Reutimann grabs lead from Gordon, cruises to Sprint Cup victory at Chicagoland

Reutimann cruises to win at Chicagoland

JOLIET, Ill. — David Reutimann blew by Jeff Gordon and cruised to the victory in the Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday night.

Carl Edwards made a charge in the closing laps, cutting Reutimann’s lead to less than a second, but he couldn’t get close enough and finished second. Gordon was third, followed by Clint Bowyer and Jamie McMurray.

It was the second career victory for Reutimann, who also won a rain-shortened race at Charlotte in May 2009.

This one was much more satisfying.

“No rain tonight,” Reutimann said in a television interview in Victory Lane. “We earned this one. Nobody gave it to us and that feels really good.”

And it was a relief for a driver who’d been robbed of a few potential good finishes because of engine problems earlier in the season.

“He is a class act, and a really good guy,” Edwards said.

Reutimann went around Gordon and took the lead on lap 213. He moved in front again after a cycle of pit stops.

It was a rough night for several strong Chase contenders — notably Jimmie Johnson, who dominated the first half of the race but spun out and later scraped the wall to finish 25th.

Kevin Harvick entered with momentum and the points lead but struggled all day long, eventually pulling into the garage with engine problems on lap 194. He eventually returned to the race and finished 34th.

Greg Biffle also went to the garage with apparent engine problems late in the race and finished 35th.

Kyle Busch (17th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (23rd) and Kurt Busch (26th) also had a rough night.

It was the 600th career start for Gordon, who said he’s beginning to feel a little old.

“I do when I get out of that race car and everything aches,” Gordon said. “It didn’t used to be like that.”

Johnson, McMurray and Tony Stewart appeared to have the strongest cars early in the race, although Stewart fell back into traffic after a jack problem during the first round of pit stops and never really made his way back into contention.

Johnson looked untouchable at times, but he made an uncharacteristic bobble when he missed the entrance to pit road on lap 94 and nearly spun out. It didn’t hurt him much — he came back on the track in third place after finally completing a pit stop.

But Johnson was running second to McMurray when he spun off the track on lap 137 after Martin Truex Jr. closed in on Johnson’s back bumper and the rear end of Johnson’s car got loose. After a pit stop, Johnson re-entered the race in 24th.

Johnson then scraped the wall with just under 100 laps left and had to make an unscheduled pit stop, relegating him to 33rd.

Until Saturday night, it had been a wild and wonderful week for Johnson after his wife, Chandra, gave birth to a daughter Wednesday.

Wanting to spend more time with his newly expanded family, Johnson flew home to Charlotte after Friday’s qualifying session and returned to Chicagoland on Saturday. Meanwhile, he and his wife had yet to decide on a baby name as of Friday afternoon.

Coming into Saturday’s race, Chicago was one of four tracks where Johnson had yet to win.

It was an equally frustrating day for Harvick, who was coming off a victory at Daytona last week and had two career wins at Chicagoland.