Tryson stepped down from his position with Michael Waltrip Racing. Since then, he has served as a consultant for JTG Daugherty Racing. He was recently granted his release from that contract so he could join BKR immediately.

Tryson said:

I’m not exactly sure what the plan is yet. We’ll see as we go along. I’ve been asked to look around, assess the situation and see where I think they can use some help. Once I do that, I’ll know more.

BKR owner Ron Devine added:

Pat is obviously crew chief capable, but he’s also competition director capable. We’ll see where he feels he can be of the most use.

The team will continue to field the No. 83 Toyota for Landon Cassill and the No. 93 for Travis Kvapil in the series, which means that the addition of Reutimann will make the team a three-car operation. Reutimann drove in the 2012 Daytona 500 for the team, finishing 26th.

Scott Gunderson, president of BK Racing, said:

Everyone at BK Racing is excited to solidify a third car on our team for David Reutimann. I know that he will strengthen our organization with the talent and experience that he brings to the table. Reutimann has been a big part of BK Racing this year and we look forward to working with him for the rest of the season. I want to thank Burger King and Dr Pepper for helping make this happen.

Reutimann said:

BK Racing has great equipment and personnel. They’ve shown that they can get the job done and I’m really excited to continue racing with them. We’re already off to a good start and the team is continuing to improve. Travis and Landon are terrific teammates and I think having a third car among us will give us better information and more resources to keep strengthening.

The No. 73 team attempted the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway with Kvapil behind the wheel. The team had to qualify on time because it is not in the Top 35 in owner’s points. Kvapil qualified for the race and finished 32nd after a fuel pressure issue. Reutimann will also have to qualify on time, as the team is not in the Top 35 in owner’s points.

Reutimann has won two Cup series races in his career, both with Michael Waltrip Racing.

Related Stories

• Reutimann To Drive For BK Racing In Daytona 500
• Reutimann To Drive For Tommy Baldwin Racing In 2012

The first two came on rural short tracks in Virginia. The third was a shocker — Friday night’s improbable victory in the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

It took three attempts at a green-white-checkered-flag finish for King to win his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in his eighth start in the series and his first on a superspeedway.

King was in the lead in the third overtime when Joey Coulter’s Chevrolet flew into the catch fence on the frontstretch after James Buescher’s Chevy turned sideways from contact with the truck of Ron Hornaday Jr. Coulter walked away from the wreck.

The resulting caution froze the field and made a winner of King, who still seemed amazed at his accomplishment when he talked to reporters after the race.

“This is feature win No. 3 for me — in my whole career,” King said. “It’s unbelievable. I couldn’t imagine being here, and we’re here.”

A hard crash on Lap 104 — four laps into overtime at the 2.5-mile track — took out race leader Johnny Sauter, who turned into the outside wall in the tri-oval off the bumper of King, igniting a multicar melee behind them.

“Golly, I flat freakin’ wrecked him,” King lamented on his radio after NASCAR red-flagged the race to clean up debris from the wreck.

Five laps and an 11-minute stoppage later, after a torrent of reassuring words from crew chief Chad Kendrick, King was in victory lane. Timothy Peters, King’s Red Horse Racing teammate came home second. Justin Lofton was credited with a third-place finish, followed by Travis Kvapil and Jason White.

“All I know was, the closing rate was real fast, and I couldn’t get off of him,” King said of the contact with Sauter’s car. “I’m a rookie, and I’ve never pushed (another car in the draft) in my life, and this is my first time at Daytona Speedway or any superspeedway.

“I apologize to him from the bottom of my heart. It wasn’t my intention at all.”

A caution on Lap 61 for a crash involving John King, Cale Gale and Mike Skinner provided a window for drivers to make their final pit stops. The trip down pit road failed to break up the dominant combination of Turner Motorsports drivers Buescher and polesitter Miguel Paludo.

Nelson Piquet Jr., the third of the Turner drivers, took the lead soon after a restart on Lap 69, and the Turner Chevrolets ran 1-2-3 as the race closed in on the 75-lap mark. To that point, Turner drivers had led every green-flag lap.

Lap after lap they maintained that order, Piquet leading Paludo and Buescher, all three trucks hugging the yellow line at the bottom of the track until White led a surge in the outside lane and grabbed the lead from Paludo on Lap 84.

As the trucks approached the stripe on that circuit, Paludo’s Chevy turned sideways and slammed nose-first into the inside wall, bring an abrupt end to the Turner triumvirate.

White led the field to the subsequent restart on Lap 91, with Piquet in second, Sauter third and Buescher fourth. White stayed out front until Parker Kilgerman’s Dodge spun sideways on Lap 95, scattering the back half of the field and damaging the trucks of David Starr, Ross Chastain, Dusty Davis and Bryan Silas.

Notes: Ward Burton finished eighth in his first start in any of NASCAR’s top three series since 2007… Paulie Harraka, who triggered an early wreck, got five straight “lucky dogs” (free passes to regain lost laps) as the highest-scored lapped car. He finished 19th in his first start in the series.

According to Cassill, the team is planning to field two cars, full time this coming Cup season. Cassill said that Doug Richert will serve as crew chief of the No. 83 and Harry McMullin will serve as the team’s general manager.

Sources say that Ron Devine of TRG Motorsports, which fielded the No. 71 last season, is part of the ownership group. Devine and his Burger King franchises may sponsor the team.

The team will use the former Randy Moss Motorsports shop in Statesville, NC. Engines will come from Triad Racing Technology.

No driver has been named to the second car, the No. 93, which will use the points from the No. 4 last season. Brian Vickers and Travis Kvapil have been linked to that car.

Update: BK Racing announced that David Reutimann will drive the team’s No. 93 Toyota in the Daytona 500, with Todd Anderson, former car chief with TRG Motorsports, serving as crew chief. Travis Kvapil will take over driving duties of the car at Phoenix International Raceway. The car will use the 2011 points of Red Bull Racing’s No. 4.

Reutimann is signed to drive for Tommy Baldwin Racing in the No. 10. Reutimann will drive the No. 10 Chevy in events not entered by Danica Patrick. Patrick will drive the No. 10, which will be fielded by Stewart Haas Racing, in select Sprint Cup events.

Reutimann said:

I was definitely starting to think that I wasn’t going to get to run the Daytona 500, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Daytona is such a huge deal. Everyone says it pays the same amount of points and blah, blah, blah. But it’s my home track and I didn’t know how I was going to take sitting on the sidelines. That place is pretty special to me. I’m really excited about running that race.

Landon Cassill will pilot BK Racing’s No. 83.

TOR team owner, former CWTS, Nationwide, and Sprint Cup Series driver Stacy Compton, said:

It has always been our objective to grow the team and this is just the next step in that plan. We have a great group of partners behind us and feel like we are taking all the right steps to build a very competitive Sprint Cup team.

There has been no word from the team on sponsorship or a potential driver, but the team indicated that it has partnered with one of its “long-time supports” for a handful of events this coming season. Last season, the team’s No. 60 truck featured sponsorship from Fuel Doctor and Red Bull, while its No. 66 truck featured sponsorship from GoPro, the National Watermelon Promotion Board, and a few other sponsors. Fuel Doctor seems the most like the sponsor the team referred to in its release.

Cole Whitt and Justin Marks drove for the team last season. Whitt recently signed on to drive the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevy to replace Aric Almirola, who left to join Richard Petty Motorsports after AJ Allmendinger left to take over driving duties of the No. 22 Penske Racing Dodge vacated by Kurt Busch. Whitt could be the top candidate to drive TOR’s entry.

Other drivers without rides for next season are Brian Vickers, Landon Cassill, Travis Kvapil and JJ Yeley.

Junior Makes the Chase

Dale Earnhardt Jr was probably the most talked-about driver of the night.  He came to Richmond knowing he could make the chase and he knew he had the car to do it.  However, his chase hopes started to fade just eight laps into the race.

Clint Bowyer spun in Turn 4, trying to get under David Reutimann at the front of the pack. As the cars checked up, Earnhardt got into the back of Matt Kenseth. It’s hard to tell, but Earnhardt says he was pushed into Kenseth by Casey Mears, who may have been pushed into him by Marcos Ambrose. As Kenseth started to spin, Earnhardt went outside and made contact with Denny Hamlin, sending Hamlin into the wall. Earnhardt then turned to drive under the stopped car of Bowyer, but Bowyer rolled down the track and the two made contact.

This resulted in significant damage to the grill of the No. 88 Chevy, forcing him to pit multiple times under caution. The team fixed the car as best they could and kept Junior on the lead lap. But, because of the damage, Earnhardt had his hands full with an ill-handling car. Still, he was on a mission to make the Chase.

On lap 37, he made contact with wild card hopeful Marcos Ambrose, spinning Ambrose around. That really just looked like two guys going for the same real estate, but Earnhardt may not have lifted for Ambrose because he may have blamed Ambrose for the big wreck that put his Chase hopes in jeopardy.

Then, on lap 152, Travis Kvapil slammed the No. 88′s bumper.  Junior showed Kvapil how he felt about it.  He retaliated the following lap, sending Kvapil spinning in Turn 2 to bring out the caution.  Earnhardt would have been the Lucky Dog that caution, but wasn’t eligible since he contributed to bringing out the caution. After the race, according to reporters, Earnhardt Jr apologized to Denny Hamlin. But, as far as Kvapil, Earnhardt said he got what he deserved.

Earnhardt hovered around 10th place in the Sprint Cup Series standings for most of the race. At one point, he was only two points ahead of Brad Keselowski and from dropping out of the Chase.

To make the Chase, all Earnhardt Jr had to do was finish the race in 20th position or better.  After a hard fought battle, he finished 16th and secured his spot for the Chase.  “We just kept working it and trying to fix the car,” said Earnhardt after climbing out of his beaten car. ”But we worked on it and worked on it…I’m proud to be in the Chase. I feel like I’m a good enough driver to be in the Chase—my team is good enough to be there.”

He will enter the race at Chicagoland Speedway in 10th position, 12 points behind leader Kyle Busch.

Unlikely Feuds

With the second wild card for the Chase possibly up for grabs, Marcos Ambrose needed a Top 15 finish to put himself in the running.  On Lap 51, Ambrose and Red Bull Racing drivers Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne were racing three-wide for position.  Quickly running out of room, Ambrose tagged the rear of the No. 83 Toyota, sending Vickers into Kahne and both RBR drivers into the wall.  Vickers was less than pleased with the incident, turning a hard right into Ambrose’s car under caution on the next lap.  Vickers was invited to the NASCAR hauler after the race to discuss the incident.  He was also told to park his car for a little while to cool down. As a result, Ambrose was out of contention for the wild card spot long before the end of the race. He finished 21st.

Johnson Vs Busch: Round Two   

Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch have had recent history with each other at Pocono Raceway last month, slamming fenders in the closing laps of the race.  Tempers flared yet again under the lights Saturday night, right before the halfway point of the race.  Busch hit Johnson’s bumper while getting into a turn and spun him.  Although it looked as though Busch got in to the turn too hot and slammed on the brakes to avoid wrecking, Johnson didn’t see it as accidental and retaliated 56 laps later.

After the race Busch said, “He’s been able to beat the guys the last five years by out-driving them with what he has for equipment. If he wants to switch equipment, let’s see what we can do. I’m going to beat him fair and square with my Penske Dodge.”  Johnson didn’t seemed too concerned with his comments saying, ”I’m sure I’ll go find him and talk to him and he’ll run his mouth and we’ll go from there.”

Sources say that during an interview with a NASCAR.com reporter Joe Menzer, Busch lost his temper and had to be restrained when asked about the incident with Johnson.  The war with words didn’t end there and continued when the drivers were forced to share the podium in the media center together.

From the looks of it, this battle isn’t going to end any time soon.  Busch is a proven winner and knows how to win a championship.  However, if he’s more concerned with getting “into Johnson’s head”, he should give up contending for the Sprint Cup title now.  Johnson is a five-time champion of this series and it’s almost impossible to get “inside of his head.”  As far as I’m concerned, Kurt Busch is the last thing on Jimmie Johnson’s mind.

Chase Run Down

The top-12 in points are now: Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Brad Keselowski, and Denny Hamlin.  David Ragan did his best to steal the wild card from Hamlin, but fell short finishing the race in fourth.

We head to Chicagoland Speedway next week and I’m sure we’ll see just as much action, if not more.

Travis Kvapil, who normally drives the No. 38, will move to FRM’s No. 55 entry, the car Yeley normally drives, for the race.

Yeley started the season driving for Whitney Motorsports in the No. 46 Chevy. He filled in for Kvapil in the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway while Kvapil drove in the Camping World Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway.

Two races later, he drove the No. 55 for FRM.

Erik Darnell replaced Yeley in WMS’s No. 46 car at NHMS. He also drove in the Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono Raceway for Whitney.  At Watkins Glen International, Yeley was back in the No. 46.

The following week, Yeley drove the no. 55 again. WMS announced that Scott Speed would drive their No. 46 for the remainder of the season.

Yeley has made 19 starts this season; he has an average finish of 40th.

This race marks WM’s last fielding a Chevy. Starting at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, WM will field Fords using FR9 engines.

The No. 38 is 37th in owner’s points, meaning Yeley will need to qualify on speed. This will be Yeley’s first time driving for FRM.

Hornish has been running select races in the Nationwide Series for Penske Racing. Thus far in 2011, he has one top 10 in five starts.

Hornish said:

I’m really excited to get back in a Cup car. And it’s not just an opportunity to run a Cup race, but I get to race at Pocono. That’s a track that a lot of drivers don’t like and it puts them in a bad mood trying to figure it out. And that actually can pay dividends for me because I like racing there and I go there with confidence. I’ve run well there the past two years with four top-15 finishes. … I’ve been spending some time with Jay Guy, going over the set-up of the car, so we have a good game plan going in. I knew Jay from when he was at Penske, but I didn’t work directly with him. But I’m looking forward to working with him this week.