(born
April 30 ,
1963 in
Owensboro, Kentucky ) is a professional race car driver and team owner. He is the younger brother of
Darrell Waltrip , a 3-time
NASCAR champion (now retired). Michael drove the #15
NAPA Chevrolet car in NASCAR's
Nextel Cup Series for
DEI through the 2005 season. In
2006 , Waltrip and NAPA left DEI for Michael's own team,
Waltrip-Jasper Racing . Waltrip currently drives the #55 NAPA
Dodge Charger . He also drives the # 99
Aaron's "Dream Machine" car in NASCAR's
Busch Series .
While many of his competitors started racing cars when they were barely old enough to walk, Michael Waltrip waited until his teen years to start tooling around the midwest in go-kart races.
Waltrip's stock-car career got off the ground in 1981, whe he captured the Mini-Modified division track championship at
Kentucky Speedway . A year later, Waltrip entered the Goody's Dash Series, where he won the series championship in 1983 and was voted the circuit's most popular driver in 1983 and 1984.
Waltrip made his Cup debut in 1985 in the
Coca-Cola 600 at
Charlotte . He finished 28th in that race and finished 57th in the series standings after just five starts.
In 1986, driving for Dick Bahre, Waltrip finished second in the Cup rookie of the year race to Alan Kulwicki on the strength of a pair of 11th-place finishes at
Martinsville and
Pocono .
In 1988, Waltrip began running
Busch Series events, making five starts for his brother Darrell's fledgling team. It didn't take long for Waltrip to make an impact, as he took the checkered flag at
Dover in just his fourth start.
Waltrip's most memorable
Busch Series effort came in 1993 at
Bristol . After taking the checkered flag, Waltrip made a "Polish victory lap" in honor of
Alan Kulwicki , who had lost his life in a plane crash on his way to that weekend's events. What's more, he proposed to his wife Buffy in
Victory Lane that day.
While Waltrip had always been a competitive driver through the '80s and '90s -- he had even won
The Winston in 1996 -- he had the dubious honor of having the longest active streak of Cup point-paying starts without a victory. That 463-race streak ended at the 2001
Daytona 500 . Later that same season, he finished second behind teammate
Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the
Pepsi 400 , also at
Daytona .
In his spare time, Waltrip is a big fan of the
Dallas Cowboys and an avid runner. In fact, he ran in both the Boston and Tampa marathons in 2000. Michael serves as a member of the "expert panel" on
SPEED Channel's NASCAR Inside Nextel Cup series and he also often does fill-in work for Speed's coverage of the
Craftsman Truck Series . He also appears in advertisements for
NAPA ,
Domino's Pizza and
Aaron's along with his brother, Darrell. He often is loyal to his sponsors and calls his car by a list of different sponsors from time to time.
On
January 25 ,
2006 it was announced that Waltrip's team
Waltrip-Jasper Racing will field two
Toyota Camry s in Nextel Cup racing for the 2007 season.
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