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PRESS RELEASE
David Reutimann Goody's Cool Orange 500 NSCS Race Preview
Elevation Motorsports Group For UPS Racing, Press Release
UPS Racing Team Notes of Interest
This weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway marks Reutimann’s debut as the driver of the #44 Toyota Camry and for sponsor, UPS.
For the first time in his Sprint Cup Series career, Reutimann will not have to qualify his way into the race based on speed as he and the #44 Team currently sit 34th in the owner’s point standings.
Reutimann has two starts at Martinsville in the Sprint Cup Series but has logged additional laps in the Craftsman Truck Series with a total of six starts and one top-10 finish to his credit.
This race is the first time in 2008 that Reutimann has not been running double-duty during a Sprint Cup race weekend as the Nationwide Series is off from competition.
Reutimann Discusses Racing at Martinsville Speedway
There has been a lot of talk about this being your first race in the #44 car but do you approach it any differently?
“No, this race isn’t really any different from the first five of the season. From the competition side, Ryan and the team and I still go about it the same way as we have every other race. But it’s still exciting to be wearing the brown and to have UPS on the hood. From the sponsor side, I’ve been really involved with UPS already this year from hospitality appearances to press conferences announcing some different things we’ve got coming up, so it is an easy transition there. But from the competition side, we just want to continue to move this car up in the points and hopefully have a good finish for our first weekend in the #44.”
Does it make a difference in how you approach this weekend since you’re not competing in a Nationwide Series race?
“Really, I’ll just be less busy. They are not too many times during the season where it’s either one Series or the other so it makes up for the weekends when you are flying back and forth to run both. We’ll look forward to a little break this weekend and focus on getting a good finish in the #44 car. The cars are so different now that it takes a couple of laps to really transition from driving one to the other but it doesn’t really affect how I prepare for the race weekend.”
Are you actually looking forward to this Friday after being locked into the top-35 in points?
“It will be a totally new feeling for me to know that we don’t have to worry about qualifying. Since I’ve been racing at this (Sprint Cup) level I’ve never been in this position before and I already know that’s it one I don’t want to give up. I think that will be the case even more after Friday. It’s Martinsville, though, so qualifying is still important because it’s a tough place to pass and hard to make up ground if you’re starting in the back. Right now, our focus is just to get a good finish and help move us up in the points and maybe make our position a little more solid. We'd like to be locked in that ever-present top-35 and move forward from there.”
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