June 4, 2007

DOVER, Del. – Michael Waltrip and the NAPA Racing team finished 28th after starting 23rd in today’s Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway. A push condition from the get-go and a spin out on lap 337 hampered Waltrip’s drive to the finish. Regardless, he was able to persevere and learn a few things about the COT version of his NAPA Toyota Camry by race end.

“We got to learn some things despite having some issues there at the end, but, we were able to hold off the guy we were racing (David Gilliland) so that’s a baby step,” said Waltrip after climbing out of his NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota. “I’m happy that I am no longer minus in the driver points so I have that going for me, too. I hate that we have gotten ourselves in this position, but the way D.J. ran today before the radiator problem along with the fact that we were competitive at times is promising. We know that the setup we ran today is not the right one so we can scratch that off the list. We’ll go back to work to figure out how to get our cars to turn. We just pushed all day long. It was pretty bad but, there in the end after the NAPA Camry spun out, it loosened up. We’ll examine the situation and see what we can learn.”

After Sunday’s postponement of the Autism Speaks 400, Waltrip and his NAPA AUTO PARTS team were ready to race when Ryan Newman led the 43-car starting field to the green flag shortly after noon. Calling the shots atop the NAPA pit box was Bobby Kennedy, Vice President of Competition for Michael Waltrip Racing. He was able to use NASCAR’s two competition caution flags on lap 27 and 67 to inspect tire wear and free up the NAPA Camry by making wedge and air pressure changes. Waltrip was in 41st place when the race went green on lap 72, but climbed back up to 32nd place by the next caution-flag period on lap 137.

The next 200 laps saw Waltrip running in the top 30 with the push still persisting. The pit crew was able to make changes on laps 139, 218 and 273. Air pressure and track bar were the main courses of action ordered by Kennedy. By the 300-lap mark, Waltrip was running in 28th, 3 laps down, respectively, due to Truex’s blistering fast pace.

Entering into the final 100 laps of the Autism Speaks 400, Waltrip raced David Gilliland and his teammate Ricky Rudd for position. Waltrip was the fastest of the bunch but on lap 337, the NAPA Toyota Camry spun in turn 2, sustaining some damage in the rear of the car. The crew quickly went to work on laps 339, 340 and 342 to make repairs. Waltrip was able to take the restart on lap 343 in 30th place with Newman as the leader. This time under green, Waltrip faced a loose race car and wanted a major adjustment during the next caution after he felt something was either broken or bent under his car. Relief came on lap 357 when Gilliland and Rudd wrecked on the frontstretch. Kennedy called his driver in for major track bar adjustments along with air pressure changes on lap 360. The stop ended up being the team’s final service, with Waltrip bringing home his NAPA ride in 28th position.

Claiming his first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory of his career was Martin Truex Jr. He joins Casey Mears, who won last week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, as the first back-to-back first-time race winners since Jerry Nadeau and NAPA’s Michael Waltrip completed the feat after winning the final race of 2000 and the first race of 2001. Rounding out the top-10 finishers were Newman, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon and Robby Gordon.

A total of five Toyota teams participated in today’s event. Besides Waltrip, Brian Vickers claimed 19th, AJ Allmendinger finished 33rd, Jeremy Mayfield earned 38th and Waltrip’s teammate Dale Jarrett finished 43rd after his radiator was punctured causing the engine to expire.

Autism Speaks 400 Results:
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/13/data/results_unofficial.html

Unofficial Driver Standings (Waltrip picked up 2 positions)
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/data/standings_unofficial.html

Next Up: Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway on June 10

2006 Winner: Denny Hamlin
2006 Pole Winner: Denny Hamlin
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