Feb. 15, 2007

Michael Waltrip Owner of Michael Waltrip Racing Driver of the No. 55 NAPA Toyota Camry

Michael Waltrip:

“Sunday was a very difficult day for me and my family and my race team. I came down here with pretty Cup cars with chrome wheels on them and Toyota written all over them. And with sponsors like Domino’s, NAPA and UPS. I promise you, I’ve never been any prouder in my whole life to walk around and see my people and see my cars. It was a wonderful feeling to know how far we’d come in such a short period of time and the quality of the individuals and the drivers that had been put together. I remember laying down to go to sleep Saturday night before qualifying and I said to myself, ‘live this moment Mike, live this dream. Enjoy it while it’s here.”

“You all don’t know what drives me or how I got to where I’m at, but when I was 12 years old in 1975 I remember hanging on that fence over in the garage area watching guys come and go and I knew that I always wanted to be a race car driver. And that worked out. Arguably for some of you, but it worked out. And then to own a team, with the support that I’ve gotten, I remember thinking life couldn’t be any better than it was Saturday night when I went to bed. Of course that all changed Sunday morning.”

“What took place was the act of an individual or individuals. It’s not a reflection of our team, our organization, our sponsors or our manufacturer. And I’m here today just to apologize to the NASCAR fans, my sponsors, the other team owners and try to start this race today and have some success. That would maybe make me smile again. I designed this logo and I’m pretty proud of that and the whole deal I have been really proud of. A lot of you folks have said kind words about our organization and I appreciate that. Now I’m ready to bear all responsibility for what happened. I encourage you to ask me any question or write your opinions because you can’t hurt me any more than I am right now.”

“My beautiful nine-year old asked her mom on Monday why daddy cheated the rules. That’ll hurt you pretty bad and Buffy said, ‘he didn’t honey, we’ll figure it out’. But it’s more than just a job to me; it’s more than just a sport for me. I hold NASCAR and Mr. Helton, Brian France, Mr. France, you know they’re my friends and you never want to disappoint your friends. I know their disappointed right now in my organization. We continue to aggressively try to pinpoint what exactly happened. There is no reason to ever explain why it happened because anybody that would be silly enough to mess with something to do with the fuel, I just don’t understand how anybody could have done that or why it happened.”

“We’re going to open it up for questions. But I want to say that I came real close to not racing today. I just felt like there would be a cloud over whatever I accomplished today because of what had happened. But with encouragement from Toyota and from NAPA and Mr. Helton, we’re here to do what we can do and hopefully race our way into Sunday’s race. Then we start trying to rebuild people’s faith and trust for all those fans who bought a NAPA hat or a Michael Waltrip shirt, I just hope you can wear it proudly again, soon. I’m sorry.”

Q: Who is going to be your crew chief now that David Hyder has been suspended and are you planning on firing anyone from the team over this?

A: “Right now Scott Eggleston, who I won the 2001 Daytona 500 with as my crew chief, acting as crew chief. And we haven’t fired anyone nor do we plan on firing anyone until we know what happened. And we’re aggressively trying to find out what happened.”

Q: Do you think Toyota came into the Cup Series facing some skepticism from the fans being a foreign automaker and do you think this may set that back a little?

A: “They definitely faced skepticism, but they’ve entered this sport in such a wonderful, positive way that I think everyone sees Toyota’s participation in the Cup Series to be a positive thing whether you’re a Ford, Chevy or Dodge fan, they’re going to grow the series. Every driver is glad they’re here. A year or so ago you all were writing about car counts being down and what was going to happen. Toyota didn’t come in and buy anybody off; they came in and started up some new teams. I’m just real proud of how they have been accepted and I hope people understand that this was my fault, this is Michael Waltrip Racing. I hired the people, I’ve been at every meeting, every step of the way ensuring the integrity of our team or I thought I was ensuring that. So you can’t be skeptical of Toyota, you just have to look straight at me.”

Q: What’s your understanding of what exactly the substance was that NASCAR found and what at least in theory it might have accomplished?

A: “In theory I guess it was supposed to hype the fuel up and make the car go faster, but it didn’t. As far as what it is, I don’t have any idea. They just said it wasn’t supposed to be there. If it’s hair gel, it wasn’t supposed to be there. It’s pretty much plain and simple, it’s not so much what it is, but you don’t do those things.”

Q: You’ve experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in your career here including losing a good friend here six years ago and now this. How can you put all that together with what you’ve been able to experience here?

A: “When you’re a race car driver and when I was young my brother was 16 so that’s all I’ve ever done. If you’re a race car driver, you know you’re going to have those times and I think it makes Daytona even more special to me knowing that someone that I loved, loved this place like I did and lost his life here. I watched him celebrate in victory lane like never before in 1998 and I know he was real proud of what we had done on that day in 2001. It’s just what racing is all about and maybe that’s why Daytona defines racing to me because of the tremendous swings in emotion I have had here.”

Q: I imagine you have had some discussions with Toyota and they are pretty disappointed. ESPN has a report out that you were told you missed two of three strikes and they were going to pull their support from you if you screw up again. Has that happened?

A: “I don’t know anything about that. I just know they are disappointed because this was supposed to be a time of celebration and be proud of what we accomplished. I certainly wish it was and now it’s turned the other way. I just hope people are able to understand and separate Michael Waltrip Racing from Toyota in this instance because their integrity and the way they go about things is totally opposite of the position I’ve put them in. To be associated with an organization that breaks the rules so I’m supposed I didn’t use all three of them because it’s just that wrong and I’m very disappointed and sad. I don’t know what else to say other than I don’t think we’ll ever put this behind us, but we’ll certainly try to do better in the future.”

Q: Given Toyota’s entrance into this sport and the fact that it was going to be met with some skepticism did you think that put some inherent pressures on some of your employees to make sure you came out here and put your best foot forward that they were going to do whatever it took even going beyond the line?

A: “We certainly explained to them that this was not all about the Daytona 500. Ty Norris and myself constantly told people in competition meetings that if we won the Daytona 500 that wouldn’t define who we are as an organization. We’re in this for the long haul and we’re a new organization, but we are facing some challenges. I’m pretty good at drafting so I was confident that no matter where I qualified, I would make the race today. SO there was no pressure put on anyone to do anything out of the ordinary just work as hard as you can and be as smart as you can within the rules.”

Q: Can you tell us about your reaction to the substance being discovered and secondly can you comment on your interview on Fox where you stated that the substance was oil?

A: “No, because I’m not that bright I guess. I saw the intake manifold, NASCAR showed it to me. I saw the substance they were speaking of and it looked like oil to me. It was odorless and blue and I talked to my brother who is obviously very knowledgeable about every piece and part on the car and he said there could have been some blow-by in the crank case that created oil to go up in the intake. So when I made those comments it was because that was what I thought happened. It wasn’t. Last Sunday I was confident that we hadn’t done anything wrong. Everyday that went by it became more and more obvious to me that somebody pulled something off or tried to anyway.”

Q: How do you go about rebuilding MWR’s image in the eyes of the race fans?

A: “The thing that bothers me the most is somebody that bought a hat or a jacket and people walking around saying, ‘yeah’. That really kills me. But all I can do is say I’m sorry and let them know that it’s not who we are, it’s not the fabric of which we’ve sewn all this together with. It’s totally the opposite, I want to be very respectful. I love NASCAR and to think that I’ve caused this sort of commotion to this wonderful sport. This is the Daytona 500, we’re not supposed to be talking about some stupid fuel thing that we put in a car. We’re supposed to be talking about the pageantry and glory that comes from trying to win this race. I’m embarrassed to be sitting here in front of you talking about stuff that doesn’t have anything to do with what the fans come to see which is fast cars racing hard on the track. I know your time would be much better served with other stories out there.”

Q: Can you talk about the impact of 100-point penalty on your season and specifically getting into the top-35 in owner points to get locked in?

A: “I’m much more concerned about my credibility and perception and how people view Michael Waltrip Racing, not just the points. If I perform well I can get those points back. I’m not even going to talk about the points, it’s deeper than that to me.”

Q: You have successfully created a commercial image or a brand if you will of a court jester. Do you see yourself revising that? Secondly, do you feel you need to have more oversight in your company concerning day-to-day competition and preparation?

A: “I’m kind of a goof ball on TV, but at the shop I’m pretty intense and pretty into what I’m doing. Ty Norris and I have been in this deal from its roots to where we grew up and came to Daytona ready to race and the way I oversee things inside my shop, I am pretty disappointed in that. I misread someone or someone’s to let them put me in this position.”

Q: Can we talk about where you are in regard to the investigation as to how this happened? Also, how difficult has it been now to turn this around and get your car ready for the 125?

A: “The team has been working on the car and I’ll be quite honest with you, I didn’t make up my mind until this morning as to whether I was even going to race or not because I didn’t want to damage the integrity of the sport further by going out there and having people think, what’s he doing out there? I came real close to not running today. It hasn’t affected my team at all because I had not told anyone that. My wife and I talked a long time about it this morning and decided that I should race because that’s what racers do no matter what happens. And I hope that you see today that we are pretty serious about racing and hopefully we will have some success today. And if we don’t I’ll still be here until Sunday taking care of our sponsors. I’m so proud of Dale Jarrett’s UPS car, that thing looked great yesterday and he should have a great run today. Domino’s has a pretty car here and Aaron’s has a pretty car too. Now I’m starting to do commercials, but I was just going to tell you if you think about it we brought five race teams down here; three Cup cars, a Busch car and a truck. One of them got in trouble and unfortunately it had to happen that way, but again don’t think this has anything to do with our organization. As soon as we can find out how this happened and who did it we are certainly going to let you guys know.”