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Tag: David Reutimann

  • Michael Waltrip Gets Slapped By Rib for New Tums Commercial

    Just when it seems Michael Waltrip could get no more exposure, with his new book and his singing and dancing in the new NAPA commercial with teammate Martin Truex, Jr., Waltrip has taken yet another starring role.

    [media-credit id=41 align=”alignright” width=”269″][/media-credit]Waltrip’s newest commercial gig involves taking some licks from a mechanical rib slapping his face and begging for his sponsor’s newest product, fast acting Tums.

    Ty Norris, General Manager of Michael Waltrip Racing, announced the new commercial partnership between MWR and sponsor Tums in the media center at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  The commercials will not only be aired on television but will also be featured on the Tums Facebook page.

    “What’s really neat today is how some of our sponsors are taking us even deeper into the digital space,” Norris said. “What you don’t see a lot of is activating with NASCAR celebrities.”

    “As you might know Tums has been actively involved in racing for a number of years,” Kent Christiansen, Sr. Brand Manager of Tums, said. “The theme of our advertising is when your favorite foods fight you, fight back fast with Tums.  We are happy to say that we are leveraging the appeal of David (Reutimann) and Michael (Waltrip) and bringing that into our advertising.”

    The commercial will debut this Sunday during the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  The commercials feature both Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann “interacting with foods in an interesting way,” according to Christiansen.

    Christiansen emphasized that Tums has focused on its younger fans, who “spend hours of their time online.” There are actually seven videos that have been filmed that will be available to fans on their Tums Facebook page over the next few months.

    “We think this content is exciting for the NASCAR community,” Christiansen continued. “And we think it will be exciting for fans to check out on the Facebook page.”

    The first of the new Tums commercials shows a barbecued rib slapping Waltrip’s face several times as he tries to eat it, with Reutimann watching in amusement. The second commercial shows a giant double stacked cheeseburger chasing Reutimann at the track, pulling him out of his race car and pummeling him repeatedly.

    In the latter commercial, fans will actually be able to vote on whether or not Reutimann will take his Tums, with the votes determining the ending. As usual, however, in both commercials Reutimann does not utter one word.

    “I don’t know if you notice the recurring theme, but David has another commercial without a speaking part,” Waltrip said. “We’re going to work on that.”

    “I’m good not speaking,” Reutimann countered quickly to his boss.

    “I can’t get enough of that hamburger kicking my butt,” Reutimann continued. “It was a pretty unique from the rib that Michael was trying to eat to the hamburger. We ended up having to do several takes just because I couldn’t stop laughing.”

    “Even when the hamburger comes riding up, thankfully I was wearing my helmet,” Reutimann continued. “I couldn’t stop laughing all day. If it makes me laugh, I hope it will make others laugh too.”

    Waltrip advised that he had the hardest commercial to make by far.

    “There was a guy sitting behind me and there was a wire in that rib,” Waltrip said. “It took about a hundred takes or at least that’s what it felt like being beat in the face by that rib.”

    “Anyways, 25 years of racing a car and that’s what it’s come to,” Waltrip said with a chuckle.

    For his part, Reutimann concurred with his boss that the slapping rib was by far the most challenging commercial to make.

    “I was covered with that sauce and we had to do all those different angles,” Reutimann said. “I asked Michael to go out for ribs for lunch after that and he was not up for that.  The amount of sauce flying everywhere, it was a dangerous area to be in.”

    “Thankfully, we all got through it.”

    Waltrip, as he does so often and so well, took the opportunity to plug not only Tums but also some of his other endeavors, including the Comedy Garage program and his new book, ‘In the Blink of an Eye.’

    “Speaking of making you laugh, Michael Waltrip’s ‘Comedy Garage’ is in town,” Waltrip said. “I have a book out too.  Four weeks in a row it’s been on the best seller list.”

    Waltrip did become a bit more serious, paying tribute to his team’s partnership, now in its second year, with Tums.

    “As a team owner the thing I most like about this ad campaign is that this is the first year they’ve used our team in their commercials,” Waltrip said. “This commitment to Tums is a great sign and we appreciate their enthusiasm for our sport.”

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: PIR Subway Fresh Fit 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: PIR Subway Fresh Fit 500

    After one of the most exciting Daytona 500 finishes, the Cup Series promptly headed west to Phoenix International Raceway. Although it actually rained a bit in the Valley of the Sun, the second race of the NASCAR season, the Subway Fresh Fit 500, was filled with its own share of surprises.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”292″][/media-credit]Surprising:  In contrast to the youngest winner, 20 year old Trevor Bayne, celebrating in Victory Lane after his Daytona 500 win last week, a 39 year old veteran driver was finally able to celebrate a victory, ending a 66 race winless streak.  After receiving a big bear hug from team owner Rick Hendrick, the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, Jeff Gordon, stood relieved and overwhelmed with emotion in Victory Lane.

    What seemed to mean the most to Gordon, in addition to beating Kyle Busch of course, was how the fans embraced his win.

    “Man, we just beat Kyle Busch!” Gordon said after getting out of his race car. “Are you kidding me? Pinch me, pinch me.”

    “I don’t really care how we do it because we just wanted to get to Victory Lane,” Gordon said. “But to do it that way, leading the most laps, and to see the fans’ reaction. What an awesome feeling it is.”

    “God, it feels so amazing,” Gordon said. “I’ve got to say thanks to the fans.”

    With the win at PIR, his 83rd, Gordon officially tied Cale Yarborough for fifth in NASCAR’s all-time win list. Gordon also catapulted up 21 spots in the points, now in the fifth position.

    Not Surprising:  It was not surprising that Kyle Busch, who had won both the Truck and Nationwide Series races at PIR, was right there nipping at Gordon’s heels in the final laps. Busch battled back from an early incident to give Gordon a run for his money, just coming short of the sweep by finishing as the runner up.

    After paying homage to Gordon, Busch then apologized for getting into Carl Edwards, whose pole sitting race car was totally wrecked as a result of the contact.

    “It was unintentional,” Busch said. “All that aside, we came through a lot of adversity and kept battling through everything that was thrown at us. There at the end, Jeff just had a better car than us and flat out passed me.”

    Surprising: In a flashback moment to Daytona, there was actually a ‘big one’ at Phoenix International Raceway.  Thirteen cars were involved, including the likes of Brian Vickers, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, David Ragan, Regan Smith and David Reutimann to name a few.  The race actually had to be red-flagged in order to allow for the extensive clean up needed.

    Clint Bowyer summed up his take on the ‘big one’ up best. “I’m pretty disgusted with the whole thing,” Bowyer said. “Our day is done.”

    Not Surprising:  Whether as a result of the big one or smaller skirmishes on the track, there were several drivers who were unhappy with one another, sparking the first rivalries of the season. One of the biggest differences of opinion occurred between Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch, who clashed in an early incident.

    “In my opinion, this was the car to win,” Edwards said after his tussle with Busch. “That’s too bold a move to make early in the race.  We had been in the running for the race win.”

    Other cross words were exchanged between Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth after getting into one another.

    “Matt wrecked us,” Vickers said simply. “It’s coming back to him.”

    Surprising: One of the most surprising finishes was for NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. After receiving a penalty for entering too fast into his pit, sliding through his pit stall, and breaking a wheel off the jack, Junior rallied back for a top ten finish.

    Not Surprising: Rick Hendrick’s wisdom in making his giant crew chief swap amongst the Hendrick drivers, sans Jimmie Johnson, certainly became evident at this race. Thanks to his pairing of Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the new duo was able to rally back from adversity, with Letarte serving as head cheerleader. And of course, the driver in Victory Lane, Jeff Gordon, credited his new crew chief pairing with Alan Gustafson, with getting him back to winning ways.

    Surprising and Not Surprising: It was surprising, yet not surprising, that last week’s winner Trevor Bayne had such a difficult time at Phoenix. He wrecked his primary car in practice and had the same experience in his back up car in the race. Bayne hit the wall hard, bringing out the third caution in the race and totally destroying the rear end of his No. 21 Wood Brothers race car.

    “I don’t know what happened,” Bayne said after the wreck. “That’s tough coming off of our high at Daytona to come to this, but we’ve got a great race team behind us.”

    “We’ll be back at Vegas,” Bayne continued. “I hate it ended this way this weekend, but we’ll be back.”

    Indeed all of the Sprint Cup drivers will be back and this time they will try their luck on the track in Sin City. The Kobalt Tools 400 will run at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 6th at 3:00 PM and will be broadcast on FOX and PRN.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Daytona 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Daytona 500

    The kickoff race for NASCAR, the Daytona 500, is always one of the biggest and most prestigious races of the season. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 53rd running of the Great American Race, the Daytona 500:

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”250″][/media-credit]Surprising:  In a race that set the record for lead changes, different leaders, and cautions, the biggest surprise to all, including himself, was Trevor Bayne, channeling his inner David Pearson in the famed Wood Brothers No. 21 car, to take the checkered flag.  Bayne is the second youngest race winner, accomplishing the feat on the second green, white, checkered, even while running low on gas.

    Bayne is the tenth different Ford driver to win the Daytona 500.  This was the youngster’s first win in only his second Cup Series start.

    Not Surprising:  Carl Edwards, exhibiting great patience, came in the second spot. Edwards, however, took solace in “how nice a guy Trevor is” as he savored his runner up status.

    “I don’t know if you guys noticed, but it was pretty wild out there today,” Edwards said. “But I was there at the end and that’s what I had to do.”

    Surprising: It was indeed surprising that there were no Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, or Richard Childress Racing representatives in the top five finishing order. The story instead was one of the underdog teams, with the Wood Brothers, Front Row Motorsports and JTG Daugherty instead in the top five.

    Not Surprising:   Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had a great day, leading laps and staying competitive.  Unfortunately, as has happened to Junior all too often, he was caught up in a tussle on the final laps, pushing him back to a 24th place finish.

    Surprising:   Incredibly surprising was the amount of deal making prior to the race, as well as throughout the race itself. Crew chiefs and spotters were exchanging frequency numbers, and probably cell phone numbers, in the garage area so that they could communicate and work together during the race.  Even on the spotter’s stand, it was “like the New York Stock Exchange,” according to Darrell Waltrip, with deals aplenty being made.

    Not Surprising:  All of this deal-making seemed to wreak some degree of havoc on the track, including some tandem drivers causing each other to wreck. Some of the drivers, crew chiefs, and spotters seemed almost lax on their primary responsibilities as they focused instead on coordinating with other drivers and teams.

    The best example of this confusion was a radio exchange between Kyle Busch and defending Daytona 500 champion Jamie McMurray, who thought they would be working together until McMurray remembered that he had a deal with his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya.

    Surprising:  One of the biggest surprises was the expiration of Team Childress engines. Kevin Harvick was the first to lose his engine, early in the race on lap 22. At about lap 96, teammate Jeff Burton lost his engine.

    “We had just a 10 to 15 more degree oil temp that what we have been running,” Harvick said. “We never blow motors. Everybody at ECR does a great job.”

    “We are asking a lot out of the engines here for sure,” Burton said. “I am disappointed. Exceptionally disappointed. But I am really proud of everybody.”

    Not Surprising:  Daytona, infamous for the big one, had one of course.  Early in the race on lap 29, Michael Waltrip, former Daytona 500 winner, got into the back of his teammate David Reutimann and the big one was on.  Fourteen cars were involved in the crash, including the three Hendrick cars of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Mark Martin. Other drivers involved were Joe Nemechek, Andy Lally, Brian Vickers, Marcos Ambrose, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, A J Allmendinger, and David Gilliland.

    “Our chances to win the Daytona 500 are over,” Jeff Gordon said after the wreck. “It is such a bummer. We had such a fast race car, such a great race team.”

    Surprising:  While it is the Daytona 500 and this is the first race of the season, the crowd on hand was healthy and the excitement in the air was palpable.  Hopefully the start is a harbinger for what is in store for NASCAR for the rest of the season.

    Not Surprising:  Probably the most moving moment of the race occurred on lap 3, when the track went silent, except for the roar of the engines. The crowd stood as one, holding up three fingers in memory of the Intimidator.  There is no doubt Dale Earnhardt would have like that.