Waltrip expecting 'more smiles' in promising 2008 season
By Pete Pistone | Special to CBSSports.com Follow PetePiling on Michael Waltrip last season was about as easy as catching a glimpse of Lindsay Lohan coming out of a nightclub.
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| A strengthened team should help turn Waltrip's frown upside down. (Getty Images) |
And of course there were the final numbers for the season of on-track disappointment that showed Waltrip failing to qualify for 22 of the 36 Cup races while teammate Dale Jarrett sat idle for 12.
But through it all, Waltrip refused to let things get him down and soldiered on in pursuit of his dream of owning a successful NASCAR Sprint Cup operation.
Rather than dwell on the past, Waltrip wants to look ahead and believes he's made the necessary moves to strengthen his team for 2008.
"Last year was very, very important to me because it got us prepared for next year," Waltrip said. "And when I say that, I mean that when I look back to where we were a year ago right at this moment, and I see where we are now, it makes me smile. It makes me very happy."
Waltrip did his best to run with the position as the lead team for Toyota's foray into Cup racing but believes he just didn't have the time or the resources to succeed.
"We weren't ready to go, and we didn't know it," he said. "We were trying to build old cars, new cars, finish a shop, hire people. You know, quite frankly, I thought we had a grasp on it. There were times when I was a little bit concerned; but most of the time, all of my positive thought process and justifying that we were going to be OK, I hinged that all on Toyota. And quite frankly, it was their first year in Nextel Cup racing, and they had a lot to learn as well."
So as MWR limped to the end of 2007, Waltrip wasted no time ensuring this season would be different. He brought on a partner in Robert Kaufman, an investment specialist who instantly brought millions to the operation. Former Evernham Motorsports technical director Dr. Robert Warren joined Waltrip's team in the same position while a trio of veteran crew chiefs -- Robin Pemberton, Paul Andrews and Bill Pappas -- will call the shots for the three-car operation.
Those personnel moves alone have Waltrip feeling much better about the prospects for 2008.
"It's just a really neat lineup," Waltrip said. "We have a solid, solid group of people now, way more than we did a year ago."
Waltrip was also able to complete a move of the entire organization into its new headquarters in Cornelius, N.C., known as Race World, a 137,000-square-foot facility that is part race shop and part NASCAR-themed entertainment complex.
It's the completion of a dream for Waltrip, who wanted to create a headquarters that was functional as a state-of-the-art race shop as well as a place for fans to enjoy.
"I wanted to have a shop that was different from everybody else's," he said. "People kind of know me as being a different type of person, so I wanted to continue that and build a race shop where fans can actually go in and see what all it takes for us to go racing on Sundays."
Waltrip will return to the No. 55 Camry, with David Reutimann and rookie Michael McDowell his teammates for the bulk of the season.
Veteran Dale Jarrett will pilot the team's No. 44 Toyota for the season's first five races before heading into retirement and following father Ned's footsteps into the television broadcast booth.
"I appreciate the opportunity that Michael has given me, not only last season but also this year as I bow out of the sport," Jarrett said. "I'm proud to have been a part of the great sport of NASCAR since 1987. I'm really proud that the fans know my name and who I am because of what I decided to do for a living. I'm at the point in time where it's just time for me to move on and do something new."
But even with a new shop, added management personnel and renewed driver-crew chief lineup, perhaps the biggest change in the coming year that will benefit Waltrip is the addition of Joe Gibbs Racing to the Toyota stable.
Having the three-time Cup-winning team in the same manufacturer camp has already started paying dividends with the fast Toyota times laid down in the first two sessions of winter testing at Daytona.
"We have partnered with those guys on different projects that are going on right now -- whether it would be engineering, or springs and shocks, or aerodynamics," Waltrip said of the new alliance. "We're working closely with Joe Gibbs Racing."
It all adds up to an excellent opportunity to erase the disaster of 2007 with a solid sophomore season for MWR.
"I just couldn't be prouder of who we are today, and I know that it will result in better performance and happy sponsors and more smiles," Waltrip said. "Last year was mildly depressing for me. But again, I've said we were really messed up but now we're getting better."
