Healing process begins on track for Waltrip

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- For Michael Waltrip, the healing has begun. But some questions, which remain unanswered, still gnaw at him as he and his race team scramble to prepare his Toyota Camry for Sunday's Daytona 500.

Waltrip was among the last group of Nextel Cup drivers to vacate the Daytona International Speedway track as Happy Hour wound down Saturday, as he attempted to take advantage of every single second of the last practice session before Sunday's 500. When he finally pulled into his garage area, his car looked like it already had been beaten on for 500 miles.

As a result of damage suffered during this past Thursday's qualifying race and other last-minute adjustments that have been made or were in the process of being made, the car was in bad need of a paint job. Even the numbers were no more than pieces of bright-orange tape slapped on to make out the No. 55.

It was during the Thursday qualifying race that Waltrip raced himself into the 500 against long odds. After having his original car impounded by NASCAR and later being assessed a record $100,000 fine for having an illegal fuel additive discovered in his engine's manifold, Waltrip competed in the Gatorade Duel in a backup car in which he had been unable to log a single practice lap.

Yet he went on to finish eighth overall and among the top two of those who had not qualified otherwise, securing Waltrip a spot in the field just when it appeared he might have to pack up and go home with his head down.

It's the same car he'll now drive in the 500, which explains why he cherished every lap he could run in practice Saturday.

"Well, I just got to practice in the draft for the first time since October," Waltrip said after climbing out of the car. "Hopefully that will provide dividends for us [Sunday]. I picked a mildly different setup, and we're just going to hammer it and see what happens."

What happened during Happy Hour was not pretty for Waltrip. His fastest lap was 183.434 mph, the slowest of the 43 cars who will start Sunday. He ran it on the last of the 17 practice laps he completed, with much of the rest of his time spent in the garage.

David Stremme posted the fastest lap Saturday, going 190.106 mph in his No. 40 Dodge. He was followed on Saturday's Happy Hour speed chart by Kyle Busch (190.042), Johnny Sauter (189.942), Joe Nemecheck (189.942) and David Ragan (189.394).

With Waltrip considerably slower than those folks, it would have been understandable to find him in a sour mood Saturday. Instead, he said he is starting to feel better as he continues to try to put the controversy of the last week behind him. In addition to being assessed the record fine, he also was docked 100 driver points and 100 owner points; and two of his employees -- crew chief David Hyder and vice president of competition Bobby Kennedy -- were escorted from the track and suspended "indefinitely" by NASCAR.

"I think you have to look at Thursday as the day the healing began, at least for me," Waltrip said. "We still have a lot of questions internally to ask ourselves to try to get to the bottom of what happened.

"I just appreciate how people have treated me. As a racecar driver, when you are in this garage for 20-plus years, when somebody gets in trouble it's kind of fun -- but then you want them to get through it. There have been a few people that want to pile on me and say, 'He ought to be gone.' Or, 'He knew they were doing all this.'

"They don't know and that's disappointing, but then there are guys like Tony Stewart or Kyle Petty who say, 'Man, that's just part of it. Just keep digging.' So I'm doing better, but I'm just looking forward to getting answers to questions that we've had."

Among those who openly questioned whether Waltrip had been punished enough was Nemecheck, who said earlier in the week: "To tell you the truth, I think he got off easy. It's just tough. I think it gave the sport a black eye."

Driver Mike Wallace agreed with Nemecheck.

"I've just got to sort of echo Joe's sentiments there," he said. "I wasn't really involved in all the illegal or cheating stuff or however you want to phrase it [that was] going on. They got caught; they got fined. I kind of agree with Joe: they got off easy for as blatant as it was supposed to be."

Waltrip insisted Saturday that he still doesn't know for certain who did what with his car that was declared illegal. But he vowed again to find out and expose them as soon as possible. He said he agreed with an earlier statement by Lee White, senior vice president of competition and general manager of Toyota Racing Development, who said that someone at Michael Waltrip Racing needs to step up and admit that they are guilty.

"I've looked for that to happen ever since Sunday [when the car was impounded], and that hasn't happened yet," Waltrip said. "We have a lot of circumstantial evidence that implicates a couple of folks, but we don't have any proof -- so we'll just keep digging until we find out what happened.

"When I was a kid and did something wrong, I would sort of see the writing on the wall. I'd say things are getting tight around here and you'd 'fess up, but so far no one has elected to do that."