Waltrip to race partial schedule in 2010

Driver/owner will put Truex in his car next year and limit his own schedule to between four and 12 races.

Tuesday, Jul. 07, 2009

Michael Waltrip once started 462 straight races without a victory. So he isn't the sort to quit driving too soon.

He said he's at peace with turning his No.55 Toyota over to Martin Truex Jr., at the end of this Sprint Cup season. Waltrip will drive a partial schedule in 2010, including the Daytona 500, but he's ready to devote most of his energy to being co-owner of Michael Waltrip Racing.

“I always said if I wasn't the best guy to race the car on Sunday, someone else would take my place,” Waltrip said Tuesday at his race shop. “I'm sitting here happy that Martin is taking over my car. I didn't have to quit, I didn't need to quit.”

NAPA auto parts will continue sponsorship – the company announced an unspecified, multi-year extension of that sponsorship – and the car number will switch to 56. That's the number Truex said he used growing up, all the way from racing go-karts as a kid.

Truex said there are no plans for him to leave his current ride, with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, before the end of this season.

Waltrip plans to drive at least four Sprint Cup races next season and as many as 12. That will entail creating a fourth team at MWR for a partial schedule. NAPA will sponsor him at the season-opening Daytona 500 (apparently while also sponsoring Truex) and Waltrip will pursue alternative sponsors for the rest of his races.

A two-time Daytona 500 winner, Waltrip said it was important – and not ceremonial – that he competes in that race again.

“I'm going to run those races because I think I'm the best driver there is” on those tracks, he said.

This transition for Waltrip began four years ago, when he set about forming his own race team. He converted a Cornelius movie theater into his race shop. Waltrip appreciated what he was taking on; older brother Darrell knew all about the headaches of being an owner-driver.

“I told him, ‘I've been there, I've done that, and it's very, very hard,'” Darrell Waltrip said. “And it has been hard. … The first year or so there was disastrous, as most of you know.”

Things have improved to the point that Michael Waltrip put out word before this season that he'd step aside as a driver if he couldn't keep up with his teammates' progress.

“I wanted Martin and other drivers of his caliber to know there'd be a pretty good seat available in 2010,” Waltrip said.

Asked to describe himself as a driver, Waltrip said he persevered. As a team owner, he sees his strength as being inclusive.

“I've raced out of (shops) that were constantly in turmoil,” he said. “People are generally happy here. They're involved (in decision-making). It will always be a passion for me that they feel like they own the team, too.”

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