Bristol, Tennessee (August 26, 2006) – While Matt Kenseth continued his momentum-building run toward the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup on Saturday night by winning at Bristol Motor Speedway - his third consecutive NASCAR victory - NAPA AUTO PARTS driver Michael Waltrip earned his highest finish of the 2006 season after crossing the start-finish line of the Sharpie 500 in 16th position. Prior to the event, Waltrip's best performance came at the Daytona 500 where he finished in 18th position.

After qualifying 30 th, Waltrip drove the No. 55 NAPA Dodge to 24 th position in the event’s first 30 laps. “I think it needs better front air,” Waltrip radioed to crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr. of the car’s condition. A caution on Lap 61 allowed the NAPA team time to make minor adjustments to the car’s track bar. “I couldn’t be any freer in, but I’m just too tight off the corners,” Waltrip commented several laps later. “It’s a lot better than it was in practice. It has that real good forward bite.”

When the caution flag waved for the eighth time of the night, Waltrip had climbed into 19 th position. “How’s the car?,” Baldwin asked. “It’s loose in and tight off, but it’s better than it has been. I just get tighter on the longer runs,” Waltrip replied. After a quick air pressure adjustment to the No. 55 NAPA Dodge, Waltrip restarted in 17 th position on Lap 332.

Waltrip was in danger of going a lap down several laps later as only two cars separated him from race leader Jeff Burton. However, a convenient caution flag saved Waltrip for a second time on Lap 379. After adjustments to air pressure and the track bar of the No. 55 NAPA Dodge, Waltrip restarted in a race-high 15 th position. “We can go all the way on gas now,” Baldwin radioed.

”It’s plowing,” Waltrip radioed on Lap 444 as the caution flag waved again. He steered the NAPA Dodge on to pit road for the team’s final stop. Quick adjustments to the car’s air pressure and track bar resulted in Waltrip restarting in 15 th place on Lap 454. With only 46 laps remaining in the event, Waltrip would lose only one position to Dale Jarrett and cruise to a 16 th place finish, two positions better than his previous season best.

With 12 races remaining in the 2006 NEXTEL Cup season, participants for the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup are beginning to emerge. By winning the Sharpie 500, Matt Kenseth assured himself a spot among NASCAR’s 10 best drivers of 2006. Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Scott Riggs, and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top five and are all in contention to make the Chase.

“Tonight just goes to show people that teams that aren’t competing for the Chase still work just as hard as teams sitting in the top 10. I’m real proud of what we did out here tonight. We didn’t start this race with the best car on the track, but Tommy and the rest of the team worked hard to get me in a position to earn our best finish of the year. Now we’re going to go out west and see if we can top tonight’s performance at California,” Waltrip commented on the Sharpie 500.

The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series will travel to the West Coast next week for the Sony HD 500 at California Speedway. Coverage of the event will begin at 7:00 pm EDT Sept. 3 on NBC and MRN.