and tight in the center. We really improved on the long runs but lost so much ground early in the run. We have Chicago next. We have really improved our 1.5-mile program, so I am excited to see what we can do there.”
Tommy Baldwin Racing will head to the Windy City next weekend. Blaney will pilot the No. 36 Chevrolet in the GEICO 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
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About TMone: TMone (pronounced T-M-one) is a leader in the USA call center business process outsourcing firm specializing in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Technology Integration, Inside Sales and Customer Service Selling (CSS). When it comes to business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) customer interactions, TMone is unsurpassed in its ability to provide best in class results in performance, cost containment, quality and client satisfaction. This approach has made it one of Corridor Business Journal’s Fast Growing Companies 4 years in row and one of Inc. Magazine’s Fastest Growing Private Companies in America six years in a row. Headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa with additional service delivery facilities in Des Moines, Iowa and Dakota Dunes, and Spearfish, South Dakota TMone is now hiring.
To learn more about TMone, visit http://TMone.com, @TMone’s Twitter http://Twitter.com/TMone, The TMone Racing NASCAR Racing Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TMoneRacing page or simply e-mail our Sr. Leadership team at CVP@TMone.com.
About Tommy Baldwin Racing: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Crew Chief Tommy Baldwin formed Tommy Baldwin Racing (TBR) in 2009. Baldwin utilized a declining economy to open a NSCS team with a stringent budget. The team worked to build to full-time competition, and by the 2011 season, the team’s third season, TBR competed in every race and locked the No. 36 Chevrolet in the top-35 in NSCS Owner Points. Dave Blaney drove the No. 36 Chevrolet to TBR’s highest finish of third in the October 2011 event at Talladega Superspeedway. TBR also fielded a second car for select races in the past two seasons with multiple drivers.
Based in Mooresville, N.C., TBR will compete in the NSCS in 2012 with NASCAR veterans David Reutimann and Dave Blaney. The team will also compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with Ryan Blaney, Bobby Santos and Ryan Truex.
For more information on Tommy Baldwin Racing, visit tommybaldwinracing.com or follow us on Facebook, facebook.com/TBR.HBR, and Twitter, twitter.com/TBR_Racing.
