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Nov. 6, 2007
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – The final Car of Tomorrow (COT) race of the season gets underway this weekend at Phoenix International Speedway, a track where good things have a tendency to happen to NAPA driver Michael Waltrip. Rebounding from qualifying challenges at Texas, Waltrip is aiming to repeat his 2005 performance at the 1- mile track, when he challenged Kurt Busch for the victory. The two-time Daytona 500 champion is focused on finishing this year’s run in the COT with a very strong performance at one of his favorite tracks. NAPA AUTO PARTS driver Michael Waltrip:
What are your expectations heading into Phoenix?
“I have a lot of wonderful memories of Phoenix. Back in 1998, I got in Dale Jarrett’s car because he wasn’t feeling well. At the time, I was known for not being a flat-track driver, but I was asked to drive. During the race, I found myself passing Jeff Gordon. I drove away from the leaders and realized that I could drive at a place like Phoenix. Then fast forward to 2005, I almost won when I raced Kurt Busch to the checkered flag. I ended up finishing second in my NAPA car. There have been a lot of good things that have happened to me at Phoenix. They have come at times when I really needed something good to happen.” Do you see the NAPA team making gains with its COT flat-track program? “We hadn’t made a flat-track race all year until Martinsville a few weeks ago. Not only did we make the race, but we ran really competitively. David Reutimann did, too. We will take what we learned at Martinsville and apply it to Phoenix. We are going to Phoenix with a confident attitude that we will not only make the race, but run in the top 20.” What happened in qualifying at Texas? “I really don’t know what happened. I ran hard. The NAPA Toyota pushed. When you push, you crank a lot of wheel into it. The car went where I aimed it, but since Texas is pretty tight, I didn’t get the momentum out of the car that I needed. I am not sure if my engine wasn’t quite what I needed or the pushing was too much to let the engine fight through it. I just don’t know. I never dreamed that I would run that slow. When I ran my lap, I was thinking it would be a 28.40-second lap, and that would have made the race. I was stunned when I heard I actually ran a 28.65-second lap. It took a 28.52 (seconds) to make it, and I came up short by a tenth. “I was very disappointed about qualifying because we had three top-20 finishes on the lead lap in a row. Things have been going really well for our team. I think that we are going to be fine from this. I believe we learned a lot from Dale’s car. The new body that was on it ran better than Reutimann’s in the race. We have one last regular car race coming up in Homestead. I bet you we will be better than we were in Texas. Obviously, the biggest negative of the weekend was NAPA did not have their car in the race. That breaks my heart, but there are a lot of good folks from NAPA that were down in Texas attending the NAPA hospitality and suite. They cheered our teams on, and I appreciate that.”
Michael Waltrip Fast Facts
NAPA AUTO PARTS driver Michael Waltrip will attempt to qualify for his 690th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race when the 35th event of the 2007 season, the Phoenix 500, is held at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday.
He will attempt to start in his 21st race at the 1-mile track. His best PIR start is 11th (Nov. 6, 1988 and Nov. 1, 1992) and best finish is 2nd (April 23, 2005).
During his career at Phoenix, Waltrip has earned two top-5 and four top-10 finishes. His average start is 28th and average finish is 24th.
Waltrip has completed 5564 of 6243 laps (89.1%) at the track and has led a total of 25 laps in competition.
Earlier this season, the NAPA team came up short during Bud Pole qualifying. Waltrip needed to better Ward Burton’s lap of 27.780 seconds to make the Subway Fresh Fit 500 but ran a lap of 27.796 seconds. It was 38th quickest (129.515 mph) on the board and faster than Sterling Marlin, Robby Gordon, Ricky Rudd, Kyle Petty, David Stremme and Johnny Sauter, but due to NASCAR’s top-35 rule, Waltrip was one of the drivers sent home of the 50 teams trying to make the 43-car starting field.
Entering this week’s NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event, Waltrip is 44th in the driver standings and 40th in owner standings. The NAPA AUTO PARTS team will need to qualify for the Phoenix 500 on time since the No. 55 car is outside the top 35 in owner point standings. A total of 49 cars are entered for this week’s race. Of the entrants, 14 are go-or-go-home teams. Waltrip will be competing for eight qualifying spots, one of which may be used as a past champion’s provisional by Bill Elliott, if needed.
Waltrip is a two-time Daytona 500 champion. He was victorious in 2001 and 2003.
NAPA AUTO PARTS driver Michael Waltrip Phoenix International Raceway Statistics
| DATE |
START |
FINISH |
DATE |
START |
FINISH |
 |
| 11/06/1988 |
11 |
28 |
11/07/1999 |
41 |
33 |
|
| 11/05/1989 |
23 |
9 |
11/05/2000 |
42 |
32 |
|
| 11/04/1990 |
29 |
43 |
10/28/2001 |
26 |
23 |
|
| 11/03/1991 |
30 |
24 |
11/10/2002 |
38 |
20 |
|
| 11/01/1992 |
11 |
11 |
11/02/2003 |
17 |
5 |
|
| 10/31/1993 |
23 |
9 |
11/07/2004 |
19 |
17 |
|
| 10/30/1994 |
25 |
36 |
4/23/2005 |
28 |
2 |
|
| 10/29/1995 |
37 |
34 |
11/13/2005 |
42 |
33 |
|
| 10/27/1996 |
31 |
16 |
4/22/2006 |
42 |
42 |
|
| 11/02/1997 |
30 |
26 |
11/12/2006 |
19 |
42 |
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Phoenix 500 Broadcast Coverage Live coverage of the Phoenix 500 at Phoenix International Raceway begins Sunday, Nov. 11 at 3:00 p.m. ET on ABC. If you can’t catch the race on TV, it can be heard on your local MRN Radio affiliate starting at the same time.
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