David Reutimann started a new chapter in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, spending his first weekend as the driver of the #44 UPS Toyota. He celebrated by securing a top-15 starting spot for the Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Reutimann turned in a lap time of 19.925 seconds and 95.035 mph to pick up the 15th starting spot during qualifying on Friday afternoon.
Reutimann and the #44 UPS Racing Team spent the majority Friday's practice session in race trim, trying to develop a good starting spot for Saturday's two practice sessions. The team only performed a couple of qualifying attempts during the practice session and finished the session in 25th with the fastest lap being a time of 20.028 seconds and 94.548 mph.
The team's adjustments to the UPS Toyota between practice and qualifying resulted in a pickup in speed of a full second. The 15th starting spot is Reutimann's best career starting position at Martinsville.
"The car was pretty good there," Reutimann said. "This has been a pretty good day for us to come in and not have to worry about qualifying, to know that we're in the race. I'm excited to be able to get a pretty decent starting spot in this first race for UPS."
Michael Waltrip turned in a near identical qualifying time of his teammate Reutimann with a lap time of 19.926 seconds and 95.032 mph. Waltrip's qualifying effort places him 16th on the starting grid for Sunday's grueling 500-lap race.
Reutimann's other Michael Waltrip Racing teammate, Michael McDowell, will make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut on Sunday, picking up the 34th starting spot with his lap time of 20.058 seconds and 94.406 mph. McDowell makes his Cup Series debut behind the wheel of the #00 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota.
Jeff Gordon scored the pole for the Goody's Cool Orange 500 with his blistering fast lap time of 19.666 seconds and 96.288 mph. Rounding out the top-five qualifiers for Sunday's race are Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola, David Ragan and Jamie McMurray.
The Goody's Cool Orange 500 is scheduled for a 2 p.m. EDT start this Sunday. FOX will provide the live television broadcast of all the racing action. FOX goes live with its broadcast at 1:30 p.m. EDT.
