FanHouse MichaelWaltripRacing

The old cliché 'what a difference a year makes' couldn't have rang more true for Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 00 Friday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway.

A year ago, that No. 00 driven by Michael McDowell suffered one of the single-most violent crashes in NASCAR history as it first slammed the turn one wall before rolling multiple times down the track in qualifying. McDowell, miracuously, was uninjured.

Friday, though, David Reutimann continued his hot start to the season in the No. 00 by taking the pole for Sunday's Samsung 500.

NASCAR drivers aren't exactly strangers to making television cameos, but they've yet to be the perfect match Michael Waltrip landed this week.

Waltrip, ever a character in the NASCAR garage, enjoyed his first off week on the NASCAR schedule by flying out to Hollywood for the taping of an episode of NBC's My Name is Earl. The cameras started rolling this week for the comedy sitcom that's scheduled to air on Thursday, April 30.

And from the looks of things, Waltrip's role won't be too much of a stretch for the Kentucky native.

Prior to the 2009 season, an outlandish guess would have been picking a car from Michael Waltrip Racing to be fifth in points after three races.

No, that's not a slight to the organization. It's just that previous success wouldn't exactly lend to such results.

MWR's David Reutimann, however, isn't afraid to buck that trend -- as was clear after he earned his best career finish last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Michael Waltrip was one of the drivers on hand for this weekend's Preseason Thunder preview event at Daytona International Speedway, and judging from the transcripts, he certainly had some of the more interesting quotes.

Those quotes included Waltrip -- the winner of the 2001 and 2003 Daytona 500s while driving the No. 15 for Dale Earnhardt Inc. -- admitting that jumping into team ownership has hurt his driving career and that if his personal results don't improve pretty drastically in 2009, he might be forced to hang up the driving gloves in 2010.

For a preseason preview event, Waltrip's words definitely were somewhat of a surprise.

Warning: Objects in this post may be the only way to successfully live through the NASCAR off-season. For best results, read rearview mirror early and often.

Driver: David Reutimann
Team: No. 44 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota
'08 Final Standing: 22rd (-3287)
Best Race: California (Sept.) & Richmond (Sept.) (9th-place)
Worst Race: Samsung 500 at Texas (41st-place)

Season in a box: In 2008, David Reutimann illustrated further how the driver from Zephyrhills, Fla., has the talent to compete in NASCAR's top series despite his lack of competitive equipment.

Check out FanHouse's Ford 400 live blog Sunday at 3:30pm/EST! Yeeeah!

Ironically the start of a Sprint Cup Series weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway that's supposed to be the coronation of one of NASCAR's greatest drivers started with a relative unknown taking the race's best starting spot.

David Reutimann, who has enjoyed an impressive resurgence in the last handful of races in his Michael Waltrip Racing No. 44, scored his first career pole for Sunday's Ford 400 while Jimmie Johnson will start his big weekend 30th.

Johnson carries a 141-point lead over Carl Edwards with only 400 miles left to go in the 36-race NASCAR season. Should Johnson manage a finish better than 36th Sunday, he'll be the first driver since Cale Yarborugh in 1978 to win three straight championships.

Edwards will start a much improved 4th.

On the outside of the front row and next to Reutimann, Red Bull Racing's Scott Speed will start the No. 83 Toyota after swapping rides this week with teammate Brian Vickers. Vickers, in Speed's normal No. 84, starts 20th.

David Ragan is ready to drive the truck.

Or, he's at least ready to drive the colors of the truck.

Roush Fenway Racing & UPS announced on Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway that Ragan would sport the brown and white colors of UPS on his No. 6 Ford starting in 2009 as the sponsor makes it's second high-profile move in three years.

Current Craftsman Truck Series driver Mike Skinner is back in the Sprint Cup Series.

Michael McDowell, though, hopes it isn't for long.

CORNELIUS, N.C. (AP) -Mike Skinner will take over Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 00 Toyota in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, replacing rookie Michael McDowell for the next three races.

Waltrip said Tuesday he asked the veteran Skinner to help the team evaluate where it can improve its on-track performance, as Skinner did earlier this year when he drove five races for Red Bull Racing, replacing A.J. Allmendinger.

"Michael Waltrip Racing is fully committed to our sponsors, the success of our race teams and ensuring Michael McDowell, Josh Wise, David Reutimann and I have the necessary tools to succeed as drivers," Waltrip said. "We've asked Mike Skinner to evaluate areas where we can improve our on-track performance."

Skinner's efforts were a big hit with Red Bull Racing and A.J. Allmendinger especially because he essentially cemented to the race team that what A.J. was feeling and communicating to the team about the car were accurate.

To me though, the best way to improve on-track performance at Michael Waltrip Racing would have been not jumping to a three-car team for its debut in 2007. And it's second step should have been hiring a veteran for the No. 00 instead of stock car novice Michael McDowell for 2008.

While he didn't race it, Dale Jarrett finally hopped into the big, brown UPS truck Saturday prior to the Sprint All-Star Race XXIV during driver introductions.

Watch below as Jarrett takes the mammoth vehicle for a low-speed lap around the speedway:



I suppose you could say this is my way of honoring the former Sprint Cup champion who finished his career with an impressive 32 race wins in NASCAR's top series. Among those, were wins at Daytona, Charlotte, Darlington, and Indianapolis -- some of the sport's crown jewels.

Frankly, I know for a fact that I just simply couldn't write a a story about Jarrett that matches with some of the best stories that NASCAR writers can do, so I'll take my humble dose and let them tell the story of his incredible career.

Here's a few of my favorites from around the Web:

"Patience Has Its Rewards, Jarrett Finds"
- David Poole, Charlotte Observer

"Final Run: Jarrett Expects Emotion Outing"
- Rea White, NASCAR Scene

"Jarrett leaving behind Hall of Fame Career"
- NASCAR on FOX crew, FOX Sports

Here's to you, DJ.

It all started so innocently for Casey Mears Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway. As he came off of turn four, he'd slide up to the wall and cross the start/finish line to complete lap 355.

Trouble was, Michael Waltrip was there, and when Mears came across the nose of the No. 55, Waltrip was none too pleased and displayed it by pushing Mears down the straightaway and into the turn one wall. Follow along below at 0:13:



For the blatant contact following Mears' incidental mistake, Waltrip was parked by NASCAR for the remainder of the race, relegating him to a 37th-place finish.

Mears said this week that he was happy with the punishment handed out, and NASCAR also said that they wouldn't pursue any further sanctions against Waltrip mainly because the penalty cost Waltrip quite a few points.

As I stated in the previous blog post, this effort out of Waltrip seems to be a near-yearly occurence after he gets into a disagreement with a fellow driver. He just simply overreacts, and in this case, used his car ultimately as a weapon.

All of this, of course, goes back to one question.

Do you think Waltrip is upset with the people he meets at autograph signings?