Oct. 15, 2007CONCORD, N.C. – NAPA Racing’s Michael Waltrip finished 10th in Saturday’s Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway to equal his best result of the season at Michigan International Speedway in June. Waltrip’s effort was impressive, as he overcame a frontstretch spin on Lap 206 and an ill-handling NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry throughout the 337-lap event.
“We really didn’t have a good setup, but I should have known because during the final practice, we kept battling back and forth -- loose and tight -- and we never could seem to get it quite right,” said Waltrip, who started 19th. “During the race, that was the case again -- we couldn’t get the car to do anything right. But there toward the end of the race, I got to run in the top groove. I wasn’t going to come to pit road because I could run solid lap times up top and get a better finish.
“I’m real proud of my team for the effort. They did a great job on the fuel cell to make sure we could pick up all we could. The team really deserved a top-10 tonight, which is a great way to top off what has probably been the biggest week in the small history of this race team.”
Jeff Gordon had just enough gas to claim his second consecutive win and sixth victory of the season.
On Thursday, Waltrip posted the 19th-fastest lap in Bud Pole qualifying with a time of 28.914 seconds (186.761 mph). The NAPA driver’s time was the quickest of the seven Toyotas attempting to make the race. Ryan Newman won the Bud Pole with a fast lap of 28.512 seconds (189.394 mph). Rounding out the top-10 qualifiers were Jimmie Johnson, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Casey Mears and Greg Biffle.
“We were a little free on that qualifying lap,” said Waltrip. “For some reason, the car just didn’t sound like it should. It’s been the best motor that I’ve had all season, and it sounded a lot different on that lap than during practice this afternoon. The weather might have changed and that might have changed it or maybe hurt it, but we had a good lap. The cooler temperatures during qualifying really gave the car more speed and more grip than we had earlier.”
Five Toyotas qualified for the Bank of America 500. Besides Waltrip, David Reutimann started 20th, while AJ Allmendinger, Dave Blaney and Jeremy Mayfield qualified 30th, 34th and 38th, respectively. Dale Jarrett recorded the 42nd-fastest lap but failed to qualify.
Friday saw the NAPA AUTO PARTS team participate in two practice sessions. In the first practice, Waltrip was 18th (30.119 seconds/179.289 mph) while Matt Kenseth topped the timesheets (29.845 seconds/180.935 mph). In Happy Hour, Waltrip was 30th (29.820 seconds/181.087 mph) and Greg Biffle was the fastest (29.403 seconds/183.655 mph).
When the Bank of America 500 started, it resembled Friday night’s Busch Series event as the track proved unforgiving to several seasoned drivers. A total of 15 caution flags were thrown during the race. Many were for single-car incidents, and drivers like Robby Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Elliott Sadler, Jimmie Johnson, and Michael Waltrip all experienced the wrath of Lowe’s Motor Speedway. At one point, the NAPA driver came over the radio to say NASCAR should re-evaluate when it holds testing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Waltrip’s event was plagued by a very ill-handling Camry. The car started out loose but then moved to a combination of loose and tight as the race went on. The team toyed with a variety of spring-rubber adjustments and air-pressure changes throughout most of the event and kept the driver competitive as he comfortably drove in the top 25.
The scariest moment for the NAPA team came at the 206-lap mark. Shortly after exiting Turn 4, Waltrip lost control of his car, skidding sideways on the frontstretch. Waltrip did not hit anything, and the accident left the veteran baffled.
“That was so weird,” radioed Waltrip to his team. “I can’t explain it. This track is so different when it gets cold.”
The turning point for the NAPA team came just as leader Jeff Gordon put Waltrip down a lap. The caution was thrown on Lap 279 for an incident involving Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Riggs. The NAPA team was awarded the Lucky Dog, and competition director Bobby Kennedy instructed the pit crew to remove all of the spring rubbers that were in the car. Air-pressure and wedge changes were completed. The crew refueled the car and hoped the NAPA Camry could make it the rest of the way without any more pit stops.
The Haas/CNC team brought out the 14th caution of the race on Lap 322. Johnny Sauter crashed and Jeff Green oiled down the track due to a blown motor. At this time, Waltrip climbed into the top 20, and Jeff Gordon was the leader. Kennedy left Waltrip out on the track to maintain track position.
NASCAR was forced to red flag the race in order to clean up the oil, and teams used this time to determine whether or not to pit. Kennedy gave the option to Waltrip to either stay out or pit for fresh tires. When the race resumed, the NAPA Camry remained on track and in the hunt for a top-10 finish.
The race went back to green on Lap 329 with Gordon in the lead and Waltrip in 12th place. However, just four laps later, Ryan Newman lost a tire to bring out the final caution of the race. It also set up a green-white-checkered finish. Waltrip stayed out and was able to score the NAPA team its second top-10 result of the season.
“I like Charlotte and I would have liked to have run better throughout the night, but we ran well there at the end and that’s what’s important,” remarked Waltrip. “Next week is a big deal for us because we haven’t made a flat-track race this season. Our team needs to figure out what we can take to Martinsville next weekend that is different than anything we’ve taken anywhere else. I’m a typical race car driver -- we got a top-10 tonight, had a great run, and I’m worried about next week already.”
Following Gordon to the checkered flag and rounding out the top-10 finishers were Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Dave Blaney, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, David Stremme and Waltrip.
Based on Waltrip and Blaney’s performances, Toyota recorded its ninth and 10th top-10 finishes of the season. AJ Allmendinger, David Reutimann and Jeremy Mayfield finished 15th, 29th and 39th, respectively.
Gordon’s Bank of America 500 victory helped extend his points lead in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup by 68 points over his teammate Jimmie Johnson.
Next week Waltrip and the NAPA AUTO PARTS team travel to Martinsville Speedway for the second-to-the-last COT event of the season. The Subway 500 is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 21 at 1 p.m. Eastern on ABC and MRN radio.
