Michael Waltrip putting organization's demands before racing career
Michael Waltrip (right) hands over control of the NAPA-sponsored Michael Waltrip Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup entry to Martin Truex Jr. during a news conference announcing the organization's 2010 plans. // Sam Cranston, NASCAR Scene
CORNELIUS, N.C. – Michael Waltrip says he is putting the interests of the Michael Waltrip Racing team he co-owns above his personal ambitions as a driver in making the decision to scale back to a partial schedule behind the wheel next season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
So for the 46-year-old Waltrip, who has been competing full time for the organization he founded in 2007, the move to step back and put newcomer Martin Truex Jr. in a full-time ride for 2010 wasn’t as difficult as some observers might expect.
“It was easy,” Waltrip said on Tuesday at the team’s headquarters, where it was announced that Truex will join David Reutimann as one of two full-time MWR drivers next season.
“I just decided I didn’t want to do it if I couldn’t be competitive, and I hadn’t been competitive, so it didn’t bother me any,” he said. “I wanted to be a car owner for 100 years, and this is a great move to help make our runway longer in order to have chances to be successful. Putting a guy like Martin in the NAPA [sponsored] car for the next few years, that’s a big deal for a young organization.”
While NAPA will move to Truex’s No. 56 team for the entire season, the longtime Waltrip backer has agreed to sponsor Waltrip – in his familiar No. 55 Toyota - in the season-opening Daytona 500. Waltrip still hopes to find sponsorship for the three remaining restrictor-plate races and possibly as many as 12 total.
He says there’s also a chance he could make a few starts for Prism Motorsports, which shares a technical alliance with MWR.
With the right sponsorship, Waltrip would consider driving in select events beyond 2010 as well.
“I’d like to think maybe I could run the Daytona 500 for the near foreseeable future anyway. I love that race, I love going to Florida,” said Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 champion. “I don’t think anybody’s any better than me down there, and I don’t see that changing overnight. So, yeah, I’d like to run a few races for the next few years if I could.”
But Truex, who is leaving Earnhardt Ganassi Racing to join MWR, can give the organization the results Waltrip believes he can’t.
In two full seasons with the group he now he now co-owns with Rob Kauffman, Waltrip has finished 44th and 29th, respectively, in the standings.
He is 34th in points this year – considerably lower than teammate David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose, whose cars are fielded by MWR through an alliance with JTG Daugherty Racing.
Even as the organization as a whole has improved dramatically this season - Reutimann gave MWR its first Cup win in this year’s rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 – Waltrip has struggled.
“My brain can’t get its arms around not being competitive,” said the driver who has a total of four Cup wins since joining the series full time in 1986. “I went a long time without winning races, but I was always competitive, and I felt like I was in contention for wins. The chances to win and the ability to put myself in a position to win on a regular basis hasn’t been there for a while, and I just can’t handle it.
“I can’t handle getting beat, and I can’t handle not being competitive. There’s probably a thousand different factors that could play into that, but I don’t like it.”
By deciding to cut back next season, Waltrip noted Wednesday that he is just making good on a promise during 2009 Speedweeks at Daytona that he would consider retiring or semi-retiring if he didn’t run as well as the other team cars.
“I’m turning my car over to a guy that I think can go win the championship in it,” he said. “I’ve always said – I’ve been racing these cars for a long time, as we all well know – that if I thought I wasn’t the best man for the job, I wouldn’t have had a ride this long. If I wasn’t the best guy that could go racing on Sunday, [I’ve said] someone else would take my place. I just believe at this time in my career that Martin is the right guy to take over my car and go win races in it.”
Waltrip’s older brother, three-time Cup champion and Fox NASCAR analyst Darrell Waltrip, supports his younger sibling’s decision.
“He’s been sad because he hadn’t been able to do better than he’s done,” the elder Waltrip said. “He put all he had into this operation hoping that it would take him to another level, and in fact I think the running of the team and all the things that go into it has actually helped those other guys, but it has hurt him.
“The only thing I ever told him [was] I said, ‘Buddy, you’re going to find out real quick and this is what’s going to hurt you the most: Your name’s going to be on the front of the check and not the back, and that’s what’s going to hurt.’”
