Michael Waltrip: Two-Time Daytona 500 Winner and Team Owner

Michael Curtis Waltrip is an American former stock car driver, team owner and broadcaster. Darrell Waltrip, the three-time NASCAR champion, is his older brother, and his two Daytona 500 victories, in 2001 and 2003, make him a two-time winner of the race.

Where did Waltrip's racing career begin?

Waltrip's autobiography says he began racing as a boy, first in go-karts at carnivals and local clubs near home. His older brother Bobby helped get him noticed, and Dale Earnhardt was among those who took an interest in his results.

His stock car career took shape in 1981, when he won the Mini-Modified title at Kentucky Motor Speedway. He then entered the Goody's Dash Series, where he became champion in 1983 and the circuit's fans named him its most popular driver in both that year and the next.

The younger brother of a three-time champion, who won the Daytona 500 twice and later ran a team of his own.

How did his early Cup career develop?

His Cup debut came in 1985 at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, in a car run by Dick Bahre. He finished 28th there, and his first season ended with him 57th in the standings after only five starts, while his brother Darrell took the same race.

In 1986 he drove the No. 23 car for Bahari Racing and finished runner-up to Alan Kulwicki in the rookie race, thanks to two eleventh-place results at Martinsville and Pocono. The next year he posted his first top ten, a tenth in the Martinsville spring race.

From 1988 he also ran Busch Series events, with five starts for his brother's team. His first checkered flag came at Dover in his fourth start, and in 1989 he finished in the top five for the first time in the No. 30 Pontiac.

What happened in the 1990 Bristol crash?

1990 is remembered for a serious accident at Bristol Motor Speedway. On the 170th lap of the spring Budweiser 250, Waltrip came together with Robert Pressley and then struck a gate set into the outer wall as cars left turn two. The gate existed because the track had no tunnel for moving vehicles in and out of the infield.

The gate gave way, and his Busch Series Pontiac hit the end of the wall head-on, coming apart as it did so. Onlookers feared he had been badly hurt, and Darrell raced to the scene. Michael walked away with minor cuts, soreness and bruises. After a similar impact several years later, the gate was moved to a safer position near turn 3.

Afterwards he described the aftermath as some contusions and a little confusion. Years later he said he had first believed Pressley wrecked him on purpose, and that he had considered a fight before thinking better of it.

How did the 1990s go for him?

In 1991 Pennzoil came on as a sponsor, Waltrip won the Winston Open and he claimed his first two career poles. He also came close to winning at Darlington, until a stuck air hose stretched his final pit stop and cost him the race.

He stayed at Bahari until the end of 1995, when the young Johnny Benson replaced him. He moved to Wood Brothers Racing, driving their Citgo-backed Ford, and won The Winston in 1996 after taking the final transfer spot in the Winston Open. In 1998 he missed a race for the first time since 1986, at the Dura Lube/Kmart 500, and he left the Wood Brothers at the end of that year.

His next stop was Mattei Motorsports, in a Philips Chevrolet, where he finished 29th in the standings in 1998. Ownership changed hands mid-season, and in 1999 he ended 27th with a single top five. In his 2011 book he called 1999 and 2000 the most disappointing years of his racing life, and said he began to doubt he would ever win a Cup race.

How did Waltrip join Dale Earnhardt's team?

Dale Earnhardt hired Waltrip to drive the No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Earnhardt had already given him Busch Series rides in 1989 and 1994.

His first race for the team was the 2001 Daytona 500. He ended a run of 462 Cup starts without a victory and took his first points-paying Cup win. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second, but the day is better remembered for Earnhardt's fatal crash on the final lap. Waltrip only grasped the seriousness of the accident more than half an hour later, while celebrating in victory lane.

Ken Schrader, who had been checked and released from the infield care centre after his own car made contact with Earnhardt's, let Waltrip know that Earnhardt had been driven to Halifax Medical Center, roughly two miles from the track, where doctors pronounced him dead at 5:16 PM EST.

What happened after the 2001 Daytona 500?

Waltrip later said that the No. 15 team pushed on to carry Earnhardt's legacy forward, because they felt they had no other option. Results slumped in the weeks that followed, and after six races he admitted he was not in a good place. Scott Eggleston, his crew chief, departed by June 2001, and DEI's Steve Hmiel took over the role.

He did not record another top ten until the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in July, where he finished second as Earnhardt Jr. won his first race there. After the race Waltrip pulled alongside Earnhardt Jr. on the infield grass, a moment he later described as more significant to him than any race he had won. That season he also finished second at Homestead, and he ended the year 24th in points.

How did the 2002 and 2003 seasons unfold?

In 2002 Waltrip took the second Gatorade Duel. He finished second at Talladega, where he and Earnhardt Jr. together led more than two-thirds of the race, and he picked up eighth-place finishes at Charlotte and at the first Pocono race. A second career win came at the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, and he finished the season 14th in points.

In 2003 he won a rain-shortened Daytona 500 and the EA Sports 500 at Talladega, which was his only win away from Daytona. He ran inside the top five for much of the season before finishing 15th in points. Those Daytona races were also the first three NASCAR on Fox events at the track, and his brother Darrell called them from the booth.

What was the 2004 Daytona 500 crash?

During the 2004 Daytona 500 Waltrip was caught up in a twelve-car crash. Running three wide on the outside, he was squeezed into the outside wall after two cars made contact in front of him. He spun into Robby Gordon, and his car dug into wet infield grass and flipped three times before landing on its roof.

He climbed out unhurt once the crew had turned the car back over. That season he went without a win and dropped five places in the standings. In 2005 he recorded seven top-ten finishes and a single pole, including a runner-up result at Phoenix that came despite a late collision with the wall. After that season he left DEI for Bill Davis Racing.

How did Michael Waltrip Racing begin?

Waltrip and Doug Bawel made public their Waltrip-Jasper Racing plan on January 20, 2006. Waltrip was still under contract with Bill Davis Racing, so that team agreed to supply and oversee the new operation, which fielded a No. 55 NAPA Dodge.

That season Waltrip missed the Coca-Cola 600, the first race he had failed to qualify for since 1998. He bought a starting slot from Derrike Cope to keep alive a streak of 262 consecutive starts. He missed three races in 2006 and recorded no top ten. Afterwards he formed his own Cup team.

For 2007 Michael Waltrip Racing became a full-time Cup operation with three cars, fielding Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann alongside Waltrip himself in the No. 55.

What penalties followed the 2007 Daytona fuel case?

Early in qualifying for the 2007 Daytona 500, inspectors found evidence of an illegal oxygenate additive in the intake manifold of the three cars. The cars were impounded, and the three drivers switched to backups.

On February 14, 2007, NASCAR announced its penalties. The team's director of competition, Bobby Kennedy, and Waltrip's crew chief, David Hyder, were removed from Daytona International Speedway, and Hyder was fined $100,000 and placed on leave. Waltrip, Reutimann and Jarrett were each docked 100 driver points, and Waltrip and his wife Buffy were each docked 100 owner points.

Waltrip finished 30th in the Daytona 500 and entered the next race with a negative 27 points, the first driver in the series to do so. He then missed qualifying for eleven straight races, so the deficit lasted nearly four months. He returned at Dover, finished 28th and climbed back above zero.

How did the 2008 and 2009 seasons go?

In 2008 Robert Kaufmann joined the team as an equal partner, and Cal Wells was brought in to run day-to-day operations. Waltrip started second for the golden anniversary race, the 50th Daytona 500, and ran it on gold wheels. He led the first two laps, then faded and finished 26th.

He was second at New Hampshire in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301, and in October 2008 he reached a thousand starts across NASCAR's touring series, at Atlanta. Only Richard Petty has more career starts across NASCAR's top divisions.

In 2009 Waltrip scored his first Cup win as an owner, when David Reutimann took the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25. He had two top-ten finishes that year, at Daytona and Talladega. At Daytona he came within a few laps of a third Daytona 500 win before the race was called for rain, and he finished seventh.

How did his driving change after 2010?

In 2010 Waltrip said he would race only the Daytona 500 unless more sponsorship came along, and he ended up driving six events that year. At Daytona he qualified 21st, failed to make the field on speed, and gained a place in the race through another driver's qualifying effort. He finished eighteenth.

He also raced endurance events with business partner Rob Kaufmann. They shared an F430 GTE entered by AF Corse, an Italian squad, at the Dubai 24 Hours and the 24 Hours of Spa, and at Spa they finished fifth overall and third in class.

In September 2011 it was announced that he would join Fox's NASCAR coverage, replacing Jeff Hammond from the 2012 Daytona 500. That same year he competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for AF Corse, completing 178 laps before retiring, and the crew finished 38th overall.

What was his 2011 win in the NextEra Energy Resources 250?

Waltrip won the NextEra Energy Resources 250, a Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona, in 2011. It came exactly ten years after Earnhardt's death, and it put him among a small group of drivers to have won in all three of NASCAR's national series.

On race day he drove a replica of the No. 15 car he had raced in 2001, to mark the tenth anniversary of Earnhardt's death. He finished 40th after an early wreck involving fourteen cars.

What did the 2013 penalty cost the team?

On September 12, 2013, NASCAR punished Michael Waltrip Racing after it was found to have deliberately influenced the Federated Auto Parts 400, the last race before the Chase. The team was fined $300,000, lost 50 driver points and 50 owner points for each team, and had its team vice president, Ty Norris, suspended indefinitely.

Waltrip apologised to NASCAR, the sponsors, the fans and the drivers. NAPA Auto Parts ended its backing of the outfit as the year closed, and Waltrip was forced to free Martin Truex Jr. from his deal.

How did his final years as a driver go?

In 2014 he drove four events for Identity Ventures Racing, a satellite team formed after investors bought the No. 56 team from him. He finished 41st in the Daytona 500 after crashing on lap 144, and 25th at Talladega. In 2016 he drove the No. 83 Camry for BK Racing in the Daytona 500.

In 2017 he came back for the Daytona 500 in an Aaron's-sponsored Camry for Premium Motorsports, numbered 15. He started 32nd in the forty-car field, avoided several large wrecks and finished eighth. That was his final start in NASCAR-sanctioned racing.

How has Waltrip worked in media?

He works on Fox's NASCAR coverage as a colour analyst, calling Xfinity races since 2015 and Truck races since 2004, and he also serves as pre-race analyst for the Cup Series.

In 2014 he was one of the celebrities on Dancing with the Stars, partnered with Emma Slater, and the pair were eliminated in November. He also appeared in a two-part My Name Is Earl episode in 2009, and in December 2019 he helped Kyle Busch win the WWE 24/7 Championship on Raw.

His 2011 memoir, titled In the Blink of an Eye, looks back at Earnhardt and the 2001 race. It reached the New York Times best-seller list, and a 2019 documentary adapted it.

How has he been involved in business and outside racing?

He has invested in the Nashville Kats, an Arena Football One club, and in the Michael Waltrip Brewing Company. He was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, and now lives in Huntersville, North Carolina.

He is an avid runner and took part in the Boston Marathon in 2001. He was married to Elizabeth Buffy Franks, and the couple divorced in 2010.

What were his key results across the years?