On Friday at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS), Sprint Cup driver David Reutimann found himself in a position that he is all too familiar with - having to qualify his way into a race on speed.
The pressure was on for Reutimann and Team 44 but Friday's Sprint Cup practice session left little room for doubt as to the outcome of qualifying after the Florida-native placed his #44 Toyota at the top of speed charts. The UPS Toyota was almost a tenth of a second faster than the second quick driver, Carl Edwards, at the end of the one and a half hour practice.
The #44 Toyota was the first of the 11 cars, who were forced to make the race on time, to take the track on Friday for qualifying. On his first lap, Reutimann posted a 28.612 second lap time, which would prove to be the fastest qualifying time of the go or go home cars, placing him in the sixth starting spot for Sunday's race.
"We're obviously pretty happy with a sixth place starting spot," said Reutimann following his qualifying run. "The car was good today in practice and qualifying. It's no secret we would've liked the pole, and I thought we had a shot at it, but a top-10 start is a great run for our team. It puts is in a solid starting position for Sunday and hopefully gives us a leg up on a good finish."
While Reutimann and the #44 Team were happy with their run, the top story of qualifying belongs to Reutimann's teammate Michael McDowell, after the rookie driver endured one of the most vicious accidents recently witnessed in the sport. As he was entering turn one on his second timed qualifying lap, McDowell's #00 Toyota shot up the track slamming into the SAFER barrier, then spinning upside down before breaking into a series of eight barrel rolls.
When the car came to rest, McDowell was fortunately able to exit the mangled machine under his own power and walk away. The accident halted qualifying for 72-minutes as safety crew were forced to do extensive repairs to the SAFER barrier in turn one. McDowell, who is currently in the top-35 in points, will start the race from the 40th position.
Reutimann's teammate and owner, Michael Waltrip, will start from the 20th spot after clocking a fast-lap time of 28.786 seconds.
Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will take the green from the pole position in Sunday's Samsung 500 after posting a fast-lap time over two-tenths of a second quicker than second place starter Edwards. Rounding out the top-five qualifiers for Sunday's race are Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson.
Television coverage of the Samsung 500 is scheduled to broadcast live on the FOX Television Network on Sunday, April 6th. The green flag is scheduled to fall at 2 p.m. EST. Radio coverage will be provided by the Performance Racing Network (PRN).
