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July 29, 2008
In the News: Michael Waltrip - New NAPA Commericials and More
I've been remiss in mentioning that there are two new and very funny NAPA Auto Parts commercials that Michael Waltrip is in with NHRA funny car driver Ron Capps is also in. Ron is also sponsored by NAPA and I guess that must be a new thing because in the commercials Michael is welcoming him to the NAPA family, naturally in his own unique and humorous way. I love the way NAPA has supported Michael through the years but perhaps the best thing about them sponsoring Michael is that it's resulted in some very creative and very hysterical commercials. From NAPA's standpoint perhaps the best thing about these commericals is that they're so memorable - fans still talk about classic NAPA commercials with Michael from years ago just as much as they talk about how much they love the NAPA commercials with him from today. The great thing is that these days most of the current batch of NAPA commericals are available on YouTube here and here.
In other entries I've discussed a variety of other things about the Indy race but there's one thing that I haven't yet mentioned - Michael's unfortunate lap four wreck that occurred when he was racing Sam Hornish, Jr. for position, got loose, spun and then got run over by Paul Menard who really couldn't avoid getting into him. That meant that Michael had to spend almost 70 laps behind the wall while his team made repairs which is very unfortunate not only because there isn't much margin for error for Michael in relation to owner's points but also because he had been so excited about the new car with the lower center of gravity that he was going to be racing this weekend. Michael took the blame for the wreck on TWiN last night and I was impressed with how much restraint he showed in relation to his comments about Paul - based on what he said over his radio during the race I think he was pretty upset that Paul got into him since he probably would have been able to drive away without significant damage if not for that. But perhaps seeing a replay made him re-think that incident - there really wasn't much that Paul could have done since the #96 probably blocked much of his view. I can't say I was overly thrilled with the way some fans placed blame on Michael for spinning himself - as noted Michael did say he made a mistake but I guess I just saw it the way I see many racing incidents - two guys racing each other and sometimes it just doesn't work out. Unlike a lot of fans I don't always feel the need to place blame - wrecks are going to happen. I hate to see it happen on lap four and especially to Michael but at the same time the drivers have to race each other and there's always the risk that it might result in a wreck. I would much rather Michael be trying to race his way forward and have things go bad then just race around in back never making any effort to gain position out of fear of what might happen if he races certain drivers or puts himself in certain positions.
Neither of Michael's drivers had a good race at Indy either. David Reutimann scrapped the wall and had a flat tire so he finished 30th. Michael McDowell finished 39th, which was very costly because it dropped him out of the top 35 in owner's points something that has to be very disappointing not just for McD but for all at MWR who had made getting and keeping all three teams in the top 35 one of their biggest goals this season. I have to admit it's pretty disappointing to me too. I had higher hopes for McD. Not that I thought he was going to race up front of anything, not by a long shot, not for a rookie with zero Cup experience before this season racing cars that even his more experienced teammates are struggling with. But I really thought that he would be able to race well enough to stay in the top 35. I thought his aggressive style of racing and his confidence in his abilities would help him make the most of the cars he was given. But that didn't happen.
Although McD is less than 20 points out of the top 35 it might not be easy to get back in. His average result is 31.9 in Cup and I haven't seen much to make me think that's going to change. Of course a driver can only race the cars that he's given and if the cars he gets to race aren't very competitive he can't finish very well but I really expected to see something from McD, at least at Sonoma. On the surface his 21st place finish there seems good but he raced around behind Michael for the majority of the race and a top 25 is a lot less than the top five finish that he predicted he would get. Although McD seems like a good guy with a lot of personality who is very media savvy, from the start I've been concerned that he might be a little over-confident about racing Cup - he certainly admitted he was over-confident about Sonoma afterwards. So I'm just wondering how much that kind of an attitude and having to readjust his expectations might be effecting him. I'm also wondering if he isn't able to get back into the top 35 whether MWR might consider pulling the #00 before the end of the season since it's not fully sponsored. Especially if there's any truth to the rumors that his future at MWR is in doubt - he has acknowledged that while he's signed to a multi-year deal there is a performance clause in his contract. I highly doubt that 36th in the owner's points is the performance MWR was looking for.
Posted by silverdsl at July 29, 2008 02:55 PM