David Reutimann's outing in Tony Stewart's charity fundraiser, the Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway last week, is nearly the perfect analogy to Reutimann's weekly existence in NASCAR.

The key to successfully wheeling a dirt Late Model is to maintain smooth consistency in a slick, ridiculously rough, dusty and noise-ridden environment.

With the exception of the dust, yeah -- that sounds like life in a NASCAR garage on any race weekend day.

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In a nutshell, you almost have to have an on-demand coma switch that would enable you to fully focus on where you're hurtling, while at the same time, screening out all the distractions as you would flying clumps of clay in that dirt car.

Reutimann's almost got it down to a science -- and that's a good thing.

"Everybody thinks it's trying or stressful and for me; it's not because I just get on a helicopter or get on somebody's private plane and I'm able to go to sleep and then I wake up and get on another helicopter and go to the racetrack," Reutimann said. "That's pretty cool."

The truth is, in addition to focusing well, Reutimann's become quite practiced at disguising the stress.

Because in the current three-week period he's already well into the middle of, he'll be crisscrossing huge tracts of the country by helicopter and private airplane, almost 20 times if you count the initial arrivals at the Sprint Cup venues and his returns to home after each weekend.

In his Michael Waltrip Racing No. 44 Sprint Cup Toyota, Reutimann has faced the unique challenge of racing his way into the top 35 in the owner points with one car -- the No. 00 in which he started the season -- and then having to get out of that car to switch to the 44 when Dale Jarrett ran the final points race of his illustrious career, where he unfortunately left the car parked on the edge of the top 35, in 34th.

After falling out of the top 35 thanks to two bad races, Reutimann's handily dug his way back in, to the point that he's currently a relatively healthy 131 points ahead of 36th position -- which team owner Waltrip occupies with the organization's flagship No. 55 Camry.

The best thing is, it doesn't seem to affect Reutimann's sleep patterns. He's able to catch 40 or 80 winks on his plane flights to such stellar locations as Lebanon, Tenn.; Sparta, Ky.; and West Allis, Wis.

“

This is a great opportunity for me so I want to make the most of the time that I have here in the Cup Series and I want to be here as long as I can so I feel like I am still trying to make a name for myself and I think that is a lot of the reason that I get so keyed up and so anxious is because it is so very important to me.

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DAVID REUTIMANN

"I think you've seen me long enough to know that I'm a nervous guy anyway, especially around the racetrack," Reutimann said last week. "This is a great opportunity for me so I want to make the most of the time that I have here in the Cup Series and I want to be here as long as I can so I feel like I am still trying to make a name for myself and I think that is a lot of the reason that I get so keyed up and so anxious is because it is so very important to me."

You would think that being in racecars would be enough to release a lot of nervous energy -- but remember that focus thing? Rather than being a release valve, it seems that probably internalizes things, so for Reutimann, at least, his airport-hopping excursions are definitely a plus.

"I am kind of keyed up at the racetrack [when] all I had to do was walk across the garage area to get from one to another and so I think in a lot of respects you get on a plane or something and you are in the air for an hour -- it gives you a chance to settle back down and calm back down and regain your focus," Reutimann said. "I think it's definitely a different way of looking at it and it's probably the complete opposite of what most people would think it is and that's me and how I feel about it.

"I'm kind of a strange bird and I don't always do things normally. That's how I look at doing it."

But he has to look real hard because, as much as he pooh-poohs it, it appears Reutimann sometimes has to swallow pretty hard to deal with the details of his life.

"As far as the flying part goes -- I have never been a huge fan of flying [but] the lifestyle that we lead now, it's a necessity," Reutimann said. "I still get a little nervous just taking off in a helicopter that you don't know anything about, but they are always great pilots great people and great aircraft so I tend to worry more than I should about things anyway.

"It's cool. I am getting the opportunity to do things that people just dream of doing. It's a lot of fun and I enjoy it -- it makes me feel like a rock star with the helicopters, private jets and such.

"There are no limos though -- we don't have any of those -- but all in all it's a cool experience."

His eating habits are another thing, and to an outside observer it's almost painful to hear him describe what he has to deprive himself of to successfully negotiate an agonizing weekend such as he faced four days ago.

Reutimann started out in Long Pond, Pa., where he practiced and qualified his No. 44 Camry for the Pocono 500. Then he flew over to Tennessee for a Friday night practice session with his No. 99 MWR Camry, which is firmly entrenched in the Nationwide Series' top five.

He went back to Pocono to run two more practice sessions on Saturday morning in the Cup Camry, and then departed once again for Lebanon, where he posted a strong qualifying effort and an even stronger race run.

If he was able to sleep on his way back to Pennsylvania, it was indeed a blessing, because as the race played out, Reutimann was firmly in the lead when a caution waved with about 10 laps to go. In the end, he finished third and was rightfully incensed.

"When you have a lead like that, and you end up third, it doesn't -- these races aren't all that easy to win, despite what some people think," Reutimann said when he exited his car. "And when you have a chance to win, and you don't, it's cause for me to get a little upset."

But it didn't upset his culinary routine. Getting off-track on that is an offseason adventure. And when Reutimann talks about food, just how well he masks his nervous nature is readily apparent.

David Reutimann

Cup Series Career

Starts	41
Wins	0
Top-5	0
Top-10	1
Poles	0
Laps Led	6
Avg. Start	26.1
Avg. Finish	27.9

"My food of choice at the racetrack -- I eat a lot of bananas and I like stuff like pasta with no sauce on it or chicken breast or things like that," Reutimann said. "I like pretzels -- I get pretty nervous most of the time so I like things that are easy for me to digest and give me some energy.

"I like [carbohydrates] that get me going. I eat some fruit and not too much high acid content. I drink tons and tons of water -- as much water as I can get [and] I try to alternate that with PowerAde. That is a typical race weekend for me.

"I have to admit that during the offseason, I tend to relax a little and I head straight for the Italian food -- I go for the lasagna or even pizza. Sometimes in the offseason, I eat things that aren't so great for me because I feel like I missed out during the year. After about a week of that I usually try to get back on my regimen.

"Sometimes it's nice to be bad for a little bit of time because you feel like you miss out on the foods you really like because you're trying to eat things to make your race weekend go as good as you possibly can."

And that makes the most arresting point of all about what Reutimann's trying to do this season -- because he can't be bad at anything he's trying to do in either Sprint Cup or the Nationwide Series.

"We still have a lot of ground to cover and all of us are still closer to being outside the top 35 than we would like," Reutimann said before his team owner actually fell beyond the dreaded 'go or go home' line. "I don't feel like I'm in comfortable water right now and I would like to keep moving forward in the points.

"I would like to be inside the top 20 where you feel like you could get away with having an off-race or two and not have to worry about taking such a nose-dive in the points. I think our team is doing well, I think they still have work to do and I think they would all agree with that, if you were to ask them all the same question."

And with questions about sponsorship looming over not only Reutimann's team, but many others, it doesn't help his stress quotient, but as he's managed with everything else, he does have it compartmentalized -- especially the part about losing a sponsor.

"It's not a very good position to be in if that were to happen," Reutimann said of the added pressure. "Right now in all reality, every week you are racing to try to keep your sponsor [because] there are a lot more teams out there that need sponsors than there are sponsors in the sport.

"You have to feel like you are racing every week to keep your sponsor. The mentality won't change at all, but I'm out there every week busting my tail to do the best job I can for UPS -- whether it's on or off the track -- that will never change no matter what happens.

"I don't think the mentality will change. You are out there every week trying to keep everybody happy. Sometimes that's hard to do, but that is still part of your job -- it's in your job description, that's for sure."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.