NAPA RACING PRESS BOX FEATURING MICHAEL WALTRIP
Darlington will be your 700th career start. Will you celebrate?
“It’s not something I am necessarily going to celebrate. I would have liked to have had more than four Sprint Cup victories by now. At the same time, I am thankful to be able to show up every week and do what I love to do. So I think I have mixed emotions because I will be a little bit sad about not putting up more numbers than I have, but glad that I have the ability to do what I do.”
What are your expectations heading to Darlington with the new track surface?
“I expect a lot of crashes on Saturday night. The track is real narrow and real fast. As the surface wears out, you can’t really go for it. You can’t dive in a little gap because you will wreck yourself. Now everyone is going to have a Superman complex. There will be a lot of grip out there so the drivers will be more aggressive. Unfortunately, there is no room to be aggressive. That generally leads to people running over one another. It should be crazy. It will be fast and full of action.
“I think the last time Darlington was paved was in 1995. I remember that because I was in the Pennzoil car. We wrecked almost every other lap. The same thing will basically happen on Saturday night. You are going to see a lot of cautions because of all of the grip. In the past, it was all about self preservation. Now that’s no longer the case. Guys will be going for it.”
How do you rate your NAPA team right now?
“We are heading in a great direction. I attribute that to all the testing we have been doing and getting in to all the races. We are learning every time we make a race and get to compete. We are finding out what makes the car go faster. It’s just really gratifying to see the progress and watching all the crew chiefs and engineers interact with one another. I really believe we are on the fast track to doing really good things.”
You have started to be vocal in having your fans vote for you to compete in the All-Star Race. Why?
“I would love for the fans to vote me in. I think most people already think I am in since I won it in 1996, but that’s not the case. I would really appreciate it if the fans would cast a vote for me. I would really like to get in the All-Star Race. I know it would make me very proud.”
Vote for Mikey! Fast track Michael into the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. Sprint customers, vote on your phones by texting “NASCAR” to 7777 and your vote counts double. Visit participating Sprint retail stores or visit sprint.com/speed for more information. Vote Now! Vote Often!
Michael Waltrip Fast Facts
- NAPA AUTO PARTS driver Michael Waltrip will be competing in his 700th NASCAR Sprint Cup race when the 11th event of the 2008 Sprint Cup season, the Dodge Challenger 500, gets underway at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C.
- Waltrip will attempt to start in his 42nd race at the 1.366-mile track. His best start is 6th (March 18, 2001) in the NAPA machine and best finish is 3rd.
- During his career at Darlington, Waltrip has earned three top-five, eight top-10 and 25 top-25 finishes. His average start and average finish is 22nd.
- Waltrip has completed 12,098 of 13,721 laps (88.2%) at the track and has led a total of 214 laps in competition.
- Entering this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event, Waltrip is 32nd in driver and owner points standings. He is guaranteed a starting spot in Saturday’s race. A total of 45 cars are on the entry list.
NAPA AUTO PARTS driver Michael Waltrip Darlington Raceway Statistics
DATE START FINISH DATE START FINISH
9/1/1985 |
35 |
24 |
3/24/1996 |
29 |
29 |
4/13/1986 |
19 |
13 |
9/1/1996 |
22 |
33 |
8/31/1986 |
27 |
16 |
3/23/1997 |
27 |
7 |
3/29/1987 |
30 |
19 |
8/31/1997 |
14 |
9 |
9/6/1987 |
19 |
19 |
3/22/1998 |
7 |
16 |
3/27/1988 |
27 |
21 |
9/6/1998 |
20 |
17 |
9/4/1988 |
14 |
25 |
3/22/1999 |
13 |
21 |
4/2/1989 |
23 |
9 |
9/5/1999 |
38 |
41 |
9/3/1989 |
15 |
13 |
3/19/2000 |
35 |
32 |
4/1/1990 |
9 |
9 |
9/3/2000 |
11 |
40 |
9/2/1990 |
30 |
26 |
3/18/2001 |
6 |
25 |
4/7/1991 |
10 |
3 |
9/2/2001 |
25 |
36 |
9/1/1991 |
29 |
27 |
3/17/2002 |
17 |
15 |
3/29/1992 |
24 |
14 |
9/1/2002 |
14 |
24 |
9/6/1992 |
22 |
35 |
9/16/2003 |
9 |
5 |
3/28/1993 |
21 |
33 |
8/31/2003 |
37 |
37 |
9/5/1993 |
25 |
13 |
3/21/2004 |
39 |
25 |
3/27/1994 |
30 |
15 |
11/14/2004 |
17 |
33 |
9/4/1994 |
26 |
31 |
5/7/2005 |
19 |
34 |
3/26/1995 |
28 |
7 |
5/13/2006 |
37 |
35 |
9/3/1995 |
25 |
5 |
|
|
|
2008 NAPA AUTO PARTS PIT CREW
Front Tire Changer: Gus Hinton
Front Tire Carrier: Chris Hall
Jackman: Scott King
Rear Tire Carrier: Dwayne Moore
**Rear Tire Changer: Andy Thurman
Gas Man: Art Harris
Catch Can: Shawn Soules
** New member
EVENT FACTS
Race: 11 of 36
Dodge Challenger 500
Track: Darlington Raceway
Length: 1.366-Mile Oval
Distance: 367 laps/501 miles
Date: Saturday, May 11
Time: 7 p.m. ET
TV: FOX
Radio: MRN
2007 Winner: Jeff Gordon
2007 Pole: Clint Bowyer
TELEVISION TIDBITS
Sprint Cup Qualifying
Friday, May 9 at 5 p.m. ET
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Sprint Cup Practices
Thurs., May 8 at 4:30 p.m. ET
Thurs., May 8 at 7 p.m. ET
NASCAR
Friday, May 9 at Noon ET
Friday, May 9 at 2p.m. ET
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This Week in NASCAR
Mon., May 12 at 8 p.m. ET
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