Confessions Of A NASCAR Fan Following David Reutimann’s Win

Saturday night was the most nervous I’ve been watching the end of a NASCAR race in a very long time.

The end of the race wasn’t exciting. No, quite the opposite. The race ended with one driver putting a spanking on the rest of the field.

It wasn’t like the end of a Talladega race, where you never know who might win, even with 100 yards to go. But how I felt during the end of Saturday night’s race didn’t hold a candle to how I felt during any race I’ve ever seen at Talladega, or almost anywhere for that matter.

David Reutimann is not my favorite driver, but that’s how badly I wanted to see him close the deal.

And if there’s such a thing as karma, it lives at Chicagoland Speedway.

David Reutimann is the true NASCAR nice guy. Ever since his first race, he has held himself accountable for every on-track incident he’s ever been involved in, whether it was his fault or not, save for one. Reutimann is truly a clean racer, and has never given himself enough credit for it.

But more importantly, he’s a great guy off the track, especially to the fans. Reutimann always has time to sign autographs, pose for photos, and even listen to an amature blogger go on about his dreams of being a NASCAR writer.

Even when he is wronged, Reutimann displays sportsmanship. Last year at Pocono, when he had a top 5 run stripped by a wreck caused by Denny Hamlin, Reutimann kept his cool. The wreck destroyed his Chase hopes, but Reutimann refrained from name-calling. He simply said he was “darn mad”, and who wouldn’t be?

Reutimann remained cooler during that incident than almost any other human-being would have. But his remarks after his win Saturday night truly put him at the top of NASCAR’s nice guy list.

Reutimann was given a chance in Victory Lane to trash-talk all of the people who said he didn’t “earn” his first win because that race was rain-shortened. He had a chance to get back at everybody who made his life miserable over the past 13 months; the people who made his first win feel almost worthless.

Almost any driver in the garage area would have taken that opportunity. Some, like Jimmie Johnson after the 2006 Daytona 500, already have. But David Reutimann didn’t, because David Reutimann is not like that. He’s better than that.

David Reutimann won that race Saturday night, and he earned it. It was a long time coming, and karma finally paid him back. It was great to see. It was probably the best moment I’ve seen in NASCAR all year, and maybe the happiest I’ve been to see a driver get a win since Kasey Kahne earned his first Cup win back in 2005 at Richmond.

David Reutimann is the true NASCAR nice guy, and he shows that even in the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

David Reutimann won Saturday night’s race at Chicagoland, and he earned it. As a NASCAR fan, I wouldn’t have had that race any other way.