Memphis Motorsports Park - Sam’s Town 250
RACE WINNER: DAVID REUTIMANN!!!!!!!
Our Boys Running Order:
1. David (started 2nd)
6. Scott (started 12th)
Holy crap!!! I’ve known this was going to happen one day but you can never prepare yourself for the excitement and agony of those last few laps. David had such a great car and led 194 out of 253 circuits around Memphis, so it was great to see a win out of such total domination. The cautions were just getting so frustrating, though, because he would get a good jump on the restart and then a few laps later the yellow would come out and the guy in 2nd had another chance to anticipate a move and get around him. Mike Bliss tried really hard there at the end on the outside but (thankfully) that seemed to be as much as he could muster before David left him in the dust! Nevertheless my poor pillow was crushed in my clutches and will likely never regain its original shape (pillows have gone through a lot of pain from me due to nail-biting endings…Michael and Kurt at Phoenix in 2005, Casey at Charlotte this year and several Busch races last year).
Tears of complete joy came to my eyes and I jumped up and slam-dunked my pillow to the floor. I know he’s been incredibly hungry all season long and wanted to give the crew a win for all that they’ve given him (confidence comes to mind, thinking back to Trackside). I wanted to see that little Dream Machine doing big burnouts and was thrilled when David sent up big plumes of smoke to the sky. Then he stopped, and started getting out—
Hey, let’s watch some football!
WHAT?!
So that’s how my tears of joy turned into bitter tears of anger. It’s selfish, I know, but I could not believe (okay, yeah I did, it’s ESPN we’re talking about) that they wouldn’t even lengthen the broadcast a bloody ten minutes to give David an interview! For his crew, his family and friends, his sponsors and fans! I know the race went way over schedule, but come on. A first-time winner, a guaranteed emotional winner and they think a stupid football (apologies to the football fans) game is more important?
Thank everything good in this world that NASCAR.com has the sense to put up a video and an interview or else I might have gone completely insane. But then I feel for the people that can’t view it for various reasons. I even watched all the NASCAR programming I could watch today and there wasn’t any added coverage.
ESPN is a joke. Their coverage is a joke. No, we don’t need an update on Carl Edwards every 30 seconds. We know he’s going to win the damn championship, okay? It’s not such a disaster that he didn’t clinch it, okay? No, we don’t need to see your draft tracker. No Rusty, we don’t need to hear you on NASCAR.com’s video saying something nasty about NASCAR regarding your son while the cameras are rolling for David, hello! I’ve been sick of ESPN’s so-called NASCAR “knowledge” since day 1 and now I’m even sicker that they did this. I’ll never be so happy to see the FOX and TNT crews in my life!
I don’t normally do this, but I fired off a complaint to ESPN. Not like they give a crap what some short 19-year-old that lives in the woods thinks, but I hope they have an inbox full of angry fans. I was polite, probably more than I should have been (it was tempting to end it with some scathing remark like “you lame-ass mo-fo’s” but I decided against it!), but I felt like they need some…constructive criticism. They’ll probably just find a picture of me and throw darts at it, but whatever.
I’m mad about the lack of coverage, yes. But thankfully there are lots of awesome photographers (I love you guys!) that were able to bring me as a fan sitting at my computer closer to the emotion of victory lane. I see some wonderful pictures of David, Buzzie and the crew celebrating. The fireworks and the beer shower! That’s some great stuff right there and exactly the reason why I love NASCAR. Congratulations to David and the entire team!
For a while Scott Wimmer also threatened for the win, which is awesome in one way but stressful in another when the guy he’s trying to beat happens to be another of your favorites, but he raced cleanly just like I knew he would in my heart. He faded to 6th at the end but it was still a great finish and padded the 29’s owner point lead.
Other than that it was a long, long race full of cautions. Dario Franchitti was the causer for several when his brakes started failing (and yet he still dove into corners like a maniac…oh well, he’s a rookie I guess!). Brian Keselowski wiped out Steven Wallace, which resulted in Steve looking for some revenge. That was bad, and dangerous to do even under caution, but I couldn’t help but laugh watching this unfold. Steve came barreling down the straight and Brian actually tried to get away from him, swerving back and forth and throwing Steven off! Being a wildlife biology student it reminded me of a rabbit zigzagging to escape a bobcat! Steven never touched the 49 as far as I could tell but ended up sitting in the grass before being parked by NASCAR (which was the right thing to do). Steven isn’t very popular among fans but for some reason I like him. He’s got some anger issues but there’s something about him that keeps me from disliking him. However I tend to like the ones that get really pounded by fans. A popular technique of downing Steven is calling him “blinky”, a low-down, heartless dig to his disability that I’m appalled by. I have a big problem with crap like that that so I naturally defend him against such insensitivity.
I also have to mention Todd Kluever, who was supposed to be racing this weekend until a last-minute decision was made to put Colin Braun in the 16. That was devastating. Todd has put nothing but heart and soul into a mediocre ride and he keeps getting crapped on by Roush. I can’t stand it and it makes me so sad. Time is running out…I don’t want to see another talented driver get discarded and forgotten…
David’s Points:
1. Carl Edwards --
2. David -531 behind leader
3. Jason Leffler -227 behind David
Our Boys Running Order:
1. David (started 2nd)
6. Scott (started 12th)
Holy crap!!! I’ve known this was going to happen one day but you can never prepare yourself for the excitement and agony of those last few laps. David had such a great car and led 194 out of 253 circuits around Memphis, so it was great to see a win out of such total domination. The cautions were just getting so frustrating, though, because he would get a good jump on the restart and then a few laps later the yellow would come out and the guy in 2nd had another chance to anticipate a move and get around him. Mike Bliss tried really hard there at the end on the outside but (thankfully) that seemed to be as much as he could muster before David left him in the dust! Nevertheless my poor pillow was crushed in my clutches and will likely never regain its original shape (pillows have gone through a lot of pain from me due to nail-biting endings…Michael and Kurt at Phoenix in 2005, Casey at Charlotte this year and several Busch races last year).
Tears of complete joy came to my eyes and I jumped up and slam-dunked my pillow to the floor. I know he’s been incredibly hungry all season long and wanted to give the crew a win for all that they’ve given him (confidence comes to mind, thinking back to Trackside). I wanted to see that little Dream Machine doing big burnouts and was thrilled when David sent up big plumes of smoke to the sky. Then he stopped, and started getting out—
Hey, let’s watch some football!
WHAT?!
So that’s how my tears of joy turned into bitter tears of anger. It’s selfish, I know, but I could not believe (okay, yeah I did, it’s ESPN we’re talking about) that they wouldn’t even lengthen the broadcast a bloody ten minutes to give David an interview! For his crew, his family and friends, his sponsors and fans! I know the race went way over schedule, but come on. A first-time winner, a guaranteed emotional winner and they think a stupid football (apologies to the football fans) game is more important?
Thank everything good in this world that NASCAR.com has the sense to put up a video and an interview or else I might have gone completely insane. But then I feel for the people that can’t view it for various reasons. I even watched all the NASCAR programming I could watch today and there wasn’t any added coverage.
ESPN is a joke. Their coverage is a joke. No, we don’t need an update on Carl Edwards every 30 seconds. We know he’s going to win the damn championship, okay? It’s not such a disaster that he didn’t clinch it, okay? No, we don’t need to see your draft tracker. No Rusty, we don’t need to hear you on NASCAR.com’s video saying something nasty about NASCAR regarding your son while the cameras are rolling for David, hello! I’ve been sick of ESPN’s so-called NASCAR “knowledge” since day 1 and now I’m even sicker that they did this. I’ll never be so happy to see the FOX and TNT crews in my life!
I don’t normally do this, but I fired off a complaint to ESPN. Not like they give a crap what some short 19-year-old that lives in the woods thinks, but I hope they have an inbox full of angry fans. I was polite, probably more than I should have been (it was tempting to end it with some scathing remark like “you lame-ass mo-fo’s” but I decided against it!), but I felt like they need some…constructive criticism. They’ll probably just find a picture of me and throw darts at it, but whatever.
I’m mad about the lack of coverage, yes. But thankfully there are lots of awesome photographers (I love you guys!) that were able to bring me as a fan sitting at my computer closer to the emotion of victory lane. I see some wonderful pictures of David, Buzzie and the crew celebrating. The fireworks and the beer shower! That’s some great stuff right there and exactly the reason why I love NASCAR. Congratulations to David and the entire team!
For a while Scott Wimmer also threatened for the win, which is awesome in one way but stressful in another when the guy he’s trying to beat happens to be another of your favorites, but he raced cleanly just like I knew he would in my heart. He faded to 6th at the end but it was still a great finish and padded the 29’s owner point lead.
Other than that it was a long, long race full of cautions. Dario Franchitti was the causer for several when his brakes started failing (and yet he still dove into corners like a maniac…oh well, he’s a rookie I guess!). Brian Keselowski wiped out Steven Wallace, which resulted in Steve looking for some revenge. That was bad, and dangerous to do even under caution, but I couldn’t help but laugh watching this unfold. Steve came barreling down the straight and Brian actually tried to get away from him, swerving back and forth and throwing Steven off! Being a wildlife biology student it reminded me of a rabbit zigzagging to escape a bobcat! Steven never touched the 49 as far as I could tell but ended up sitting in the grass before being parked by NASCAR (which was the right thing to do). Steven isn’t very popular among fans but for some reason I like him. He’s got some anger issues but there’s something about him that keeps me from disliking him. However I tend to like the ones that get really pounded by fans. A popular technique of downing Steven is calling him “blinky”, a low-down, heartless dig to his disability that I’m appalled by. I have a big problem with crap like that that so I naturally defend him against such insensitivity.
I also have to mention Todd Kluever, who was supposed to be racing this weekend until a last-minute decision was made to put Colin Braun in the 16. That was devastating. Todd has put nothing but heart and soul into a mediocre ride and he keeps getting crapped on by Roush. I can’t stand it and it makes me so sad. Time is running out…I don’t want to see another talented driver get discarded and forgotten…
David’s Points:
1. Carl Edwards --
2. David -531 behind leader
3. Jason Leffler -227 behind David
