Michael waltrip brother
Michael Waltrip
American racing driver, sports announcer, and businessman (born )
NASCAR driver
Michael Curtis Waltrip (born April 30, ) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, racing commentator, racing team owner, amateur ballroom dancing competitor and published author.
He is the younger brother of three-time NASCAR champion and racing commentator Darrell Waltrip. Waltrip is a two-time winner of the Daytona , having won the race in and He is also a pre-race analyst for the NASCAR Cup Series and color commentator for the Xfinity Series and the Craftsman Truck Series broadcasts for Fox Sports. He last raced in the Daytona , driving the No.
15 Toyota Camry for Premium Motorsports. All four of his NASCAR Cup Series wins came on superspeedways driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Racing career
Beginnings
According to his autobiography Blink of An Eye, Waltrip's career started at age 12 when he phoned his older brother Darrell Waltrip, who was racing in the Daytona Michael asked Darrell to help him build a career in NASCAR, but Darrell advised him to stay focused on school.
Dwts season 19 michael waltrip biography Michael Waltrip Jonathan Bennett. Archived from the original on December 28, Bottom two. Fan Central.Michael then obtained assistance from his older brother Bobby Waltrip, who was very close to him in their childhood. Michael began building a career by racing go-karts at carnivals and various racing clubs around his hometown. He won many races and, thanks to Bobby's help, was noticed by Dale Earnhardt. When Waltrip moved out of his house, he moved in with Kyle Petty and then ultimately lived with Richard Petty as a roommate.
When Michael explained to Petty that he was going to try the Busch Series (now the Xfinity Series) to build his NASCAR career, Petty told Michael he was "wasting his time" and advised that Michael should immediately go for the Cup Series ride.
Waltrip's stock car career got off the ground in , when he captured the Mini-Modified division track championship at Kentucky Motor Speedway.
A year later, Waltrip entered the Goody's Dash Series, where he won the series championship in and was voted the circuit's most popular driver that year and in
Waltrip made his Cup debut in in the Coca-Cola at Charlotte driving for Dick Bahre. He finished 28th in that race and finished 57th in the series standings after just five starts. His brother Darrell won the race.
At the same time, Waltrip got confronted by Earnhardt, who questioned a previous move early in the race in which Waltrip nudged him out of the way and Dale responded by flipping the bird.
–90
In , driving the No. 23 car for Bahari Racing, Waltrip finished second in the Rookie of the Year standings to Alan Kulwicki on the strength of a pair of 11th-place finishes at Martinsville and Pocono.
The following season, he posted his first career Top 10 finish when he ended up 10th in Martinsville's spring race. In , Waltrip began running Busch Series events, making five starts for his brother's team. He took the checkered flag for the first time at Dover in his 4th start. In , he had his first Top 5 finish in the No. 30 Country Time Lemonade/Kool-Aid-sponsored Pontiac.
Crash at Bristol Motor Speedway
For Waltrip, was notable for a horrific crash at Bristol in the spring on the th lap of the Budweiser , where he destroyed his Busch Series Pontiac Grand Prix. After making contact with Robert Pressley in the No. 59, he hit a gate that was in the outside wall at the exit of turn two.
The gate was used to allow vehicles in and out of the infield because the track did not have a tunnel. The impact broke the gate, and Michael went head-on into the end of the wall, disintegrating the car on impact and collapsing the car into itself. Onlookers were sure that Waltrip was severely injured, perhaps fatally, because of how massive the impact was and his brother Darrell rushed to the wreck fearing the worst.
Amazingly, Waltrip not only survived the accident but he only suffered cuts, soreness, and bruises in the wreck.[2] After Mike Harmon had an almost identical impact several years later (and also amazingly walked away), the gate was moved down to just before the entrance of turn 3, thus lessening the chance of a car hitting it because cars are diving away from the wall at that point.
Later, when asked about the crash by Ken Squier, he replied saying he had "some contusions and a little bit of confusion" and ended with "Hope we did a good job for Kool-Aid." Years later, Waltrip said that at first, he thought that Pressley wrecked him on purpose, and thought about fighting him after the incident before thinking better of it.[3]
–
In , he gained new sponsorship from Pennzoil and won the Winston Open, as well as his first two career pole positions.
He came close to winning the TranSouth at Darlington, but a jammed air hose on his final visit to the pits caused his stop to last seconds, costing him the victory. He stayed with the Bahari team until the end of when he was replaced by rookie Johnny Benson. He joined Wood Brothers Racing to drive their No. 21 Citgo-sponsored Ford. He won the edition of The Winston after capturing the last transfer spot in The Winston Open.
After posting one top-five finish over three years, and missing his first race since at the Dura Lube/Kmart , Waltrip departed the Wood Brothers at the end of to drive the No. 7 Philips-sponsored Chevrolet for Mattei Motorsports, posting three Top 10 finishes and ending that season 29th in points. However, mid-season the ownership of the team transferred from Mattei to Ultra Motorsports and Jim Smith.
The next season, Nations Rent replaced Philips as the sponsor & Waltrip moved up to 27th in points but only finished in the Top 5 once, causing him and the team to part ways at the end of the season. Waltrip would later say in his book, In the Blink of an Eye, that and were the most disappointing years of his racing career and he began to lose hope that he would ever win a Cup Series race.
–05
Waltrip was hired by Dale Earnhardt to drive his team's new No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored Chevrolet Monte Carlo entry, Waltrip drove for Earnhardt in the Busch Series in and In his first race with the team, the Daytona , Waltrip broke his streak of consecutive Cup races without a victory and won his first career points-paying Cup race.
His teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished in 2nd. However, the win itself was largely overshadowed by Earnhardt, Sr.'s fatal crash on the last lap. In the movie The Day: Remembering Dale Earnhardt, Waltrip said that Earnhardt let him in line late in the race, which allowed him to take the lead, noting that Earnhardt "never let anyone in line".
This presumably is because Earnhardt wanted Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr. to finish in the Top 2 spots, as both were members of his team. Waltrip was not aware of the severity of Earnhardt's crash until over 30 minutes after the end of the race when he was celebrating in victory lane. Ken Schrader, after having been treated and released from the infield care center following the crash (his car hit Earnhardt's car during the crash), informed Waltrip that Earnhardt had been taken to Halifax Medical Center, 2 miles (&#;km) from the speedway, where Earnhardt was pronounced dead at PM EST.
Waltrip would later say in his book, and a podcast episode with Earnhardt Jr., that in the aftermath of the tragedy, he and the No. 15 team pushed forward to continue Earnhardt's legacy, "Because we knew we had to." However, his results slumped in the aftermath of the disaster, and he realized after 6 races that he was "not in a good place."[4] By June , his crew chief, Scott Eggleston, left the team and was replaced by longtime DEI director Steve Hmiel.[5]
Waltrip did not have another Top 10 finish that season until returning to Daytona in July in the Pepsi , where he finished 2nd while holding off the field as teammate Earnhardt Jr.
won his first plate race. Earnhardt Jr.'s Pepsi finish was emotional to the entire DEI team and when Earnhardt Jr. did his burnout on the infield grass, Waltrip pulled up alongside him. Waltrip would later say to Kenny Wallace on his podcast in , that the moment with Earnhardt Jr. in the infield was "even bigger than any races I've won, and I didn't even win." Waltrip would also have a second-place finish at Homestead with Bill Elliott winning and finished 24th in the standings.
The next season, Waltrip won the second Gatorade Duel. His next top ten finish would be a second-place finish at Talladega, where he and Earnhardt Jr. combined to lead more than two-thirds of the race, with Earnhardt Jr. taking home his second of four straight wins at Talladega. The following week, Waltrip finished tenth at Auto Club.
He had eighth-place finishes in the Coca-Cola at Charlotte and the first Pocono race, and fourth place in the first Michigan race. He picked up his second career win at the Pepsi at Daytona. After a ninth-place finish at Watkins Glen, and eighth-place finishes at New Hampshire and Talladega, Waltrip finished 14th in the points standings.
In , Waltrip won a rain-shortened Daytona and also took victory at the EA Sports at Talladega (his only non-Daytona win), while running in the top-five for most of the season before falling back to 15th in points. Of trivial note, Waltrip won the first three NASCAR on Fox races at Daytona ( and Daytona s, and the Pepsi ) with Michael's brother Darrell in the broadcast booth.
Buffy waltrip: September 22, Archived from the original on November 21, Winners on November 25, September 9,
His Talladega win was also his only win at a NASCAR on NBC race.
During the 71st lap of the Daytona , Waltrip was involved in a violent flip as part of a 12 car crash. Waltrip was on the outside of three wide under Brian Vickers and Johnny Sauter when Sauter and Vickers made contact and squeezed Waltrip into the outside backstretch wall.
Vickers spun across Waltrip's nose and Waltrip spun down and into Robby Gordon. The impact into Gordon broke Waltrip's left-rear wheel and the car dug into the wet infield grass that got rained on the previous night and sent Waltrip flipping over violently 3 times while kicking up dirt before coming to a rest on its roof. Several minutes later, Waltrip would climb out of the car unhurt after the crews turned his car back over for him to climb out.[6] In , Waltrip went winless and dropped five spots in the standings.
In Waltrip only had seven top tens and one pole. It included a runner-up at Phoenix despite hitting the wall on the next to last lap. He had an incident with Robby Gordon at New Hampshire. After Waltrip intentionally wrecked Robby Gordon and spun as a result, Gordon furiously tried to back his damaged racecar into Waltrip's.
When Gordon failed to hit Waltrip's car with his own, he climbed out of his racecar and threw his helmet at Waltrip's driver-side door. Waltrip repeated the words Gordon said the previous year in another helmet-tossing incident: "He just threw a helmet at my car." Waltrip was fined $10, (equivalent to US$16, in ) after he gestured at Gordon for the damage on his car from the helmet, but he and Teresa Earnhardt appealed and the fine was overturned after a short investigation proved the charge false.
Gordon however was fined $50, (equivalent to US$80, in ) and put on probation for the rest of the year after he was discovered to have said "You know everybody thinks Michael is this good guy. He's not the guy he acts he is. The caution was out, and he wrecked me, and he's a piece of shit." Waltrip and Gordon conferred later on, apologized, and continued their careers.
After the season, Waltrip left DEI for Bill Davis Racing.
–
Main articles: Michael Waltrip Racing, Waltrip-Jasper Racing, and Bill Davis Racing
On January 20, , Waltrip and Doug Bawel, who owned Penske Racing's No. 77 car in , announced the forming of Waltrip-Jasper Racing.[7] Because Waltrip was under contract with Bill Davis Racing, they reached a deal with BDR to oversee and supply the new team.
Waltrip-Jasper fielded the No. 55 NAPA Auto Parts Dodge in the Nextel Cup Series, driven by Waltrip, with Bawel as listed owner, and Davis as a team executive. Bawel had a guaranteed starting spot in the first five races of by the No. 77 finishing 34th in the owner points, although Bawel was shutting down his team and needed a driver to pick up his team's owner points.
This arrangement enabled Waltrip to make the first five races in without qualifying on time. After the first five races, this was unnecessary. Waltrip failed to qualify for the first time since at the Coca-Cola He bought a slot from the No. 74 McGlynn RacingDodge from Derrike Cope to drive in the race and to keep his streak of consecutive races.[8] Waltrip ended up missing three races total in and did not have a top-ten finish.
This was attributable to BDR's lawsuit with Dodge, which meant the team did not receive manufacturer support for Waltrip or teammate Dave Blaney.
Waltrip left Bill Davis Racing to form his own Nextel Cup team in
Waltrip moved his Busch Series team, Michael Waltrip Racing, to the Cup Series full-time for the season.
He hired Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann to race in the three-car operation. Reutimann in the No. 00, Jarrett in the No. 44, and Waltrip in the No. Waltrip was listed as the owner of the No. 44 and No. 55, while his wife Buffy was listed as the owner of the No.
After the first round of qualifying for the Daytona , NASCAR inspectors found evidence in the engine intake manifold that Waltrip, Reutimann, and Jarrett's teams had used an illegal unspecified oxygenate fuel additive to increase performance.
NASCAR confiscated the cars, forcing Waltrip, Reutimann, and Jarrett to move to back-up cars for the Daytona On February 14, , NASCAR officials announced at a press conference the penalties that would be levied: Bobby Kennedy (Director of Competition for Michael Waltrip Racing) and David Hyder (Waltrip's crew chief) were removed from Daytona International Speedway, and suspended indefinitely.[9] David Hyder was also fined $, (equivalent to US$, in ) and was placed on a leave of absence, eventually to be released by the team in April.
Waltrip, Reutimann, and Jarrett were docked driver points and Waltrip and Buffy were docked owner points each. Waltrip, Reutimann, and Jarrett's initial qualifying times were disallowed, but Waltrip and Reutimann were permitted to attempt to qualify by racing a backup car in their Gatorade Duel's qualifying race for the Daytona Jarrett would qualify using his Past Champions provisional from his title, but was also permitted to race a backup car in his Gatorade Duel.[10] Waltrip's interim crew chief was announced as Scott Eggleston, who was Waltrip's former crew chief in [11] After a 30th-place finish in the Daytona , 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 , 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.
On Saturday, April 7, , he fell asleep behind the wheel of his Toyota Land Cruiser which overturned and hit a utility pole.
Waltrip 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.[12][13]
After failing to qualify for the Pocono in June, Waltrip bounced back the following week by finishing 10th at the Citizens Bank in Michigan.
During the summer, Waltrip decided to make changes to the No. 00 and No. 55, which both sat outside the top 35 in owners points. He hired Terry Labonte, who held an automatic qualifying spot with his Past Champions provisional from titles in and , to take over Waltrip's No. 55 at Infineon Raceway, Watkins Glen International, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Buffy waltrip biography Eliminated 4th on October 6, Retrieved September 24, I pulled that right from their press release! Retrieved September 16,Waltrip also hired P. J. Jones, a road course ringer, to take over David Reutimann's No. 00 at Infineon and Watkins Glen.
In October , before the Bank of America Dale Jarrett announced his retirement from points racing after the Food City , Waltrip decided to put David Reutimann (No. 00 driver) to take over the No.
Jarrett's final race was the All-Star race in May
On October 6, , Waltrip won the pole for the UAW-Ford at Talladega Superspeedway, the first restrictor-plate race to be run with the Car of Tomorrow.[14] He finished 25th after a wreck but bounced back the next week at Charlotte Motor Speedway with his second top finish of the season.
In , Michael Waltrip Racing changed following the disappointing 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 off-season.
Former Cup owner Cal Wells was brought to MWR to oversee day-to-day operations, Dale Jarrett No. 44 retiring from points racing after the Food City , David Reutimann starting the season in the No. 00 then taking over Jarrett's No. 44, while Michael McDowell took over Reutimann's No. Waltrip entered three full-time cars for David Reutimann/Michael McDowell/Mike Skinner/Kenny Wallace/A.
J. Allmendinger and Mike Bliss No. 00, Dale Jarrett/David ReutimannNo. 44 and Waltrip No. On February 10, , Michael qualified second for the 50th running of the Daytona , 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 ; after the race, the wheels were signed and sold to benefit NASCAR charities.[15] 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 He made his 1,th NASCAR touring series start at Atlanta in October.
Buffy waltrip divorce Don't have an account? But he became a car owner, his absolute thoughts that everything NASCAR did was the greatest thing in the world, started to annoy, when he became a commentator. Waltrip still competes on a limited basis, posting two top 10 finishes in just four events in Iggy Azalea.He is second to Richard Petty in most career starts spanning all of the top divisions in NASCAR.
However, Michael McDowell struggled to keep the car in the Top 35 in owner points, which is necessary for automatic qualification into each race, and Waltrip replaced him with Mike Skinner, Kenny Wallace, A. J. Allmendinger and Mike Bliss to reclaim a Top 35 spot.
In October , MWR transferred its third team to the No. 47 Toyota of JTG Daugherty Racing, driven by Marcos Ambrose, and discontinued the No. 00 team for the balance of the season.
At the end of MWR sold the No. 44 to Richard Petty Motorsports and contracted to two cars with David Reutimann moving back to the No.
00, Waltrip in the No.
Waltrip entered two full-time cars for David Reutimann No. 00, Waltrip No. In early , Waltrip announced that he would be sharing the No. 99 NNS Aaron's dream machine with David Reutimann and Scott Speed during the season. On May 25, , Waltrip scored his first win as an owner in Sprint Cup Series competition in the Coca-Cola , with David Reutimann winning the event.
In the season, Waltrip garnered two top-ten finishes (Daytona and Talladega) He came within a few laps of winning his third Daytona as he was moving forward when the race was called for rain. He ended up seventh.
Waltrip decided to skip the road courses (Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International) handing it over to Patrick Carpentier to get the No.
55 back in the top 35 owners points.
On July 7, , Waltrip announced he would be driving part-time in the season starting with the Daytona [16] Waltrip also announced Martin Truex Jr. will take over Waltrip's car as the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota full-time in , using the No. 55 owners points.
In , Waltrip announced that he would only be racing at the Daytona unless more sponsorship was found; Waltrip drove the No. 51 for the Daytona Waltrip entered two full-time cars for No. 00 David Reutimann and No. 56 Martin Truex Jr., with Reutimann and Truex Jr. running the full schedule, Waltrip ran 6 races Daytona (No.
51 MWR), Food City (No. 55 Prism), Aaron's (No. 55 Prism), Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips (No. 55 Prism), Toyota/Save Mart (No. 55 Prism), and AMP Energy Juice (No. 55 MWR). 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 to make the using his qualifying time in the second qualifying race, giving Waltrip the 43rd place starting position. He finished in a respectable 18th place. Since then, Michael has started the No. 55 Prism Motorsports entry at Bristol, finishing 41st.
Waltrip qualified for the Aaron's at Talladega Superspeedway and raced his way to the lead early, but wound up finishing 39th after "The Big One" on lap 84 of the race. It was announced in May that Waltrip would pilot the Toyota Sponsafier winning paint scheme on June 20 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA, but he failed to qualify. Waltrip also ran the Amp Energy in a Michael Waltrip Racing fielded No.
55 Toyota where he would lead three laps and finish 28th.
Waltrip and his business partner Rob Kaufmann have entered various GT endurance races, participating in the Dubai 24 Hours and also the 24 Hours of Spa, driving a Ferrari F GTE for the Italian team AF Corse in both races. Waltrip, Kaufmann, and the AF Corse team finished 5th overall and 3rd in class at Spa, clinching a podium spot.
In , Waltrip announced that he would attempt to make his 25th consecutive Daytona start driving the No. Waltrip retained his drivers for No. 00 David Reutimann in the No. 00 and No. 56 Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 56, both of whom would run the full schedule. As well as the Daytona , Waltrip ran three races that year: the Aaron's , the Quaker State , and the Good Sam Club Aside from the Sprint Cup event at Daytona, Waltrip also competed in the Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series races there.
He captured an emotional win in the NextEra Energy Resources , which came 10 years to the day of the death of Dale Earnhardt and his first Sprint Cup Series victory. The victory also made Waltrip the 22nd driver to win a race in all three NASCAR national touring series. He followed up his Friday night win with a solid 9th-place finish in the Nationwide Series race the next day.
Darrell waltrip biography Jonathan Bennett and Peta Murgatroyd. Peta Murgatroyd and Valentin Chmerkovskiy. Carolina and it's basically a poor man's "Disneyland" for racing. Don't have an account?On Sunday afternoon, as part of the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death in the Daytona , (which Waltrip won) Waltrip drove a replica of the No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored car that he drove at the time. However, Waltrip finished 40th in the race after getting caught up in an early wreck that eliminated 14 cars.
For the rest of , Waltrip said he was working on plans to attempt the Sprint Cup Inaugural event at Kentucky Speedway in July, along with his first Le Mans start with AF Corse.[17] He ran in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June in one of the AF Corse entered Ferraris. The car he co-drove with Robert Kauffman and Rui Águas completed laps before retiring, finishing 38th overall.
On September 29, , it was announced that Waltrip would be replacing Jeff Hammond in the FOX's Hollywood Hotel on NASCAR on Fox beginning with the Daytona in with Chris Myers and his brother Darrell Waltrip.[18]
At the end of , Waltrip hired Clint Bowyer to drive the No. 15 in On November 4, , MWR announced that David Reutimann would not return as driver of the No.
00 for so Waltrip changed the number to No. 55 in honor of Aaron's founding and he hired Mark Martin and Brian Vickers to co-drive with Waltrip in and
In January, he was confirmed as a driver for AF Corse Ferrari in the inaugural season of the FIA World Endurance Championship.[19] Four weeks before the Daytona , Waltrip and Rob Kaufmann entered the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
After a series of mechanical problems and off course excursions, Waltrip, Rob Kaufmann, Rui Águas, and Travis Pastrana never gave up and pressed on to finish 22nd in GT and 35th overall.
In early February it was announced that Waltrip would attempt to qualify for the Daytona for Hillman Racing, driving the No. 40 Toyota with sponsorship from Aaron's.[20] He failed to qualify for the race, crashing in a single-car incident in the first Gatorade Duel race.[21]
On May 6, Waltrip qualified for the Aarons at Talladega Superspeedway and led several laps before finishing 19th.
He also qualified for the fall Talladega race. On the last lap, Waltrip was running 5th when he jumped to the bottom lane and made a move for the lead to try to win heading into turn 4 with drafting help from Casey Mears. In turn 4, Tony Stewart tried to block Waltrip but underestimated Waltrip's speed. Waltrip tapped Stewart, and went up into the tightly bunched pack, collecting 23 cars, while Stewart flipped over once and slid on his side airborne and pushed by the wrecking field.
Waltrip finished 25th.
Waltrip entered the Daytona driving the No. 30 Toyota for Swan Racing,[22] which was changed for Daytona to the No. 26 as a charity car to raise funds for victims of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting. At his Budweiser Duel, Waltrip ran as high as close to the front but faded back in the final laps.
He ultimately finished 15th, but it was enough to grab the final transfer spot for the Daytona At the Great American Race, Waltrip led four laps and finished 22nd in the race.[23] He also finished in the top 5 at all other races (3 others) too.
In his first race in the No. 55 for the season at Talladega, Waltrip finished fourth.
He also ran at Daytona in July and finished 5th.
On September 12, , NASCAR penalized Michael Waltrip Racing for intentionally manipulating the outcome of the Federated Auto Parts As a result, NAPA Auto Parts pulled its sponsorship of the team at the end of the year, forcing Waltrip to release Martin Truex Jr. from his contract.
After originally announcing that he would field a part-time car for semi-retired Jeff Burton, plans changed when Waltrip sold the #56 team to investors of Identity Ventures who started a satellite team for MWR.
Waltrip ran 4 races for Identity Ventures Racing owned by Jay Robinson, Mark Bailey, and James Hamilton.
Waltrip ran the Daytona , Aaron's , Coke Zero and GEICO At Daytona in Speedweeks, Waltrip was collected in a last-lap pileup caused when Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas on the final lap. Waltrip nonetheless made it into the race.
He crashed on lap and finished 41st. He finished 25th at the Aaron's at Talladega.
For both races, he eschewed working with regular Identity Ventures Racing crew chief Scott Eggleston, with whom he had won his first Daytona , and instead paired himself with Chad Walter. At the summer Daytona race, Waltrip finally decided to work with Eggleston and ended up getting his first top in over a year.
However at Talladega in October, Waltrip again worked with Walter and did pick up another top Identity Ventures Racing closed up shop after the season was over.
Waltrip returned to driving for his team, piloting the No. 55 at both Daytona and Talladega in the spring. Waltrip skipped the summer Daytona race, but returned at Talladega in the fall, running a third MWR entry after leasing the owner points from the No.
98 of Premium Motorsports.
On February 4, Waltrip announced he would return to the Daytona , driving the No. 83 Camry for BK Racing.[24] Waltrip drove the No. 55 Camry for Premium Motorsports at Talladega in April with Peak BlueDEF as sponsor. Waltrip skipped again the summer Daytona race.
Waltrip announced he would run the Daytona , driving the No. 15 Aaron's Camry for Premium Motorsports. It would be his final start in NASCAR-sanctioned racing.[25] Waltrip started 32nd out of the 40 car field, avoiding several large wrecks to end his NASCAR career with an eighth-place finish.[26]
Personal life
Waltrip was born in Owensboro, Kentucky.
He currently lives in Huntersville, North Carolina.[27] Waltrip was married to Elizabeth "Buffy" Franks. They were divorced in [28]
Waltrip is an avid runner. In , he participated in the Boston Marathon.[29]
In October , Waltrip had plans to attend the Route 91 Harvest music festival, but he canceled those plans.
Later that night a gunman fired shots at the festival from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino, causing the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The following morning, Waltrip revealed on his Instagram account that he had befriended a family while in Las Vegas earlier in the day, that was also scheduled to attend the festival.[30] On October 4, he tweeted that he had contacted the father of the family, adding that they "are doing as well as could be expected."[31]
In popular media
Acting
Waltrip appeared on the two-part April 30, /May 7, episode of My Name Is Earl entitled "Inside Probe."[32]
Television appearances
He works as a color commentator for NASCAR on Fox, covering the Xfinity Series since and the Truck Series since
On September 4, , Waltrip was announced as one of the celebrities who would participate on the 19th season of Dancing with the Stars.
He was paired with professional dancer Emma Slater. They were eliminated on November 3, [33]
On the December 2, episode of WWE Raw, Waltrip put on a referees uniform and helped Kyle Busch defeat R-Truth for WWE 24/7 Championship[34]
Book
Waltrip wrote a book published in called In the Blink of an Eye: Dale, Daytona, and the Day that Changed Everything. It became a New York Times best-seller.[35] A documentary film adaptation, Blink of an Eye, was released in [36]
Controversies
See also: Category:NASCAR controversies
Feuds with rival drivers
After a race in , Waltrip hit driver Dave Marcis while he was still in his car, punching him in the mouth and cutting his lip open, and was fined $ (equivalent to US$1, in ) for his actions.[37]
In at Michigan International Speedway, Waltrip also hit driver, Lake Speed.
Waltrip hit Speed twice on national television,[38] while Speed was strapped in his car. Waltrip was fined $10, (equivalent to US$19, in ) for his actions.
Waltrip had a much-publicized feud with fellow Kentucky-man Jeff Green, then the driver of Petty Enterprises No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge Charger in the early part of the season, which came to a head during races at Martinsville and Darlington, where Green and Waltrip wrecked each other on several occasions.[39] The feud went back to , when racing for the win at Rockingham caused both to lose control of their cars, allowing Jamie McMurray to win his second straight Busch Series race, although Waltrip and Green admitted to having been off-track friends and former high school schoolmates.
After Waltrip retaliated against Green late in the Darlington race, NASCAR penalized Waltrip with a 1-lap penalty. Following the race, NASCAR brought Green and Waltrip together and warned them to avoid future incidents.
In the Sylvania , Waltrip wrecked Robby Gordon's No. 7 Jim Beam Chevrolet after the yellow flag had come out.
The angered Gordon got out of his totaled car and threw his helmet at the No. 15 car as it was passing by. When TNT interviewed him about the crash he stated "You know Michael, everyone thinks Michael's this good guy. He's not the good guy he acts he is. The caution was out and he wrecked me and he's a piece of shit."[40] TNT apologized for the incident on both drivers' behalf, and both Gordon and Waltrip were required to meet with NASCAR officials after the race.
Gordon was fined $50, and docked 50 drivers' points. Waltrip was also penalized, but the penalties were overturned on appeal. Gordon and Waltrip ultimately decided to auction the helmet for the benefit of the Harrah's Employee Relief Fund, a fund that provides aid to Harrah's employees displaced by Hurricane Katrina.[41]
In , Waltrip made contact with Casey Mears with 46 laps to go resulting in Mears successfully passing him.
As a reply, Waltrip rushed up to Mears, locked his hood on Mears' damaged car, and tried to push it around through a struggle lasting over 4 seconds. Eventually Mears crashed, and soon after, NASCAR parked Waltrip as a punishment.[42]
In the Sharpie , an irate Clint Bowyer, who was involved in a wreck involving Waltrip, said "Michael Waltrip is the worst driver in NASCAR, period!
Could not believe NAPA (his primary sponsor) signed him back on!" However, Bowyer made it up with him after and eventually joined Waltrip's race team in [43]
Scandals
In , Waltrip had his No. 55 Toyota confiscated by NASCAR officials after inspectors found an odorless, Vaseline-like substance in the car's engine.
Later in the week, NASCAR handed down the punishment to Michael Waltrip Racing, which included the ejection of team vice president of competition Bobby Kennedy and Crew Chief David Hyder from the garage at Daytona. Hyder was also fined $, (equivalent to US$, in ), the largest fine ever handed down by NASCAR (until Kurt Busch was penalized for a pit road incident).
Waltrip himself was penalized with a loss of driver points and his qualifying time from pole day on Feb 11 was thrown out. Elizabeth Waltrip, Michael's wife and the official owner of his car was also docked owners points. The substance found in the vehicle's fuel was referred to as "rocket fuel", later determined to be Sterno.[44]
In the Federated Auto Parts , the final race before the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Waltrip's team was penalized with the biggest penalty in NASCAR's history.
In the race, MWR's Clint Bowyer spun out with 7 laps left after radio conversation hinting at an order to do so, and Brian Vickers was ordered to pit because the team "needed one more point". Following an investigation by NASCAR, the team was fined $,, stripped 50 driver points and 50 owner's points for each team, indefinitely suspended team vice-president Ty Norris and put every MWR crew chief on probation until December With the points loss, Truex missed the Chase, which put Ryan Newman back in the wildcard spot.
Waltrip stated as a reaction to the penalties that "I want to sincerely apologize to NASCAR, our sponsors, fans, and fellow drivers who were disappointed in our actions. We will learn from this and move on."[45]
Car accident
On April 11, , Waltrip was charged with reckless driving and leaving the scene of the accident after crashing his car into a telephone pole.[46]
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(key) (Bold&#;– Pole position awarded by qualifying time.
Italics&#;– Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. *&#;– Most laps led.)