Reutimann's victory bucks NASCAR's youthful trend

David Reutimann shouldn't have won the rain-delayed Coca-Cola 600 on Monday. He shouldn't even be in a Sprint Cup car. Not in this day and age, at least.

Beating the odds

The wait was excruciating, but after two hours, David Reutimann found himself a Sprint Cup winner.

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• Final Laps: Charlotte
• Victory Lane: Reutimann
• Press Pass: Reutimann
• Race Rewind: Charlotte

No, he seems a little more cut out for an era of maybe 20 or 30 years ago, before big corporate sponsors turned drivers into dreamy spokesmodels and kids racked up trophies in NASCAR's national divisions before they were old enough to legally drink. Reutimann, a first-time winner on the Cup tour at the crusty old age of 39, did it the old fashioned way, proving himself on anonymous developmental tours and in less-than-stellar equipment until a long-overdue breakthrough came. In that regard, he has a lot more in common with men like Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett than many of his brethren currently competing on the sport's premier circuit.

As difficult as it may seem to believe now, there was once a time when car owners didn't trust young drivers with good cars. Inexperience was viewed as an expense they couldn't afford. No, they wanted men with a little seasoning, drivers who maybe spent most of their 20s piloting junk, trying to prove they were good enough for a championship-caliber ride in the big show. By the time they made it, they were well-prepared in knowing how to interact with fans, represent sponsors, and take care of equipment. Then along came Jeff Gordon, and a championship at 24, and suddenly car owners were crawling over one another to find the next young superstar.

And in the process, drivers barely out of their teens were sliding behind the wheels of cars good enough to win races and championships, and an entire new generation was born. Now, if a driver hasn't broken through before 30, he's in serious jeopardy of being left behind. Just take a look at the ages of the previous 10 first-time winners on NASCAR's premier series prior to Monday, a span than stretches from Carl Edwards' 2005 win at Atlanta to Brad Keselowski's stunner at Talladega earlier this season. The average age of those drivers -- Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch among them -- was 25.8. Only one, Juan Montoya, was older than 30 when he reached NASCAR's Victory Lane for the first time, and then only by a year. (Continued)