David Stremme

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David Stremme bigraphy, stories - American stock car racing driver

David Stremme : biography

June 19, 1977 –

David Andrew Stremme (born June 19, 1977) is an American stock car driver. He is most notable as the 2003 NASCAR Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year, winning the award while running a part-time for several different teams. He currently drives the No. 30 Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Swan Racing.

2008–Present

He was replaced in the #40 Dodge by Dario Franchitti 2008 after the 2007 Indy 500 Champion was signed to drive in Sprint Cup. Stremme returned to the Nationwide Series driving for Rusty Wallace Racing, in the #64 Atreus Homes & Communities Chevrolet. He was originally scheduled to run a handful of races, with Chase Austin and Max Papis driving the rest of the year, but after starting the season in the top-15 in points, the schedule was modified to allow him to run every race except the road course events. He had five top-fives and sixteen top-tens, on his way to an eleventh place points finish. In the latter portion of the year, Atreus left the team, and AVIS, Loan Star Title Loans, and the Penske Corporation became the team’s new primary sponsors. He drove the #15 Hyprene Ergon Toyota Tundra in two Truck races that season as well, in addition to returning to the #40 Sprint Cup team, filling for the injured Dario Franchitti at Talladega.

In 2009, Stremme signed to drive the #12 car for Penske Racing full-time in the Sprint Cup Series, replacing Ryan Newman who moved to the #39 car for Stewart Haas Racing. The team lost its sponsor when Verizon Wireless bought Alltel, thus negating the grandfather clause. The car was blanked similar to the Penske used in the IRL, censoring their Phillip Morris USA sponsorship with "Team Penske". Stremme nearly won the 2009 AMP Energy 500 running near the front for the lead, but a green-white checkered ruined his day, causing him to run out of gas. Throughout Stremme’s season, he did not score a single top 10 and missed the Texas race and failed to qualify for the Homestead race driving for James Finch in the #09 car. Stremme was released from the contract on November 3, because their new driver for 2011, Brad Keselowski, was finished with his prior contract agreements with Hendrick Motorsports.

Stremme attempted sixteen races with Latitude 43 Motorsports in 2010, failing to make five. Stremme attempted a select amount of races with newly formed Inception Motorsports in the #30 Chevrolet in 2011, along with a limited Nationwide Series schedule with ML Motorsports. He ran in the Sprint Cup Series for 2012 with Inception Motorsports, switching to Toyotas.

For 2013, Stremme returned to the No. 30, now Swan Racing Company, with the exception of the Daytona 500 where Michael Waltrip drove the No. 30.

2004-2007

David Stremme practicing for the 2007 Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.In June 2005, Stremme made his Cup debut in 2005 driving Ganassi’s R&D #39 Navy Dodge at Chicagoland Speedway. He started 31st and would finish 16th in his debut. He also had finishes of 42nd at Richmond and Miami, and a 36th at Charlotte. Ganassi announced Stremme would go to the Cup series, driving the #40 Coors Light Dodge in 2006.

In 2006, Stremme had a best finish of 11th at New Hampshire International Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. He finished 33rd in points after missing both road course races that season. In addition, he made his Craftsman Truck Series debut at Martinsville Speedway, finishing 32nd in the #04 Dodge Hemi entry for Bobby Hamilton Racing. In addition, he won his first career ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Michigan International Speedway, driving the #61 Hantz Group Dodge for Rusty Wallace.

Stremme started 2007 starting 6th in the 49th annual Daytona 500 and went on to finish 11th. Three weeks later he would get his best career start, 2nd in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway he would get his first career Top 10 finish. Two weeks later he would follow that up with a career best finish, 8th in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. During that season, Stremme shared driving duties of the #41 Wrigley Dodge Charger in the Busch Series with Ganassi teammate Reed Sorenson. It ran numerous paint schemes including Wrigley’s Spearmint, Doublemint, Juicy Fruit, and Winterfresh. He was able to get his second career Busch pole at Nashville but ended up 11th in the race. In addition, he drove a part-time schedule in the #22 Supercuts Dodge for Fitz Motorsports.