CONCORD, N.C. -- Ty Norris shook his head in disappointment as he watched Michael Waltrip's badly mangled racecar get loaded onto its hauler for another premature trip home.

Norris, general manager of Michael Waltrip Racing, had just watched two of the organization's three Nextel Cup cars crash their way out of qualifying for this Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. Joining Waltrip's No. 55 Toyota in the Thursday night scrap heap at Lowe's Motor Speedway was MWR teammate David Reutimann, who also tore up his No. 00 Toyota in a failed attempt to make the race.

The third MWR car, the No. 44 Toyota driven by Dale Jarrett, qualified 23rd and made the race. All three cars were in the unenviable position of having to make the race on speed, as none of them currently are in the top 35 in owner points. The top 35 in owner points are locked into a spot in each week's race, while those outside the top 35 must qualify on speed.

"Michael's just trying so hard. I mean, he's got the pressure, the weight of the world on him, and he's just trying so hard," Norris said. "I guess when you're locked in, qualifying is easy and you can do what you got to do.

"It's been a while since the car has drove like he likes it to drive. He's just trying as hard as he can."

Asked if perhaps Waltrip is trying too hard, Norris replied: "I don't know how you judge it. He probably would be more comfortable if the car drove exactly how he wanted it to. It's just been a long time since he's been able to feel that way. We're still searching, I guess."

Waltrip has not made a race since the season-opening Daytona 500 in mid-February, meaning he has now missed 11 consecutive races. He participated in last Saturday's Nextel Open, finishing 20th out of 32 racers. But it has been more than three months since he has competed in a Nextel Cup points event, raising speculation that he might not be as sharp as a driver as he needs to be.

Norris, however, disputed that contention.

"I pity the other competitors the day he makes the race, because he's going to have some pent-up frustrations. He wants to race," Norris said. "That's not relevant. He's ready."

Norris seemed as frustrated and as disappointed about Reutimann's wreck as he was with Waltrip's messy exit.

"I think he was going into Turn 3. I don't know if the car darted on him or what, but it looked like he got the left-side tires on the apron," Norris said. "I don't know if the car took him down there or what. But once he got the tires on the apron, it was pretty hard to recover.

"That certainly appears to be what happened with the wreck. I'll have to talk to him to see what happened with the car the whole lap. It's just difficult. I don't know what took him down to the apron, but something took him down there and got him turned around."

On the rare positive side for MWR, Jarrett made the race by turning a lap of 182.389 mph. Jarrett already has used up his six provisional starts for being a past Cup champion, and had failed to qualify for the previous two races -- breaking a string of 424 consecutive Cup starts that had dated to October 1994.

"I was real happy about that," Norris said. "That team, I've noticed, is getting better. Other people don't really have a chance to see it that much. But he and [new crew chief] Jason Burdett are doing a real nice job together.

"We saw some good things at the All-Star race the other night. Dale really ran some competitive laps. So we felt good about that and we brought that car back. And Dale told us, 'Don't look at the time sheet. I'm going to be fine when it's time to go.' He felt pretty confident that the car was drivable. What I'm happy to see is that when you give him something that's drivable, he gets the job done."

The night on the whole, though, was another tough one for Norris and MWR.

"I really, really, really thought Reutimann was going to be in the show," Norris said. "It's just a shame how it all shook out there.

"The way these qualifying rules are, it's tough. Everybody has to drive harder than they feel comfortable with sometimes to make it. Sometimes you make it back to the checkered [flag] and sometimes you don't. And two of ours didn't."