Conversation: Michael Waltrip

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- For years, folks questioned whether Michael Waltrip would ever win a points-paying NASCAR Winston Cup Series race. He'd won The Winston, in 1996, but had never closed the deal when it actually mattered.

	Michael Waltrip's last Winston Cup win came two races ago at Talladega. Credit: Autostock

He's done that now, four times over. Thing is, they've all come on superspeedways, in restrictor-plate competition, the latest coming two races ago at Talladega Superspeedway. Now Waltrip faces criticism that he's never won a non-plate event.

Call him Rodney Dangerfield in a fire suit, if you will.

He won't care. He's still one of NASCAR's more engaging personalities. He's still one of just eight drivers to win multiple Daytona 500s. And he's the only driver to ever do a victory dance while hanging out the roof hatch.

Saturday at Kansas Speedway, Waltrip sat down with NASCAR.com Senior Writer Marty Smith to discuss the roof hatch hustle, his rebuttal to those that continue to question his ability, and to offer Smith a bit of advice about running his first marathon.

Q: Looks like the roof hatch works quite well.

Waltrip: Yeah, we totally premeditated that (laughing). We were testing it in Daytona and they said that we were going to take it to Talladega, and I said, 'Well, I just hope I can win so that I can jump out the top and celebrate.' And I'll be darned, it worked out. That was pretty cool.

Q: That was pretty cool. Seriously, though, is that something that adds a bit more comfort for a guy your size, as far as its potential role in a fiery crash?

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Waltrip: I think it adds comfort to anyone, not just my size. You watch some of these little cats like Jeff Gordon squeeze out his window, it's a job with all the safety support we have with all those headrests and so forth, it's hard to get in an out on a normal basis.

So if you had a fire and were up against the wall on the left, options is what you want as a race car driver, you know. If the left's closed off and it's hard to climb through on the right, popping up through the top and getting that fresh air right away through the top is going to be a great option.

Q: Is there any concern, at all, about a wreck like Elliott (Sadler)'s, that it might come open?

Waltrip: We put a window net in the top of it to keep my arms in, so if does come open -- you know, there's an open hole on the side of the car that we get in and out of on the left. And we put a window net in it and nobody ever worries about that. So we just put a window net where the roof goes, and if it flies off my arms will be kept inside the car by the net.

Q: How about the new rules regarding racing back to the caution? How's that working out so far, the first couple weeks?

Waltrip: Perfect. It's just amazing the mentality change, immediately, at Dover when the first caution fell. Usually when the caution flies you look in your mirror and you don't let off. You look in your mirror, look out the front window and see what you've got to do, make sure I get all I can get here.

That's what NASCAR Winston Cup racing's about. What all can we get? We've got to get all we can get. We've got to get more. Caution's out, we better get something.

And at Dover, you know, the first time the caution flew my mentality had been in that gear for many years. And the caution flew, and I thought, what can...oh wait, I don't do anything. I just slow down. In doing so, it allows the safety equipment to move much faster. It allows people from swiping stuff on the track. That's cool.

Q: You guys were in the top-five all year long, but have had a few down weeks and are battling your way back into the top 10. A: Is that attainable for you guys and B: What'll that mean to you to break into the top 10?

	Credit: Autostock

Waltrip: Well, we've had a good year and have just went on a bad streak. Now we're on a good one, so I've maintained from the beginning that it doesn't matter where you're at in the points until November. You finish where you finish after Homestead. You don't finish where you were halfway through the year.

So if we can't maintain and stay in the top 10, then our report card will be based off of what our final result is, not how we were doing at one point. But I'm very confident. The way the car ran through the five races that went wrong for us, I walked out of each one of those events saying, 'it's alright, we'll get 'em. Because we were outrunning a lot of guys.' That's a good feeling.

Q: For a long time it was, 'Hey, is this guy ever going to win?' Now, it's 'Is this guy ever going to win a non-plate race?' Doesn't seem fair to me. What do you have to do to get some respect for your overall talent, man?

Waltrip: Just don't pay attention to people that say stuff like that. Winning at Daytona and Talladega is, first of all, it's an honor to be able to win the Daytona 500 and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world. Wouldn't trade Talladega for a win at Dover, Loudon, Pocono. I mean, Talladega's cool. Speed's what we're all about.

We had Loudon in our pocket and just had some problems on pit road there at the end of the race. It's much easier to win an unrestricted race than it is a restricted race. At Loudon, if you've got the best car, you can just drive off and leave them. At Talladega you're not going to drive off and leave them no matter what. You're going to have to fight to the end and sit on pins and needles the whole day.

I just don't really care what people's opinions are about that. Forever, I won The Winston, but when was I going to win a race that was a points race. OK, got me on that one. Well, I win Daytona. When you gonna win one without a plate? I don't care. I think that winning at Daytona and Talladega is cool.

I've won 10 or 11 Busch races and never won at a plate race. They've all come at tracks like Darlington and Charlotte and Bristol and Dover, all the tough tracks. So, shoot, I'm just happy to have the cars I have and the opportunities to race on Saturday with my Aaron's team and my NAPA team on Sunday.

Q: Who's funnier, you or Kenny Wallace?

	Waltrip and Bobby Labonte share a laugh with Kenny Wallace. Credit: Autostock

Waltrip: Ohhh, I don't know. He makes me laugh. I like Kenny a lot. That's the cool thing about our sport, you spend any time with any of the drivers and even the quiet ones are so funny.

I guess we just have a lot in common, so we say things that make us laugh. You can relate to other guys. It's cool to laugh. That's how I was raised, so I'm thankful that I have somewhat of a sense of humor, but I wouldn't go up against Kenny Wallace for that title.

Q: Who's the better analyst, you or DW?

Waltrip: Oh, I think I'm too busy to worry about it. Darrell does a great job bringing the sport to the masses. They love him on TV and I really enjoy watching him, myself. I really think that he's as good as there is at that. I do believe that I have enough knowledge of the sport and can speak well enough and have insight into every angle that one day I could do that job if that's what I wind up doing.

But I wouldn't want to try to do it better than Darrell. I've never raced a car wanting to be better than Darrell. I've just always raced because that's what I've wanted to do. If I ever did TV, it'd just be the next step, next page.

Q: Who's the better plate racer, you or Junior?

Waltrip: Ummm. He might be as good as me, but I don't think there's anybody any better -- ever. I really feel like that, when I start those races, I know everything I need to know in order to win. And Junior does, too, but he doesn't know any more than I do.

Q: I'm running my first marathon in two weeks. Got any advice for me?

	Michael Waltrip says he wouldn't mind following brother Darrell's footsteps into the boradcast booth. Credit: Autostock

Waltrip: I have this theory that if you run a marathon in less than four hours it's an athletic accomplishment. If it took you more than four hours, it was just an old fat guy determined to get to the finish. My best time is 4:10, so far, but I've lost a lot of weight and I'm really into trying to run one again one day.

The important thing is just to train a lot. If you train enough, you can run it, you can do great. If you're not as prepared as you need to, you'll struggle.

Q: Why are so many races being decided by fuel mileage?

Waltrip: It's more about tires than fuel mileage. Many a time, since there's been a size on the rear fuel cell that races have been decided by fuel mileage. If they didn't have any size on the fuel cell then they wouldn't be determined by fuel mileage.

What's happened, though, is people have been able to get gas and stay out on their tires forever, stay out during cautions with gas in order to get to the finish, to get track position.

If you think more races are being decided by fuel mileage, you're not looking at the whole picture. That's just somebody that don't know much about racing. They say, 'damn, that was another fuel mileage race, wasn't it?' Well, Ryan Newman won Michigan in the fastest car, and he took advantage of getting good mileage, but he didn't win it because of fuel mileage.

What people need to look at is the whole picture. In my opinion, on aero push, it's no worse today than it ever was. There's just more people occupying the same space. You know, the competition is what makes this deal so tough.

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If I win at Talladega or I win at Charlotte, I beat the same 42 guys -- the 42 best drivers in the whole world. And the reason why races are getting decided differently than in the past is because the competition is that good, and the crew chiefs are that smart to think outside the box and put themselves in a position to win in ways that maybe you couldn't do in the past, because the tires weren't good enough to run 100 miles as fast as they are right now.

You had to come in and get tires or else you'd get outrun. Now, you come in and don't need them anymore, because you can stay out there and maintain the pace on old tires. So it's more about tires than it is about gas.

Q: The 8 and the 15 are pretty much dialed in everywhere we go, and get to the track without a ton of work to do. What's up with the 1?

Waltrip: Don't have a whole lot of work to do? I don't believe I understand that comment. We beat this thing to death and we're constantly looking to figure out what we have to do to be better than we were last week. The 1 car does the same thing.

There's just no continuity there right now. They haven't gotten to a situation where a driver and a crew chief have hit it off and have been able to talk.

I think people so much miss how important chemistry is, and how much it means in order to be on the same page with your crew as a driver, and they just haven't been able to get there. They will, though. It's all the same equipment we have. And when Steve Park got hurt in 2001, that car was on top of their game.

They've gone through a lot of changes since then. But they've got all the same equipment that the 15 and the 8 have, and they've got good people. They'll be back.