Michael Waltrip ready to step out of car; Pat Tryson finally gets to work at MWR
Michael Waltrip Racing event during NASCAR Media Tour Wednesday. // Sam Cranston, NASCAR Illustrated
CORNELIUS N.C. – There was no big news at Michael Waltrip Racing on Wednesday night, but some of the details of the transition to 2010 got a little clearer.
Waltrip had announced in July he wasn’t going to return to full-time racing. He released his 2010 Sprint Cup schedule on Wednesday – the Budweiser Shootout and the Daytona 500.
“I’m comfortable with that,” Waltrip said during the Sprint Media Tour. “I talked to Billy Ballew about running some [Camping World] Truck [Series] races. I definitely am going to run a couple of those. When I think about going to Daytona, I get excited because I know I know how to win that race. … When I think about [the next Cup races at] California and [Las] Veags, I just haven’t performed at a level that makes me say, ‘I’m going to go out there and [win].’”
Replacing Waltrip in the full-time ride will be Martin Truex Jr. from Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and also new is Pat Tryson from Penske Racing to be the crew chief for Truex. The last time Tryson was seen in the garage, he was crew chief for Kurt Busch on the track but wasn’t allowed in the Penske Racing shop except for a weekly meeting because of his pending departure to MWR.
Tryson was no longer wanted in the Penske shop, but Penske also didn’t let him start at MWR until Jan. 4. Tryson seemed to shrug off the late start with his new team.
“The communication here is better than anywhere I’ve ever worked, between the crew chief, ownership, between the management,” Tryson said. “It’s really open, and everybody talks to everybody about everything. That’s the way it needs to be.
“Martin is fun. We went testing, and he was fun to be around. He’s a great guy.”
The late start for Tryson shouldn’t impact the team too much, Truex said.
“A lot of the stuff was in place,” Truex said. “If they were struggling last year, then maybe, but they had a good system at the end of the year last year. … Obviously he was still in contact with the team, and they were talking, and he was involved in the hiring of the guys.”
Truex will drive the No. 56 this year, while Waltrip will drive the No. 51. Neither car will have the No. 55 that Waltrip used ever since he started MWR in 2007.
“The 55 was getting a little heavy,” Waltrip said. “I hadn’t won with it. I felt real comfortable coming close to winning a couple of times. But I just wanted a change of pace. The 15 [I once drove] was available, but I didn’t feel like that was right. I wanted a variation of the 15, so I went with the 51.”
