Michael Waltrip Biography

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Michael Waltrip Biography

Michael Curtis Waltrip (born April 30, 1963) is a former professional race car driver and co owner of Michael Waltrip Racing. He is the younger brother of Darrell Waltrip, a three-time NASCAR champion (now retired). Waltrip is a two-time winner of the Daytona 500 (2001 & 2003), and drives a self-owned #51 NAPA Toyota Camry in the Sprint Cup Series on a part time basis. He is also a part-time commentator for SPEED TV's coverage of the Camping World Truck Series and is a member of the "expert panel" on SPEED Channel's This Week in NASCAR program.

Waltrip was born in Owensboro, Kentucky. He currently lives in Sherrills Ford, North Carolina. In the past, he has also raced in the Boston Marathon.

He appeared on the two-part April 30, 2009/May 7, 2009 episode of My Name is Earl entitled "Inside Probe.

As Driver/Owner

Waltrip formed his own team, Michael Waltrip Racing, for the 2007 season. He hired Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann. After the first round of qualifying for the 2007 Daytona 500, NASCAR inspectors found evidence in the engine manifold that Waltrip's team had used an illegal fuel additive. NASCAR confiscated the manifold and sent it back to Concord, North Carolina for testing at its research and development center, and Waltrip was forced to change manifolds before he could qualify the car. On February 14, 2007 NASCAR officials announced at a press conference the penalties that would be levied: Bobby Kennedy (Waltrip's Director of Competition for Michael Waltrip Racing) and David Hyder (Waltrip's Crew Chief) were both ejected from Daytona International Speedway, and suspended indefinitely.[5] David Hyder was also fined $100,000 and was placed on a leave of absence, eventually to be released in April. Michael Waltrip was docked 100 driver points and Buffy Waltrip (the team owner, also his wife) was docked 100 owner points. Waltrip's initial qualifying time was disallowed, but he was permitted to qualify by racing a backup car in his Gatorade Duel qualifying race for the Daytona 500. [6] The Interim Crew Chief was announced as Scott Eggleston, who was Waltrip's former crew chief in 2001. [7] After a 30th place finish in the Daytona 500, Waltrip became the first driver in series history to go into the second race of the season with a negative number of points (-27). Waltrip failed to qualify for the next eleven races following the Daytona 500, so he maintained his negative point total for almost 4 months. He qualified for the thirteenth race of the season at Dover and finished 28th, moving his point total above zero to 52 points. Jarrett used a provisional to qualify for five of the first six races, and Reutimann had to use two.

On Saturday April 7, 2007 he fell asleep behind the wheel of his Toyota Land Cruiser which overturned and struck a utility pole. Michael crawled out from the car suffering only minor cuts. There was no Nextel Cup race held that weekend. He was charged with reckless driving and failing to report an accident.

After failing to qualify for the Pocono 500 in June, Waltrip bounced back the following week by finishing 10th at the Citizens Bank 400 in Michigan.

On October 6, 2007, Michael won the pole for the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the first restrictor plate race to be run with the Car of Tomorrow. He finished 25th after a wreck, but bounced back the next week at Lowes Motor Speedway with his second top-10 finish of the season.

In 2008, Michael Waltrip Racing underwent a change following the disappointing 2007 campaign. Waltrip welcomed business owner Robert Kaufmann, owner/founder of the Fortress Investment Group and was made an equal partner and got more aid with real estate developer Johnny Harris buying into the team during the 2007 off-season. Former Cup owner Cal Wells III also bought into the team. The name also underwent a change as it now operates as Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC. On February 10, 2008, Michael qualified second for the 50th running of the Daytona 500, which guaranteed him a second place start in the race. Waltrip started the race with "gold wheels" on his car in tribute to the golden anniversary of the Daytona 500; after the race the wheels were signed and sold to benefit NASCAR charities.[11] After leading the first two laps, he was not a factor in the race and finished 26th. Waltrip finished second at New Hampshire's Lenox Industrial Tools 301. He made his 1,000th NASCAR touring series start at Atlanta in October. He is second to Richard Petty in most career starts spanning all of the top divisions in NASCAR.

In early 2009, Waltrip announced that he would be sharing the #99 NNS Aaron's dream machine with David Reutimann and Scott Speed during the season. On May 25, 2009 Michael Waltrip scored his first win as an owner in the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600, with David Reutimann winning the event.

In the 2009 season, Waltrip garnered 2 top 10s (Daytona and Talladega) He came within a few laps of winning his third Daytona 500 as he was moving forward when the race was called for rain. He ended up 7th.

On July 7, 2009 Waltrip announced he would be driving part-time in the 2010 season starting with the Daytona 500. [12] Waltrip also announced Martin Truex Jr. will be joining Michael Waltrip Racing as the driver of the #56 Napa Toyota full time in 2010.

In 2010, Waltrip announced that he is only racing at the Daytona 500 unless more sponsorship is found. Waltrip qualified 21st on Daytona Pole qualifying day. This was not fast enough to get in the race on speed, however. He then wrecked out of the first qualifying race. Waltrip was able to gain a spot in the starting grid when driver Scott Speed raced in in the second qualifying race, giving Waltrip the 43rd place starting position. He finished in a respectable 18th place. Waltrip is planning on racing at Bristol this year and then Talledega next month.

Michael Waltrip MySpace Graphics

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Michael Waltrip - Sprint Cup Career Stats