Driver Profile: David Reutimann

David pulled his #00 Tums Toyota into victory lane with tears of happiness rolling down his cheeks. On this night, there would be no rain ruining his parade; just a shower of champagne and coca-cola soaking him.

The "franchise" won his second NSCS race Saturday night at Chicagoland Speedway. He has now proved to all of us in NASCAR nation that he is capable of competing and winning in NASCAR's premier series. I'm sure all of us remember Reutimann's first win... the two-day, rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 last year.

I wasn't surprised that Reutimann broke through Saturday night. So far this season, he has had 4 top 5's as well as 4 top 10's. Despite a few problems, he's had fairly consistent finishes. This win also came shortly after Reutimann signed a contract extension with Michael Waltrip Racing. Ironic isn't it?

Reutimann made a statement with his win. And if you don't believe it, believe Jeff Gordon, a 4-time NASCAR Cup champion, when he says, "I'll tell you, he's pretty damn good."

This win, in a way, erases the invisible 'asterisk' that was beside his 600 win.

In an article released on nascar.com, "there were weekends in which he slept in his pickup truck, wrote checks for racing tires that couldn't be cashed until he picked up his sparse winnings at the pay window and several weeks he didn't know he was going to make his house payments. And that was when he was 30." (Ty Norris)

I'd say Reutimann has come a long way in just a short amount of time. He's given Michael Waltrip and MWR as a whole, something to be proud of, along with future success.

Until next time, i'm Steph Piech for The Finish Line