Zephyrhills driver plans to race twice in one day

Zephyrhills' David Reutimann has had a busy year on the tracks, holding his own in a NASCAR Busch Grand National race in May and leading the points standings in the smaller Hills Bros. All Pro Series.

Saturday, he'll try to compete in both on the same afternoon.

Reutimann will drive his No.87 Chevrolet at Memphis Motorsports Park for the Sam's Town 250 Busch race, which starts at 2 p.m.

Thirty minutes after that race finishes, the 32-year-old will hop into the No.00 Chevy for the 125-lap All Pro season finale.

"I used to do it all the time back in Florida," Reutimann said. "You'd run the Limited Late Series then come back and do the Modifieds right after. So I've done that, but nothing this big.

"It's not even close. You can't even say apples and oranges because it's bigger than apples and oranges."

Adding intrigue to the doubleheader, Reutimann leads the All Pro points standings by five points entering the final race.

He was more than 100 points behind the leader with three races left. But back-to-back victories victories in Greenville, S.C., and Kenly, N.C., last month propelled him into the lead.

"A lot of people didn't give us a shot to win this," Reutimann said. "So we're excited."

With a five-point lead, Reutimann can't allow Jeff Fultz to finish more than one place ahead of him in Saturday's race.

But before he can worry about the All Pro race, he must go 250 laps with the Busch drivers, something he showed he could do in Richmond this spring.

Reutimann finished 16th in his Busch debut then had a chance to pick up a few more laps at Kentucky Speedway in June.

Driver Joe Nemechek has taken Reutimann under his wing, and Nemechek's team manager, Brian Pattie, grew up with Reutimann in Zephyrhills.

So when the Kentucky race was suspended by rain and Nemechek had to go to Michigan for a Winston Cup race, Reutimann finished the race. He left Zephyrhills on Thursday and starts his double duty today with Busch qualifying at 1 p.m. and All Pro qualifying immediately afterward. He said he hasn't been too nervous. "I'm surprised I've been as mellow as I've been this week, but I try not to think about it too much," he said.

"We did our homework at the shop, and that's a big part of the deal no matter where you're racing."

Reutimann will drive Nemechek's car in a Busch race in Atlanta next week, giving him another chance to showcase his driving abilities with the hopes of landing a full-time Busch ride next season.

He can put the finishing touch on a storybook season Saturday, but he said he already is happy with his year.

"I've been so blessed with everything that's happened this year," Reutimann said. "It might not be meant to be that we win this week, but you can only do so much.

"All you can do is prepare the car as best you can and race for the win."

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