It will be odd not having a Waltrip racing week to week
Next year will certainly be odd, at least in one respect.
It will be the first time since 1975 that what is now known as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has not had a driver with the last name of Waltrip attempting to run every race.
Three-time champion Darrell Waltrip started the family's odyssey into NASCAR. He began running at least a limited schedule in 1972 and went on to win 84 races and the three titles. He dallied in team ownership before moving into the broadcast booth to embark on a highly successful second career.
Michael Waltrip, 16 years his junior, would follow the same path - though with slightly different results. He has earned just four wins in his 24-year career, but he is coming into his own as a team owner. Waltrip has gutted his way through winless seasons, sharing his brother's ability to charm fans and sponsors and generally drawing an audience with his quips and comments on the state of the sport.
When he took on team ownership on a full-time scale in 2007, he did so in a big way. Waltrip debuted with incoming manufacturer Toyota and former series champion Dale Jarrett in one of his cars. He drove his own NAPA-sponsored machine and introduced Cup rookie David Reutimann.
The debut season was difficult at best, but Waltrip hung in there. His team gained some ground in 2008, and this season the organization has moved up considerably. Reutimann is vying for a berth in the Chase For The Sprint Cup and Marcos Ambrose, who drives for JTG Daugherty Racing but is housed in the MWR shop through a technical alliance, has been strong in his first full season. Waltrip has struggled a bit more with consistency as he battled to balance his dual roles in the organization.
Now, he'll be free to focus on his ownership role. He'll be free to analyze and assess and be the hands-on owner he has grown into being.
He'll run a handful of races as well, but he'll be concentrating on leaving his mark through a new aspect of his career.
And the Waltrip family of drivers will ride off into the sunset, no less entrenched in NASCAR than in the past, but no longer winning fans from behind the wheel week to week.
