Feb. 18, 2007

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Handling was the culprit for the NAPA Racing team during today’s running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. The end result was a 30th-place finish for driver Michael Waltrip which was respectable considering an extremely tight condition caused the NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry to make contact with the wall.

Despite the NAPA team’s challenges, fans were treated to a green-white-checkered-flag finish that saw Kevin Harvick beat out Mark Martin by a mere two one-hundredths of a second to claim his first Daytona 500 title. Meanwhile, as the duo crossed the finish line, a multi-car crash broke out leaving Clint Bowyer on his hood. Waltrip dodged the bullet but was frustrated with his set-up choice to start the race.

“My car didn’t run very good today,” said Waltrip who started 15th. “It was my fault. I elected to put a different spring in the right front and that ended up being the wrong one.”

Waltrip’s first inclination that the morning’s spring change may have been the wrong decision came shortly after the second pit stop of the afternoon on Lap 66. He came over the radio to say the car was not pushing as bad as it was but a spring change over a long caution was in order. The opportunity to fix the car came under caution on Lap 81. Unfortunately after the adjustment, Waltrip still did not like the feel of his NAPA Toyota and the ill-handling caused the car to hit the wall on Lap 98. The pit crew went to work to pull out the right side fenders but the service was under green. It put the team one lap down in 41st place.

Over the course of the next 50 laps, the driver thought the car was loosening up but the front nose of the car was up in the air. Another chance to work on the NAPA Toyota happened under yellow when the frontrunners, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart, crashed hard in Turn 4 on Lap 153. During the caution, the No. 55 crew made a spring-rubber adjustment in the right rear, worked on the valiance, bolted on four fresh tires, and added fuel. When the race went back to green on Lap 159, Waltrip was in 39th place, two laps down. The leader was Martin Truex Jr.

Crashes started to culminate in the closing laps of the Daytona 500. The first was triggered on Lap 174 after Jimmie Johnson had problems in Turn 2. Jeff Green, David Reutimann, Tony Raines and Denny Hamlin suffered the consequences. Roughly 20 laps later, Matt Kenseth got into the back of teammate Jamie McMurray. Kenseth’s mistake ended Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s race and damaged a few other cars driven by Ricky Rudd and Martin Truex Jr. The incident also caused NASCAR to throw the red flag for several minutes setting up a green-white-checkered-flag finish. The delay had the stands excited with anticipation. Mark Martin, who had never one a Daytona 500 during his impressive career, was the leader.

NASCAR restarted the race on Lap 201. Martin did his best to block the late charge of Kyle Busch but it was Kevin Harvick who dove high and surprised everyone. He made a last ditch effort to pass Martin coming out of Turn 4. The move worked allowing Harvick to win the 49th running of the Daytona 500.

Finishing in the top 10 behind Harvick and Martin were drivers Jeff Burton, Mike Wallace, David Ragan, Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne, David Gilliland, Joe Nemechek and David Stremme.

Waltrip’s race concluded with him saying, “We deserved more and just didn’t get it. We got most of our 100 points back that we were penalized as well as the money. It’s been such a sad week but I am glad my sponsors and my manufacturer stuck behind me and Michael Waltrip Racing. I am real thankful that people believe in us. This is simply a stumble out of the gate. We’ll be fine.”

Daytona 500 Unofficial Race Results:
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/1/data/results_unofficial.html

Next Up: Auto Club 500 at California Speedway on Feb. 25
2006 Winner: Matt Kenseth
2006 Pole Winner: Kurt Busch
Television: FOX at 3 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio at 3 p.m. ET