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February 22, 2006
In the News: Michael Waltrip (2/22)
This weekend Nascar heads to California where the trucks, Busch and Cup cars will all see action at California Speedway. As usual Michael Waltrip has a busy weekend as he will be keeping the broadcast of the truck race lively by being in the Speed booth during the race. Then on Saturday he will race the #99 in the Stater Bros. 300 and the following day he will race the #55 in the Auto Club 500. Michael is happy with the way his team performed at Daytona and hopes that it's a sign that they will be competitive at California.
“I’m pleased with where we are right now as a team. As a driver, you always want to win every race, but as a car owner you know that isn’t very realistic,” said Waltrip. “We were competitive at Daytona. I could tell we didn’t have the kind of car that could make up for mistakes. But it ran well in the draft and it handled really good. Knowing that we can make the car handle well gives me confidence that we can be competitive at tracks like California and Las Vegas.”
The pre-race report mentions more than once Michael's goal to at least finish in the top 20 each week. Some feel that's the wrong attitude to have, that they should set their sights on winning each and every week. But I think setting one's goals too high can lead to disappointment so I think it's better that they keep their goals realistic, at least in the short-term until the team isn't so new anymore. I have no doubt that Michael and his team are passionate about racing and want to win as many races as they can. But with how competitive things are in Cup these days that can be a tall order, particularly for a new team that doesn't have manufacturer support. I hope that Michael will finish much better than 20th in California but I'm not going to be upset if he doesn't. I think by mid-season this team might end up surprising a few people but I'd rather they do it quietly without boasting about how great they are like some teams do.
Michael will also be appearing on a new show for Speed in California as well. I've heard zero about this show in any way, shape or form so I don't know how Speed expects anyone to tune in to watch it if they don't publicize it but I came across it by chance while reading the Nascar TV schedule for this weekend.
• Saturday, Feb. 25 – DEBUT Tradin’ Paint pits NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip against a member of the media in a lively discussion of hot topics. Audience questions accepted as the show is done from the SPEED Stage Truck (9 p.m. ET)
I don't know whether Michael will be on every week or not but it sounds like a show with a lot of promise. Michael certainly isn't shy about expressing his opinions so depending on who he engaging in a "lively" discussion with, I think the show could be really good! What's funny to me is that last year Chris Long from Speed was saying that Speed was concerned about Michael being overexposed on the channel, yet they are putting him on another show, even if it's only for one episode. I wonder if that's because they got so much pro-Michael feedback that they realized just how popular he is?
Fans can also enter a contest through Yardman to win Michael mowing their lawn in the "Honey, Is That Michael Waltrip Mowing Our Lawn?" sweepstakes. The winner won't just get Michael, his pit crew and a professional landscape company working on their lawn but also lawn maintenance equipment and some Nascar goodies. In addition, the winner's neighbors will also receive lawnmowers, maybe to smooth over any potential problems from those in the neighborhood who might not be overly thrilled with the chaos that this would likely cause! It would be pretty funny to see Michael try to mow our lawn - it's so small that he would go up and down once and be done!
Posted by silverdsl at February 22, 2006 04:45 PM