[media-credit name=”Noel Lanier” align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]Michael Waltrip Racing has never placed one their cars in the Sprint Cup Series Chase for the Championship, they’ve never had a driver finish in the top 10 in points. But after Sunday night’s race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, the AdvoCare 500, MWR could check one of those off their list by having both of their full-time drivers locked into the 2012 playoffs.
It’s just a small part of the many feats that the organization has accomplished this season. A season that includes five poles and winning with a driver not named David Reutimann. And they did so on a road course. Clint Bowyer won at Sonoma in June, his first win with his new No. 15 5-Hour Energy team.
Then on Friday they resigned Martin Truex Jr. to a new contract extension. Bowyer is already signed through 2014. For Truex, resigning with MWR takes a weight off his shoulders as he remains with a company he’s helped turn around. A company he wants to stay with and is determined to win with.
Only natural after all that MWR has gone through. Truex noted the hard work, the ups and downs and the vast improvement. He has yet to win in 2012 but there have many great opportunities. Now as the Chase approaches Truex just wants it all to keep going and with him ending up in Victory Lane.
“We’re right there. We’ve been close – we’ve been capable of winning races all year long, we just haven’t finished the deal,” said Truex. We’ve run second a bunch of times and we’ve had the car to beat two or three races and we didn’t do everything right.
“It takes a lot of things to go your way to win a race. On the days where we’ve had the fastest car out there, we didn’t have the cautions go our way or maybe pit strategy or the way the cycles went, but we’ve had the speed and we’ve got the team that’s capable of doing it for sure.
“For now, it’s just a matter of getting the first one out of the way and quit worrying about it and go after a bunch of them.”
Starting Sunday in Atlanta, what’s considered NAPA’s backyard. Entering the event Truex and Bowyer are both searching for more bonus points toward the Chase. They sit fifth and sixth in points respectively. Both can clinch their Chase spots on Sunday, depending on how their competition fairs.
Once they do so, it will be a huge boost for MWR. The organization, which runs three cars, have been a bright spot this season. Truex and Bowyer are running for the championship and would put MWR in the Chase for the first time. The third car, split between Waltrip, Mark Martin and Brian Vickers, has also been a contender. Making MWR a team that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Truex and Bowyer continue to prove critics wrong, those who doubted the success they would find with MWR. With all drivers now signed and ready for the future, the focus can turn towards matters at hand. And Bowyer is ecstatic that he and Truex will continue to work together.
“That’s a huge announcement for all of us at MWR, getting him signed and getting that sponsor signed back up for three mores years, it’s very, very important,” said Bowyer after Truex’s announcement. “Huge sponsor there in the sport of NASCAR. They bought all the races and that’s unheard of in today’s day and age. We’re very proud to have three great primary sponsors on all three MWR cars.
“Martin and I both raced back in the Nationwide days together and had a lot of fun pushing each other and racing each other very hard. See a lot of that same relationship going on right now where we’re pushing each other, work together well, our teams and crew chiefs, engineers – everybody just works really hard and pulls in the same direction at MWR.
“Making sure that we have all that locked up for multi years is very good for everybody at MWR.”
Both Truex and Bowyer have made the Chase before. Truex has finished a career best 11th in points, in 2007, but hasn’t finished been in the top 15 since. Bowyer has a career best third place, also in 2007, and feels that the last few weeks compared to the competition, they’re sitting pretty.
“Moving into the Chase with a lot of confidence, a lot of momentum and I think that’s crucial,” Bowyer said on Friday. “You have to be able to do that. Some of the first races of the Chase are some of my best race tracks as a driver, so it’s so important to get things going and get them started off on the right foot. Looking forward to Chicago and New Hampshire and hopefully getting things started with a bang.”
Truex just wants to capitalize on a year that has him feeling the best he’s ever been. A year that has already been successful but can only get better.
“I certainly feel like I’m better than I’ve ever been,” said Truex at Atlanta, the site of the second to last Chase race. “Obviously as a driver I don’t think you ever stop learning and we continue to get better year in and year out, but I feel like the past couple of years being a struggle they way they’ve been has really helped me stay motivated, stay focused and really be able to reach our goals this year because of that.”
Truex starts 28th and Bowyer starts 30th in Sunday’s race.
