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MARTINSVILLE, Va. – The No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS team continues to improve upon its on-track performances from earlier in the season. Waltrip drove his No. 55 Toyota to an 18th-place finish in Sunday’s TUMS QuikPak 500 at Martinsville Speedway. The result bettered the team’s 35th-place finish from back in March. It also moved Waltrip up two positions in the owner points standings to 29th place after the final short-track event of the year.
“My team did a great job today,” Waltrip said after lining up 31st since qualifying was set by the NASCAR rulebook because of rain. “I was a little disappointed in myself when I was racing with the leaders. I raced them hard, but couldn’t seem to get it going right. My NAPA Toyota handled decent, but we still need to make more gains with this new car. Our car needs to turn better. My NAPA Toyota was good on entry and through the center, but on the gas it wanted to turn right. We’ll keep working hard and we’ll figure it out.”
Points leader Jimmie Johnson once again led the 43-car field to the green flag and never really looked back. Waltrip’s NAPA Toyota pushed throughout most of the event. The first half of the race saw crew chief Bobby Kennedy’s call for air pressure adjustments help the No. 55. Services were completed on laps 30, 116 and 164. Waltrip’s highest position at this point in the event was fifth place thanks to pit strategy, and from a handling standpoint, Waltrip comfortably ran within the top 20.
By the seventh caution of the race, Waltrip’s car was handling well on entry and through the center, but was tight off the gas. To address the situation, Kennedy opted to add track bar changes to the mix. The pit crew raised the track bar two rounds on lap 198. The NAPA Camry returned to the track in 27th place when the green flag waved on lap 202. The track bar adjustment was the right call as Waltrip moved up in track position. At the halfway mark, he was in 21st place.
Bobby Labonte brought out the next caution on lap 257. Waltrip liked the changes so the pit crew moved the track bar up another round. The NAPA Camry returned to the track in 20th place. After a long green-flag run, Waltrip found himself in a heated battle with AJ Allmendinger for 19th place. Waltrip won out but then went head-to-head with Jimmie Johnson to stay on the lead lap. The twosome ran side-by-side for several laps before Waltrip was put a lap down.
For the remainder of the race, Waltrip raced against Greg Biffle, Juan Pablo Montoya, AJ Allmendinger and Bill Elliott for position. The real challenge for Waltrip was not the handling but the need for favorable track position on restarts. Several cars that were more than 2 laps down separated the NAPA Camry from the rest of the one-lap-down competitors. Waltrip, running in 18th position, did all he could but had a tough time making headway with just 50 laps to go in the race.
The final caution flew on lap 498 after David Ragan got nudged by teammate Matt Kenseth. The altercation set up a green-white-checkered-flag finish. Dale Earnhardt Jr. tried to challenge Johnson, but the No. 48 prevailed and Waltrip crossed the line in the 18th position.
Johnson’s domination resulted in his sixth victory of the year and fifth at Martinsville. Rounding out the top-10 finishers were Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Casey Mears, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr.
Waltrip’s teammate David Reutimann once again ran up near the top 10 before a right front tire went down. Reutimann finished 24th. Mike Bliss, driving the double 00 in a one-race deal, hit the wall early on and eventually saw his day end when his Toyota suffered a broken rear end gear.
Coming up, the Sprint Cup Series visits NAPA’s hometown, Atlanta, for the 500-mile event at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday. Broadcast coverage starts at 1 p.m. Eastern on ABC and the Performance Racing Nework.
TUMS QuikPak 500 Race Results:
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2008/32/data/results_unofficial.html
TUMS QuikPak 500 Lap-By-Lap:
http://www.nascar.com/2008/races/lapbylap/10/18/lap.by.lap.martinsville2/index.html
NASCAR Sprint Cup Driver Standings (Waltrip – 29th):
NASCAR Sprint Cup Owner Standings (Waltrip – 29th /+2 positions):
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