Conversation: Michael Waltrip

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- At various points in his career Michael Waltrip has been painted with a variety of brushes.

They ranged from just being a loser, to not being serious enough, to being unable to escape the shadow of older brother Darrell -- a three-time Winston Cup champion that won 84 races before little brother won one.

But after Sunday's Daytona 500 -- albeit a rain shortened 272.5-mile event -- Michael can claim one thing his TV commentating brother cannot: The tag of two-time Daytona 500 champion.

While still basking in the afterglow of his fourth Daytona victory in just three years -- to go along with his first Daytona 500 win in 2001, a Gatorade 125 and another victory in last July's Pepsi 400 here, Waltrip sat down with NASCAR.com's Dave Rodman to discuss career goals, charity work and mixing family time with his professional responsibilities.

Your Speedweeks wasn't going too badly, but do you think in Busch Series qualifying that seagull you hit didn't know about the "hot pit" and "no autographs" rules?

That was unfortunate. I've never hit a bird, or anything, driving. I saw it -- just a flash in my eye -- and it just hit, hard. It kind of made me sad. I hate it for the poor bird, but I guess that's life, if you hang around the track. It's like a deer that hangs around the road -- you're going to hit one every now and then.

Winning a second Daytona 500 was always something you knew could be done. But is there any better way to start off a Winston Cup season and a run for the championship?

It's just -- this race means so much to everybody. I just want to relish in this victory and just enjoy it. I know we're going to be prepared when we get to Rockingham, and I know we built a base last year that's solid enough that we can contend for the title and win races. I can't wait to start that pursuit -- but for the next couple days I'm just going to hang out and enjoy what I've got.

What would a successful 2003 season for Michael Waltrip be? What are your goals for 2003?

I usually mainly keep my goals private. There's things that I want to accomplish that I don't like to talk about. But one thing that I don't mind sharing, is that we want to win multiple races. We felt like we could win this year and that we would win this year, but we don't just want to win one race -- we want to win more than one. That's the main goal, I think.

The Koolerz 300 on Saturday at Speedweeks 2003 was a good example, but how do you deal with the uncontrollable -- the things that you just can't predict?

Like the weather on Sunday (smiling)? There's just so many things that fall into that category. You don't worry about things you can't change, is my philosophy. If you can't do anything about it, you don't worry about it -- you just do the best that you can do. There were things yesterday that I couldn't do anything about -- so I didn't choose to ponder on them or spend any of my energy worrying about it. The things I could address or adjust, I got after those things.

How do you deal with the, shall we say, volatility of your teammates? Dale Earnhardt Jr., particularly. You never know what he's going to say next, and does that affect you at all?

No. He is just living life and having a good time. I'm proud for him and proud of him and just thankful that he's my teammate. He's so much fun to be around and I learn from him every day -- not necessarily anything that I can apply to my race car, but just about his thoughts on life itself.

Would you say that you and Slugger Labbe, your crew chief, are about at the most optimal phase of your careers as you can be, in terms of communication and working together?

I would say that's a fair statement. I just trust that Slugger is doing all that he can do at the shop to get the cars ready. I trust that he's got his guys all in line and focused. I believe in what he's doing and he has a lot of confidence in what I tell him about the car, so things couldn't be much better, right there.

Outside of the race cars, you're still doing a lot of TV work. What are your goals outside the race car? Are you still running marathons, for example?

DAYTONA 500 VIDEO CLIPS Victory Lane Play video Jimmie Johnson settles for third Play video Michael Waltrip passes Johnson for the lead Play video Dale Earnhardt Jr. loses three laps to battery problems Play video Earnhardt Jr. leads after the first rain delay Play video Watch the Ryan Newman crash in slow motion Play video Ryan Newman is interviewed after his spectacular crash Play video Green flag Play video

I am working hard to get back into the shape I was in when I ran marathons. I ran three and I had a goal of completing one in less than four hours and I never quite made that. My best time was 4:10. I am proud of that time, which is pretty decent for somebody my size with the limited amount of time I've been running. I'm back on the road now and I have been trying to run more and more, and hopefully still I can accomplish that goal of running one in less than four hours.

Something we saw Monday morning in Gatorade Victory Lane at Daytona USA. How special is it to be able to involve your family in what you're doing, whether it's the new Domino's Pizza TV commercials or whatever?

It's really fun. You haven't really -- and I hadn't really experienced TV until I went to Los Angeles and took my five-year-old and my 13-year-old (daughters, Margaret and Caitlin, respectively). I enjoyed it through their eyes (because) it was a new experience for them. Sometimes you get into the routine of just doing the same old thing, over and over -- but when you see a child get to do something new and different and to enjoy the experience, it just meant a lot to me to be able to do that with them.

Speaking of family, talk a little bit about how special it's been to have your brother "DW" -- Darrell Waltrip -- here for all three of your Winston Cup wins at Daytona.

I know my mom is proud and that my dad would have been proud (that) their boys were the story in Daytona. That's amazing (because) we've been coming down here a long time to race and watch my brother -- the struggles he had to win it (Daytona 500); the struggles Dale (Earnhardt) had to win it, for so many years. The success Richard Petty and David Pearson had here -- all those are a part of me; I understand all of that and I feel for those people and I understand what they went through. Just to have my name on the (winner's) trophy is amazing.

You had a neat first time charity event up in Sherrills Ford, N.C., last year during the fall Charlotte race week. You got any new things going on, charity wise this season and is that event going to take place again?

I think it has to take place again. I really hadn't planned on doing it again, after last year, because we thought that we would just hit it then and when it seemed right, or proper to do it again we would. But the huge turnout and the big amount of money we were able to raise and the fun that people had (because) everybody told us how much they enjoyed the event -- we got to do it again.

We just need to pick a date. We decided along about July last year, or August, to do it in October. So we probably ought to get a little better prepared this year and raise even more money. We raised $70,000-something in a day at the Sherrills Ford Volunteer Fire Department and elementary school and it went to some wonderful causes. I was real proud of Terry (Smith) and Brooke (Hondros) and all the people that worked so hard to put that deal together for me.