Feb. 18, 2008
 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Michael Waltrip finished 29th in tonight’s 50th running of the Daytona 500. The NAPA team was en route to a very solid finish of 15th or better when the No. 55 Camry was caught up in an accident on lap 176 involving Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. The nose of Waltrip’s car was damaged after taking evasive action, but was able to continue after making repairs on pit road.
Winning the Daytona 500 was Ryan Newman.
“We have come a long way since last year,” said Waltrip after the 200-lap event. We leave here with valuable points and our heads held high. We accomplished so much during Speedweeks. Winning the outside pole was awesome, and we learned so much as a race team while we were in Daytona.”
Waltrip took the green flag alongside pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson, and when the first lap was recorded, Waltrip was on top of the leaderboard. It was not long until Waltrip realized his car was not yet in winning form. Two green-flag pit stops were completed on laps 36 and 74. Air pressure and track bar adjustments were performed to help a loose-handling condition. Then on lap 79, the first caution of the day for debris was thrown. Crew chief, Paul Andrews, called for a shock adjustment. The change helped Waltrip break back into the top-20 where he ran comfortably until the race was once again slowed for debris on lap 150.
A setback for the team occured when Waltrip tried to enter his pit on lap 152. A move in the pits by teammate David Reutimann threw Waltrip off causing him to slide through his pit stall. The NAPA Camry dropped from 19th to 27th on the board. The driver apologized to his team, and told them they would ultimately be fine -- he was right. Waltrip was on the charge, and just outside the top-15 when Johnson spun coming off of Turn 1. Waltrip’s front nose was damaged, taking the NAPA AUTO PARTS Camry out of contention for the victory.
“My car didn’t handle as well as I would have liked through most of the race,” continued Waltrip. “With less than 30 to go, my NAPA Camry was really moving up through the field. We were finally handling well. We were on our way to a really solid finish before I got into the back of another car trying to avoid the wreck. My NAPA team did a good job to try and fix it, but the car just did not want to go after that. I’m sad, but at the same time, I am happy.”
Rounding out the top-10 finishers were Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Reed Sorenson, Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne, Robby Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Greg Biffle.
Overall, Michael Waltrip Racing had a very respectable day. Besides Waltrip, Dale Jarrett running in his final Daytona 500 finished 16th, and David Reutimann scored 18th.
Next up for the Sprint Cup teams is the Auto Club 500 next Sunday at California Speedway starting at 3:30 p.m. ET. Qualifying gets underway Friday at 6:30 pm Eastern.
Daytona 500 Results:
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2008/1/data/results_unofficial.html
Daytona 500 Lap-By-Lap:
http://www.nascar.com/2008/races/lapbylap/02/17/daytona500/index.html
NASCAR Sprint Cup Driver Standings (Waltrip – 28th)
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2008/data/standings_unofficial.html |
