By Ryan - Posted on May 27, 2009

The continued rain in Charlotte brought a lot of NASCAR News, including a shortened race and David Reutimann’s first Sprint Cup win.  Reutimann, driving the 00 Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing benefited from good pit strategy on the part of his crew chief Rodney Childers, staying out in the hope that the rain would fall.  The planning paid off as the sky opened up and the race was called at lap 227, giving Reutimann and his team owner there first wins in the series.  In a series of firsts and records, Monday’s race ranked as the shortest Coca Cola 600 in its 50 year history.

Reutimann’s win was not without controversy brought on by NASCAR’s favorite black sheep, Tony Stewart.  While battling for tenth position on lap 112, Stewart thought Reutimann unnecessarily held him up.  There is an unwritten rule that the faster car, in this case “Smoke”, gets motioned around by the slower one.  Stewart told his spotter, “Go tell that ignorant [expletive] that this isn't the Nationwide Series and if he holds me up like that again, he'll beat the traffic on the way home.  I love him to death, but I'm not going to [expletive] with him like that again."  Later after the race, Tony called David to congratulate him on the win and tensions were cooled.

Reutimann was very humble about his win, recognizing the circumstances that surrounded it. “Rodney Childers made a great call and told me to stay out.  When you envision winning your first Sprint Cup race, this is not exactly the way you envision it. But these things are so hard to win, we'll take it any way we can get it,” David said in his press conference, “It’s fun, but I felt like I was down on pit road for a month [waiting for NASCAR to call the race]."  Reutimann and Childers proved to NASCAR fans and sports writers everywhere that auto racing is a team game.  And, they did it in grand style on one of NASCAR’s biggest stages.