Toyota team owner and driver Michael Waltrip earned his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) victory in Friday night’s 250-mile race at Daytona International Speedway.
Waltrip made the race-winning pass in the final turn at the 2.5-mile superspeedway to record the fifth straight win for a Tundra driver at Daytona.
The 47-year-old became the 22nd driver in NASCAR history to win a race in all three national series.
Tundra drivers Miguel Paludo (fourth) and Kyle Busch (fifth) registered top-five results.
Tundra drivers Timothy Peters (11th), Max Papis (12th), David Starr (13th), Craig Goess Jr. (16th), Justin Lofton (18th), Chris Fontaine (19th), Aric Almirola (22nd), Todd Bodine (23rd), Brendan Gaughan (26th), Travis Kvapil (29th) and Johanna Long (32nd) were also in the field.
MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 15 Wounded Warrior Project Toyota Tundra, Vision Aviation Racing Finishing Position: 1st How does it feel to win tonight’s race? “I’m just so thankful. I want to thank the fans, man. They keep us going and they’ve just been so good to us. Camping World and this whole Truck series. I’ve been an admirer of it from the SPEED booth. It’s just very emotional. I didn’t know I could push Elliott (Sadler) all the way around there. I was able to do it. I didn’t know I could do that and I wouldn’t have known it if it weren’t for Kyle Busch. That’s how good he is. He taught me how to win a race. God bless Dale (Earnhardt) and his family and his fans. I came here to celebrate his life with my black truck and my No. 15 car, I didn’t come to celebrate a win. This feels really good. I’m thankful for this.”
When did you know inside the truck that you could win this race? “I pulled out and I still didn’t know because I didn’t know how much my truck would bog down. I didn’t know if maybe Elliott (Sadler) could tick back inside of me. I didn’t know until I saw the checkered. I’m just so thankful. I don’t even know these guys. They wanted me to drive their truck and Jerry (Baxter, NNS crew chief) wants me to drive his car tomorrow and Bobby Kennedy (NSCS crew chief) and those guys at MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) want me to drive on Sunday. It wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for this guy (Rob Kauffman, MWR co-owner). MWR was up a creek and Rob showed up with a paddle and now we’ve got our feet under us and maybe we could do this on Sunday too.”
How emotional is this win? “Ten years ago I stood here and I thought it was the greatest day ever and it turned out to be the worst day ever. I just wanted to come back here this year and honor Dale (Earnhardt) and thank him and give his fans something to cheer for with the No. 15 car, the No. 15 truck and the honorary paint scheme. I wanted to thank him and his fans. This is an amazing run. If it hadn’t have been for Kyle Busch I wouldn’t have known I could’ve did what I did. That’s how good he is. I saw him doing something and I thought, ‘Well, darn, I guess I’m going to have to do that in order to preserve this victory.’ And then it turned out that was how I won was pushing Elliott (Sadler) away from everybody. Congratulations to Elliott Sadler. He held onto that truck and I was pushing him all over the place. It feels really good to win a truck race. I haven’t won one before. I’ve been close a time or two and to pull into victory lane in the Vision Airlines Toyota with the NASCAR RaceView onboard. This is going to be the most amazing Daytona 500 ever. These drivers just figure out no matter what the rules are, no matter what the package looks like early, they figure out how to make it crazy at the end, and we did that today.”
What was your plan for the final lap of the race? “I thought I needed to go high. There was a line over there to the left that you can’t go under and it’s easy to crowd a guy toward that line because he’s got to give up before he goes out of bounds. But, when you crowd him toward the wall you’re going to crash too because he will turn you into the wall. So, I thought the high side was the smart way to go because if Elliott (Sadler) tried to squeeze me off we would’ve both crashed and then it would’ve been a David Pearson and Richard Petty finish and one of us would still be happy. I thought the high side was the way to go and it worked. Elliott and I were both just guessing. I would’ve taken the outside if I were leading, working a deal with the guy in second. There were trucks behind us we didn’t know about and hadn’t been there all day. We made a deal and we raced for it just like we said we would do and he’s just a great competitor. He’s (Elliott Sadler) going to be a championship contender. I love racing with him. He and I both have something in common with Dale (Earnhardt) — Elliott shares the same birthday with Dale and I knew if he won we would get to be happy because of that and if I won because of the anniversary of the day that Dale made me a winner. He’s made a lot of people in this world a winner that admired him and looked up to him, and if you knew Dale Earnhardt you’re a better person because of it. I’m so thankful that I can stand here in victory lane and honor him.”
MIGUEL PALUDO, No. 7 Stemco Duroline Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 4th Are you happy with your finish? “Yeah, was pretty good. First time here in Daytona. I talk to a lot of the drivers before this race. They said, ‘Man, you have to be patient till the last lap. So I did that. Since the 22 (Joey Coulter) went into the wall, I saw that it would be my night because I got lucky. I had a lot of accidents in front of me, beside me. We were pretty good. The truck was real fast on the drafting. Is unbelievable to finish fourth first time here.”
How did you get through the big wreck in the race? “For me, I don’t remember which truck it was. He was sideways in front of me. My only choice was inside lane. So I push inside, brake a little bit. As I said, I got lucky because I didn’t hit anything. I was watching the replay later. I couldn’t believe it.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Dollar General Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports Finishing Position: 5th What did you see happen with the accident late in the race? “It happened behind us, so I don’t know. I just kind of got collected into the deal. I saw (James) Buescher make it three- wide and he didn’t have anywhere to go, so I don’t know where he was trying to go. He made it three-wide and all those guys just got tight I guess and they started banging sides off each other a little bit. Finally, it just like ricocheted up to the front. People don’t know what Daytona means — these guys with the No. 92 Ricky Benton team (driver Clay Rogers) are pretty pumped up right now. So, I’m glad I could help them out and push them to the front. I was trying to do the same with the No. 84 (Chris Fontaine) there and I was going to melt this Triad engine down. We were coming like a freight train and that thing was steaming. Tell you what, these guys on this Dollar General Kyle Busch Motorsports Tundra did an awesome job today. It’s pretty special to be here and come home with a top-five at Daytona. We missed out on that opportunity last year. We had a strong truck. It was fast. We could never get hooked up to get up front with somebody and pushed them enough. I don’t know if everybody was scared or what, but we kind of saw why. With five to go, everybody just got in a melee and started wrecking, but we made it through. We’ll take this back home and fix it up and get it ready for Talladega”
Why were you the only one able to ride the high side of the track? “Cause you got to push. All the rest of these guys, they don’t have the experience to do it. Nothing against them. They’re truck drivers and they’re getting used to it. They’re getting there way up the ladder. That’s what it’s all about. I was actually surprised to see the 2 (Elliott Sadler) and the 15 (Michael Waltrip) and some of the other guys not do it sooner. It just took way too long in the race to finally get it going. Once the 84 (Chris Fontaine) and I got up there to the front and then 15 (Michael Waltrip) and the 2 (Elliott Sadler) started pushing each other so we couldn’t fall down to the bottom. I was hoping we could blow by them quick enough to fall down and we could let my engine cool off and push the 84 (Chris Fontaine) the rest of the way to checkered. Anything you try to plan — one more corner and it gets thrown out the window. Daytona is a whole other bird.”
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 K&N Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 11th How was your race tonight? “It isn’t what we want, but it ran in one piece. I can say that was the best part about the whole night probably was that we were one piece. I K&N Filters Crescent Tundra struggled all night long. It just wouldn’t suck up, it was very disappointing. That last restart I was getting all I could get and it just wasn’t going. We’ll be alright next go round.”
MAX PAPIS, No. 9 GEICO Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 12th
DAVID STARR, No. 81 Zachry Toyota Tundra, SS Green Light Racing Finishing Position: 13th
CRAIG GOESS, No. 46 Greenville Toyota Toyota Tundra, Eddie Sharp Racing Finishing Position: 16th
JUSTIN LOFTON, No. 77 Lofton Cattle Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 18th
CHRIS FONTAINE, No. 84 Glenden Enterprises Toyota Tundra, Chris Fontaine Inc. Finishing Position: 19th What happened to take you out of the race? “I have no idea. I didn’t know if I was in the middle or if we were three-wide
