Michael Waltrip - 2007-present

2007-present

Waltrip moved his NASCAR Nationwide Series team, Michael Waltrip Racing, full-time for the 2007 season. He hired Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann to race in the three car operation. After the first round of qualifying for the 2007 Daytona 500, NASCAR inspectors found evidence in the engine manifold that Waltrip's team had used an illegal fuel additive. NASCAR confiscated the car, forcing Waltrip to move to a back-up for the Daytona 500. On February 14, 2007 NASCAR officials announced at a press conference the penalties that would be levied: Bobby Kennedy (Director of Competition for Michael Waltrip Racing) and David Hyder (Waltrip's Crew Chief) were removed from Daytona International Speedway, and suspended indefinitely. David Hyder was also fined $100,000 and was placed on a leave of absence, eventually to be released by the team in April. Michael Waltrip was docked 100 driver points and Buffy Waltrip (the team owner, also his wife) was docked 100 owner points. Waltrip's initial qualifying time was disallowed, but he was permitted to qualify by racing a backup car in his Gatorade Duel qualifying race for the Daytona 500. The Interim Crew Chief was announced as Scott Eggleston, who was Waltrip's former crew chief in 2001. After a 30th place finish in the Daytona 500, Waltrip became the first driver in series history to go into the second race of the season with a negative number of points (−27). Waltrip failed to qualify for the next eleven races following the Daytona 500, so he maintained his negative point total for almost 4 months. He qualified for the thirteenth race of the season at Dover and finished 28th, moving his point total above zero to 52 points.

On Saturday April 7, 2007 he fell asleep behind the wheel of his Toyota Land Cruiser which overturned and hit a utility pole. Michael crawled out from the car suffering only minor cuts. There was no Nextel Cup race held that weekend. He was charged with reckless driving and failing to report an accident.

After failing to qualify for the Pocono 500 in June, Waltrip bounced back the following week by finishing 10th at the Citizens Bank 400 in Michigan.

On October 6, 2007, Michael won the pole for the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the first restrictor plate race to be run with the Car of Tomorrow. He finished 25th after a wreck, but bounced back the next week at Charlotte Motor Speedway with his second top-10 finish of the season.