"I've given them everything that I could," said Truex on Tuesday after announcing he'd take over a ride at Michael Waltrip Racing. "There got to be too many questions, too many things that were uncertain."
Which is why, as we guessed a year ago, his one-year contract extension with the Teresa Earnhardt-run operation would be all for naught thanks to a nasty set of decisions and circumstances that have left a once proud team in survival mode, and might have left Truex settling for a team he might not have otherwise gone to.
A five-day span of NASCAR Sprint Cup racing couldn't have any better for David Reutimann and his suddenly surging Michael Waltrip Racing.
Friday afternoon, the driver of the No. 00 Toyota scored the pole for Sunday's Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Raceway, just days after his Monday win in the rain-delayed and then shortened Coca-Cola 600.
And to hear Reutimann tell the story earlier this week, there was a time when this type of success for MWR was not only unexpected, but the whole operation of MWR appeared to on the brink of closure.
As you'll probably remember, Ballew was nabbed inside Atlanta Motor Speedway's infield -- come to think of it, it wasn't a good weekend in that infield -- after an 'irate' off-duty police officer working track security stopped his vehicle after seeing a cocktail.
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.
Perhaps Jimmy Watts was just doing what he had always done as a firefighter for the Charlotte (N.C.) Fire Department on Sunday when he dashed across the unprotected frontstretch Atlanta Motor Speedway grass to retrieve an errant tire from his team's recently completed pit stop -- preventing a potentially harmful situation.
Regardless, the NASCAR gas man who helped bring out a caution that changed the complexion of the Kobalt Tools 500 and was suspended by NASCAR for the remainder of the event felt obligated Sunday evening to apologize for his actions.
The story, first picked up by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said Ballew was arrested by a sargeant in the Henry County Sherriff's office after Ballew was flagged down while transporting a sponsor from his at-track condominium to a motorhome in the infield.
Ballew confirmed the story to the paper, but claimed that he was simply carrying a mixed drink and "was not drunk" at the time of arrest.
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.
The water invading the hull of the Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing sinking ship finally got to be too much for the talented Martin Truex Jr.
A five-day span of NASCAR 
It's not exactly a major story, but we wouldn't be doing NASCAR 
NASCAR drivers aren't exactly strangers to making television cameos, but they've yet to be the perfect match 
Perhaps Jimmy Watts was just doing what he had always done as a firefighter for the Charlotte (N.C.) Fire Department on Sunday when he dashed across the unprotected frontstretch 
Billy Ballew
Prior to the 2009 season, an outlandish guess would have been picking a car from 
For the second week in a row, the 
Michael Waltrip
