Michael Curtis Waltrip was born on April 30,1963 and is an American former professional stock car racing driver, racing commentator, racing team owner and published author.
99 Facts About Michael Waltrip
2.
Michael Waltrip competes full time in the Camping World Superstar Racing Experience.
3.
Michael Waltrip is the younger brother of three-time NASCAR champion and racing commentator Darrell Waltrip.
4.
Michael Waltrip is a pre-race analyst for the NASCAR Cup Series and color commentator for the Xfinity Series and the Craftsman Truck Series broadcasts for Fox Sports.
5.
Michael Waltrip last raced in the 2017 Daytona 500, driving the No 15 Toyota Camry for Premium Motorsports.
6.
Michael Waltrip asked Darrell to help him build a career in NASCAR, but Darrell advised him to stay focused on school.
7.
Michael Waltrip began building a career by racing go-karts at carnivals and various racing clubs around his hometown.
8.
Michael Waltrip won many races and, thanks to Bobby's help, was noticed by Dale Earnhardt.
9.
When Michael Waltrip moved out of his house, he moved in with Kyle Petty and then ultimately lived with Richard Petty as a roommate.
10.
Michael Waltrip finished 28th in that race and finished 57th in the series standings after just five starts.
11.
In 1986, driving the No 23 car for Bahari Racing, Michael Waltrip finished second in the Rookie of the Year standings to Alan Kulwicki on the strength of a pair of 11th-place finishes at Martinsville and Pocono.
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In 1988, Michael Waltrip began running Busch Series events, making five starts for his brother's team.
13.
Michael Waltrip took the checkered flag for the first time at Dover in his 4th start.
14.
For Michael Waltrip, 1990 was notable for a horrific crash at Bristol in the spring on the 170th lap of the Budweiser 250, where he destroyed his Busch Series Pontiac Grand Prix.
15.
The impact broke the gate, and Michael Waltrip went head-on into the end of the wall, disintegrating the car on impact and collapsing the car into itself.
16.
Onlookers were sure that Michael Waltrip was severely injured, perhaps fatally, because of how massive the impact was and his brother Darrell rushed to the wreck fearing the worst.
17.
In early race lineups, Michael Waltrip was referred to by broadcasters as "Mike Michael Waltrip" or Darrell's little brother.
18.
Michael Waltrip came close to winning the 1991 TranSouth 500 at Darlington, but a jammed air hose on his final visit to the pits caused his stop to last 37.4 seconds, costing him the victory.
19.
Michael Waltrip stayed with the Bahari team until the end of 1995 when he was replaced by rookie Johnny Benson.
20.
Michael Waltrip joined Wood Brothers Racing to drive their No 21 Citgo-sponsored Ford.
21.
Michael Waltrip won the 1996 edition of The Winston after capturing the last transfer spot in The Winston Open.
22.
Michael Waltrip was hired by Dale Earnhardt to drive his team's new No 15 NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored Chevrolet Monte Carlo entry, Michael Waltrip drove for Earnhardt in the Busch Series in 1989 and 1994.
23.
Michael Waltrip was not aware of the severity of Earnhardt's crash until over 30 minutes after the end of the race when he was celebrating in victory lane.
24.
Michael Waltrip had eighth-place finishes in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and the first Pocono race, and fourth place in the first Michigan race.
25.
Michael Waltrip picked up his second career win at the Pepsi 400 at Daytona.
26.
In 2003, Michael Waltrip won a rain-shortened Daytona 500 and took victory at the EA Sports 500 at Talladega, while running in the top-five for most of the season before falling back to 15th in points.
27.
Michael Waltrip was on the outside of three wide under Brian Vickers and Johnny Sauter when Sauter and Vickers made contact and squeezed Michael Waltrip into the outside backstretch wall.
28.
In 2004, Michael Waltrip went winless and dropped five spots in the standings.
29.
In 2005 Michael Waltrip only had seven top tens and one pole.
30.
Michael Waltrip had an incident with Robby Gordon at New Hampshire.
31.
Michael Waltrip-Jasper fielded the No 55 NAPA Auto Parts Dodge in the 2006 Nextel Cup Series, driven by Michael Waltrip, with Bawel as listed owner, and Davis as a team executive.
32.
Michael Waltrip failed to qualify for the first time since 1998 at the Coca-Cola 600.
33.
Michael Waltrip bought a slot from the No 74 McGlynn Racing Dodge from Derrike Cope to drive in the race and to keep his streak of 262 consecutive races.
34.
Michael Waltrip ended up missing three races total in 2006 and did not have a top-ten finish.
35.
Michael Waltrip left Bill Davis Racing to form his own Nextel Cup team in 2007.
36.
Waltrip moved his Busch Series team, Michael Waltrip Racing, to the Cup Series full-time for the 2007 season.
37.
Michael Waltrip hired Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann to race in the three-car operation.
38.
Michael Waltrip was listed as the owner of the No 44 and No 55, while his wife Buffy was listed as the owner of the No 00.
39.
Michael Waltrip failed to qualify for the next eleven races following the Daytona 500, so he maintained his negative point total for almost 4 months.
40.
Michael Waltrip crawled out from the car suffering only minor cuts.
41.
Michael Waltrip was charged with reckless driving and failing to report an accident.
42.
Michael Waltrip hired Terry Labonte, who held an automatic qualifying spot with his Past Champions provisional from titles in 1984 and 1996, to take over Waltrip's No 55 at Infineon Raceway, Watkins Glen International, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
43.
Dale Jarrett announced his retirement from points racing after the 2008 Food City 500, Michael Waltrip decided to put David Reutimann to take over the No 44.
44.
On October 6,2007, Michael Waltrip won the pole for the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the first restrictor-plate race to be run with the Car of Tomorrow.
45.
Michael Waltrip finished 25th after a wreck but bounced back the next week at Charlotte Motor Speedway with his second top-10 finish of the season.
46.
In 2008, Michael Waltrip Racing changed following the disappointing 2007 campaign.
47.
Former Cup owner Cal Wells was brought to MWR to oversee day-to-day operations, Dale Jarrett No 44 retiring from points racing after the 2008 Food City 500, David Reutimann starting the season in the No 00 then taking over Jarrett's No 44, while Michael Waltrip McDowell took over Reutimann's No 00.
48.
Michael Waltrip started the race with "gold wheels" on his car in tribute to the golden anniversary of the Daytona 500; after the race, the wheels were signed and sold to benefit NASCAR charities.
49.
Michael Waltrip finished second at New Hampshire's Lenox Industrial Tools 301.
50.
Michael Waltrip is second to Richard Petty in most career starts spanning all of the top divisions in NASCAR.
51.
Michael Waltrip entered two full-time cars for 2009 David Reutimann No 00, Michael Waltrip No 55.
52.
In early 2009, Michael Waltrip announced that he would be sharing the No 99 NNS Aaron's dream machine with David Reutimann and Scott Speed during the season.
53.
On May 25,2009, Michael Waltrip scored his first win as an owner in Sprint Cup Series competition in the Coca-Cola 600, with David Reutimann winning the event.
54.
Michael Waltrip decided to skip the road courses handing it over to Patrick Carpentier to get the No 55 back in the top 35 owners points.
55.
On July 7,2009, Michael Waltrip announced he would be driving part-time in the 2010 season starting with the Daytona 500.
56.
In 2010, Michael Waltrip announced that he would only be racing at the Daytona 500 unless more sponsorship was found; Michael Waltrip drove the No 51 for the 2010 Daytona 500.
57.
Michael Waltrip entered two full-time cars for 2010 No 00 David Reutimann and No 56 Martin Truex Jr.
58.
Michael Waltrip then wrecked out of the first qualifying race.
59.
Michael Waltrip was able to gain a spot in the starting grid when driver Scott Speed raced to make the 500 using his qualifying time in the second qualifying race, giving Michael Waltrip the 43rd place starting position.
60.
Since then, Michael Waltrip has started the No 55 Prism Motorsports entry at Bristol, finishing 41st.
61.
Waltrip ran the Amp Energy 500 in a Michael Waltrip Racing fielded No 55 Toyota where he would lead three laps and finish 28th.
62.
In 2011, Michael Waltrip announced that he would attempt to make his 25th consecutive Daytona 500 start driving the No 15.
63.
Michael Waltrip retained his drivers for 2011 No 00 David Reutimann in the No 00 and No 56 Martin Truex Jr.
64.
Michael Waltrip captured an emotional win in the NextEra Energy Resources 250, which came 10 years to the day of the death of Dale Earnhardt and his first Sprint Cup Series victory.
65.
Michael Waltrip followed up his Friday night win with a solid 9th-place finish in the Nationwide Series race the next day.
66.
On Sunday afternoon, as part of the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death in the 2001 Daytona 500, Michael Waltrip drove a replica of the No 15 NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored car that he drove at the time.
67.
However, Michael Waltrip finished 40th in the race after getting caught up in an early wreck that eliminated 14 cars.
68.
Michael Waltrip ran in the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans in June in one of the AF Corse entered Ferraris.
69.
On September 29,2011, it was announced that Michael Waltrip would be replacing Jeff Hammond in the FOX's Hollywood Hotel on NASCAR on Fox beginning with the Daytona 500 in 2012 with Chris Myers and his brother Darrell Michael Waltrip.
70.
On November 4,2011, MWR announced that David Reutimann would not return as driver of the No 00 for 2012 so Michael Waltrip changed the number to No 55 in honor of Aaron's 1955 founding and he hired Mark Martin and Brian Vickers to co-drive with Michael Waltrip in 2012 and 2013.
71.
Michael Waltrip failed to qualify for the race, crashing in a single-car incident in the first Gatorade Duel race.
72.
In turn 4, Tony Stewart tried to block Michael Waltrip but underestimated Michael Waltrip's speed.
73.
Michael Waltrip tapped Stewart, and went up into the tightly bunched pack, collecting 23 cars, while Stewart flipped over once and slid on his side airborne and pushed by the wrecking field.
74.
Michael Waltrip entered the 2013 Daytona 500 driving the No 30 Toyota for Swan Racing, which was changed for Daytona to the No 26 as a charity car to raise funds for victims of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting.
75.
At his Budweiser Duel, Michael Waltrip ran as high as close to the front but faded back in the final laps.
76.
Michael Waltrip ultimately finished 15th, but it was enough to grab the final transfer spot for the Daytona 500.
77.
At the Great American Race, Michael Waltrip led four laps and finished 22nd in the race.
78.
Michael Waltrip finished in the top 5 at all other races too.
79.
On September 12,2013, NASCAR penalized Michael Waltrip Racing for intentionally manipulating the outcome of the Federated Auto Parts 400.
80.
Michael Waltrip ran 4 races for Identity Ventures Racing owned by Jay Robinson, Mark Bailey, and James Hamilton.
81.
Michael Waltrip ran the Daytona 500, Aaron's 499, Coke Zero 400 and GEICO 500.
82.
At Daytona in Speedweeks, Michael Waltrip was collected in a last-lap pileup caused when Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas on the final lap.
83.
Michael Waltrip finished 25th at the Aaron's 499 at Talladega.
84.
At the summer Daytona race, Michael Waltrip finally decided to work with Eggleston and ended up getting his first top-20 in over a year.
85.
Michael Waltrip returned to driving for his team, piloting the No 55 at both Daytona and Talladega in the spring.
86.
Michael Waltrip skipped the summer Daytona race, but returned at Talladega in the fall, running a third MWR entry after leasing the owner points from the No 98 of Premium Motorsports.
87.
Michael Waltrip announced he would run the Daytona 500, driving the No 15 Aaron's, Inc Camry for Premium Motorsports.
88.
Michael Waltrip started 32nd out of the 40 car field, avoiding several large wrecks to end his NASCAR career with an eighth-place finish.
89.
In October 2017, Michael Waltrip had plans to attend the Route 91 Harvest music festival, but he canceled those plans.
90.
On September 4,2014, Michael Waltrip was announced as one of the celebrities who would participate on the 19th season of Dancing with the Stars.
91.
Michael Waltrip wrote a book published in 2011 called In the Blink of an Eye: Dale, Daytona, and the Day that Changed Everything.
92.
In 1995 at Michigan International Speedway, Michael Waltrip hit driver, Lake Speed.
93.
Michael Waltrip hit Speed twice on national television, while Speed was strapped in his car.
94.
Michael Waltrip was fined $10,000 for his actions.
95.
Michael Waltrip was penalized, but the penalties were overturned on appeal.
96.
Gordon and Michael Waltrip 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.
97.
In 2008, Michael Waltrip made contact with Casey Mears with 46 laps to go resulting in Mears successfully passing him.
98.
In 2007, Michael Waltrip had his No 55 Toyota confiscated by NASCAR officials after inspectors found an odorless, Vaseline-like substance in the car's engine.
99.
Later in the week, NASCAR handed down the punishment to Michael Waltrip Racing, which included the ejection of team vice president of competition Bobby Kennedy and Crew Chief David Hyder from the garage at Daytona.