Kansas City , Kansas (October 1, 2006)–After starting 35 th in the Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway, Michael Waltrip, driver of the No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge, struggled with alternately tight and loose conditions to end the race one position behind his original starting spot.

Although crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr. had brought the chassis that earned the NAPA AUTO PARTS team a 23 rd-place finish at Michigan International Speedway in August to Kansas for the 267-lap event, Waltrip characterized the car as having a “mind of its own” as he struggled through the turns of the 1.5-mile tri-oval.

Waltrip did not hesitate to provide feedback to the NAPA crew as he radioed on Lap 8, “The car feels like it has 200 pounds of air in the right front. It’s plowing, and the right front won’t turn.” When the first of 11 caution flags waved on Lap 10, Baldwin called Waltrip into the pits for his first stop of day. “The right front tires won’t stick,” Waltrip radioed. ”When I get on the gas out of the turns, there’s no forward bite.” Baldwin directed the crew to make several changes to the race car. “We’re going to go two (rounds) up on the left-rear wedge and take a full rubber out of the right rear,” radioed Baldwin. After the crew serviced the No. 55 NAPA Dodge with fresh tires and fuel, Waltrip restarted in 40 th place.

For the next several laps, Waltrip worked his way through slower traffic and into 36 th position, but on Lap 55, race leader Clint Bowyer was just four cars from putting the NAPA team a lap down. Fortunately, a caution two laps later kept Waltrip on the lead lap and provided Baldwin a chance for much needed improvements. “It’s just so hard,” Waltrip radioed. “You can’t drive it. I still think there’s too much air in the tires. I’m so close to crashing in each turn. The front end won’t turn, and now the back end won’t stick. It’s a really bad feeling when I drive it down low.” Baldwin made the call for air-pressure adjustments and lowered the track bar one turn.

“It’s just out of control loose for the first 10 laps of these longer runs, and then it slowly gets better, but not enough,” Waltrip radioed. As the caution flag waved on Lap 145, Waltrip was in 38 th place and one lap down. Waltrip steered the No. 55 NAPA Dodge onto pit road for more air-pressure adjustments, four tires and fuel.

By Lap 171, the handling had improved slightly, but not enough. “It was a little better than before,” Waltrip radioed. “I don’t drive it, it drives me. I back into the corner and wait for it to point straight.” Baldwin called Waltrip into the pits on Lap 174. “We’re going to try and fix this for you,” Baldwin radioed. “Guys, go one (turn) down on the track bar and take a pound out of the left rear.”

A few laps later, Waltrip radioed, “It’s so loose I could spin out anywhere now.” On Lap 224, the No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS team made their final pit stop under green. Baldwin instructed the crew to put a full rubber in the left rear and top off the fuel. Waltrip restarted in 38 th position and recovered from a few near spins in the waning laps of the event to climb two more spots for a 36 th-place finish.

Exhausted after the race, Waltrip commented, “We had a good showing in Michigan, but we couldn’t get this car to cooperate with us today. It seemed no matter what we did, the car would switch extremes. If it was tight, it would turn loose. I can’t say enough about the effort of the guys in the pit. Sometimes when you have outings like today, the performance of the crew goes unnoticed. Make no mistake about it, this No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS team works just as hard as or harder than the other 42 teams out here every Sunday.”

After being eliminated from Chase contention last month, Tony Stewart gambled on fuel mileage to coast across the start/finish line on an empty tank of gas and claim victory at the Banquet 400. Casey Mears also gambled and finished second, zigzagging his way to the checkered flag to force the last drops of fuel from his tank into his engine. Chase contender Mark Martin finished third, followed by fellow veteran Dale Jarrett. Jeff Burton, who broke a five-year winless streak and grabbed the points lead last weekend at Dover, used a conservative fuel strategy to finish fifth.

The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series will travel to Talladega Superspeedway this week for the UAW-Ford 500. Coverage will begin Sunday, October 8 at 1:30 pm on NBC and MRN.