Sat Oct 27 20:04:32 2007

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Reutimann wins caution-filled race at Memphis

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Memphis, TN (Sports Network) - David Reutimann won Saturday afternoon's Sam's Town 250 at the Memphis Motorsports Park despite a record 25 caution flags. The No.99 Toyota crossed the finish line ahead of Mike Bliss as the caution flag flew one more time during a green-white-checker finish.

The victory was the first of Reutimann's Busch career.

First-time pole winner Marcos Ambrose brought the field to the green flag, but his inexperience gave way before they crossed the start/finish line for the first time as Reutimann grabbed the race lead.

Also dropping back early was IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti, making his first Busch Series start. he qualified a very good fourth, but by the first caution flag was down to sixth place.

Jason Leffler was looking strong, making his way around Ambrose for second. Youngster Brad Coleman also got around Ambrose.

Reutimann continued to show the way, leading the first 39 laps until the next caution flag when he pitted for fuel and tires. Ron Young stayed out but he was little problem for Reutimann as the race restarted on lap 43, just as the caution flag came out again for an accident in mid-pack.

Meanwhile, Carl Edwards, the points leader was up to 20th place after starting shotgun on the field because he had Matt McCall qualify the No.60 Ford while he was practicing for the Cup race in Atlanta. An eighth-place finish from Edwards would clinch the Busch Series title. By the time the caution flag came out on lap 73, Edwards was up to 13th place.

Reutimann had built more than a two-second lead on Coleman before caution flag No.7 slowed the field. When Coleman and Keller fell back, Franchitti inherited second place behind Reutimann and Edwards was up to ninth. But more caution flags continued to upset any rhythm. There were a total of 14 caution flags through the first 115 laps of which Reutimann led 110 laps.

Reutimann pitted on lap 118 and all the leaders followed. Sterling Marlin, who had been sixth, came out ahead of Reutimann as were the nine drivers who stayed out on the track.

On lap 128 Edwards got involved in a wreck, but it appeared that he didn't suffer much damage and he restarted the car and got back into line. It all started when Young spun and Edwards was among those that got caught up in the incident.

There was a lot of fluid on the track and NASCAR decided to red flag the field so that they could clean it up quicker. With all the flags, NASCAR was also concerned that they might not be able to get all the laps completed before dark.

By lap 150 there were already 16 caution flags, the most of the season and still 100 races to run.

There were a lot of different strategies in effect, but Reutimann was destroying them all working his way back up through the field after his final stop. The No.99 Ford was up to third just past the 150-lap mark with only Keller and Ambrose in front of him.

Finally a couple of green flag laps in a row, but only until lap 159 when Coleman slammed the outside wall.

Ambrose pitted from the lead giving Keller the top spot and moving Reutimann to second place with 85 laps to go. With 78 laps remaining, Reutimann easily slid underneath Keller and back into the lead.

The 19th caution came with still 67 laps to go as Bobby East couldn't get slowed down enough in a chain-reaction incident. By this time it was Reutimann and Scott Wimmer looking the strongest.

More caution flags interrupted the action again. Neither the fans nor the drivers could be enjoying this race.

It was still Reutimann and Wimmer as the laps dwindled to 40. And Edwards continued his march back towards the top-10 after his accident. He was 11th and just three spots from clinching the season crown. He was 10th with 33 laps to go. But more immature and aggressive driving brought out still more cautions.

Finally they put some green flag laps together and Reutimann built the lead to 1.369 seconds with 20 laps to go. But of course, caution flag No.24 put a halt to that.

The race restarted and Reutimann continued the domination he had shown all day and was up by more than one second with just two laps remaining when the No.25 caution flag set up a green-white checker finish.

The final restart of the race saw Reutimann get off to his best restart of the entire afternoon. He was well ahead when a spin by a backmarker brought out the yellow flag and ended the race.

The win by Reutimann prevented Edwards from clinching the championship once again. That will have to wait until next Saturday at the Texas Motor Speedway.