(born
April 30 ,
1963 in
Owensboro, Kentucky ) is a professional race car driver and owner of
Michael Waltrip Racing . He is the younger brother of
Darrell Waltrip , a three-time
NASCAR champion (now retired). Waltrip is a two-time winner of the
Daytona 500 (
2001 &
2003 ), and drives a self-owned #55
NAPA Toyota Camry in the
NEXTEL Cup Series . He is also a part-time commentator for
SPEED TV 's coverage of the
Craftsman Truck Series and is a member of the "expert panel" on
SPEED Channel's NASCAR Inside Nextel Cup program.
He currently lives in
Sherrills Ford, North Carolina with his wife
Buffy Waltrip . In the past, he has also raced in the
Boston Marathon .
Waltrip's stock-car career got off the ground in 1981, when he captured the Mini-Modified division track championship at
Kentucky Motor 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 driving for
Dick Bahre . He finished 28th in that race and finished 57th in the series standings after just five starts.
In
1986 , driving the #23
Hawaiian Punch car for
Bahari Racing , 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 . The following season, he posted his first career top-ten finish when he ended up tenth in the spring race at
Martinsville Speedway . In 1988, Waltrip began running
Busch Series events, making five starts for his brother Darrell's fledgling team. He took the checkered flag for the first time at
Dover in his fourth start. In
1989 , he had his first top-five finish in the #30
Country Time Lemonade Pontiac.
In
1991 , he gained new sponsorship from
Pennzoil and won the
Winston Open , as well as his first two career pole positions. He stayed with the Bahari team until the end of
1995 , when he was replaced by rookie
Johnny Benson . He joined
Wood Brothers Racing to drive their #21
Citgo Ford. He won the 1996 editon of
The Winston . After posting one top-five finish over a period of three years, and missing his first race since 1986 at the
1998 Dura Lube/Kmart 500 , Waltrip departed the Woods at the end of 1998 to drive the #7
Philips Chevrolet for
Mattei Motorsports , posting three top-ten finishes and ending that season 29th in points. The next season, he moved up to twenty seventh in points but finished in the top-five once, causing him and the team to part ways at the end of the season.
Waltrip was hired by
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. to drive their new #15 NAPA Chevy entry. In his first race with the team, the
2001 Daytona 500 , Waltrip broke a streak of 463 consecutive Cup races without a victory and won his first career points-paying Cup race. After the death of his boss
Dale Earnhardt , he did not have another top-ten finish until the
Pepsi 400 , and finished 24th in the standings. The next season, he picked up his second career win at the Pepsi 400 and moved up to fourteenth in the standings. Throughout 2003, he won a career-high two races including his second career Daytona 500 win, and ran in the top-five for most of the season before falling back to 15th in points.
In
2004 , Waltrip went winless and dropped five spots in the standings. Despite one pole and seven top-tens the next season, Waltrip announced he and sponsor NAPA would depart DEI to drive the #55
Dodge Charger for
Bill Davis Racing . After the former #77
Jasper Motorsports team closed its doors at the end of 2005, Waltrip split unofficially from Davis and assumed the former Jasper team's owner's points in order to be guaranteed a spot in the first five races for the season. Running under the banner, , the team would be used to set up Waltrip's new Toyota operation in 2007. Waltrip failed to qualify for the first time since 1998 at the
Coca-Cola 600 , he bought a slot from the #74
McGlynn Racing Dodge from
Derrike Cope to drive in the race and to keep his streak of 262 consecutive races.
1 Waltrip ended up missing three races total in 2006 and did not have a top-ten finish.
Waltrip formed his own team, qualifying race for the Daytona 500.
3 The Interim Crew Chief was announced as Scott Eggleston, who was Waltrip's former crew chief in 2001.
4 After a 30th place finish in the Daytona 500, Waltrip became the first driver in series history to go into the second race of the season with a negative number of points (-27). Waltrip failed to qualify for the next eleven races following the Daytona 500, so he maintained his negative point total for almost 4 months. He qualified for the thirteenth race of the season at Dover and finished 28th, moving his point total above zero to 52 points. Jarrett used a provisional to qualify for five of the first six races, and Reutimann had to use two.
On Saturday April 7th, 2007 he fell asleep behind the wheel of his Toyota
Land Cruiser which overturned and struck a utility pole. Michael crawled out from the car suffering only minor cuts. There was no
Nextel Cup race held that weekend. He was charged with reckless driving and failing to report an accident.
5 6
After failing to qualify for the Pocono 500 in June, Waltrip bounced back the following week by finishing 10th at the Citizens Bank 400 in Michigan.
In a race in the early 90s, Waltrip
Punched driver
Dave Marcis . Waltrip was fined $500 for his actions.
In 1995 at
Michigan International Speedway , Waltrip again lashed out at a fellow driver, this time
Lake Speed . Waltrip struck Speed twice on national televisionCBS coverage of one of the two 1995 Michigan races, while Speed was still strapped in his car. Waltrip was fined $10,000 for his actions.
Waltrip had a much-publicized feud with
Jeff Green , then driver of
Petty Enterprises #43
Cheerios /
Betty Crocker Dodge Charger in the early part of the 2005 season, which came to a head during races at
Martinsville and
Darlington , where Green and Waltrip wrecked each other on several occasions.
7
In the 2005
Sylvania 300 , Waltrip was involved in a wreck with driver
Robby Gordon the driver of the #7
Jim Beam Kentucky
Bourbon Chevrolet. The angered Gordon got out of his totaled car and threw his helmet at the #15 car as it was passing by. When
TNT interviewed him about the crash he stated "People think Michael is a good guy, but he's not a good guy. The caution came out and he wrecked me; he's just a piece of shit."
8 On the next caution lap around, some viewers claimed that Waltrip flipped Gordon
The Finger as he drove by, although subsequent video replays are inconclusive and Waltrip denies making the gesture. TNT apologized for the incident on both driver's behalf, and both Gordon and Waltrip were required to meet with NASCAR officials after the race. Gordon was fined $50,000 and docked 50 drivers' points. Waltrip was also penalized, but the penalties were overturned on appeal. Gordon ultimately decided to auction the helmet for the benefit of the Harrah's Employee Relief Fund, a fund that provides aid to Harrah's employees displaced by
Hurricane Katrina . Both drivers signed the helmet, which was purchased by
GoldenPalace.com for $51,100.
Michael Waltrip is the official spokesperson for Pivotal Payments; a merchant service provider based in Syosset, New York and Montreal, Canada.
Michael Waltrip won the first three races at Daytona on
FOX (2001,
2003 Daytona 500;
2002 Pepsi 400).
