As an unabashed fan of country music, Michael Waltrip knows the struggles his Nextel Cup racing operation endured last season could serve as perfect fodder for the kind of sad song that genre long ago made famous.

But when asked what he would title a country-music song about Michael Waltrip Racing's disastrous 2007 season, it's no coincidence that what he comes up with encompasses less of what happened in the past and focuses more on what he envisions as a brighter future.

His first inclination was to go with something like, 'Heartache and the Power of Positive of Thinking.' But while his reasoning on that is sound -- "the only thing that got me through was the power of positive thinking, and not dwelling on where I was but focusing instead on where I was going" -- he knows it doesn't have a true country-music ring to it.

After another minute or two to ponder the possibilities, Waltrip added: "So I guess it might be, 'I might be here now, but watch where I am when I get there.' That sounds country, doesn't it? Or it could be, 'I know where I am now, but you don't understand where I think I'm gonna be.'"

OK, so Waltrip's country-music title offerings need some work.

So did his three Cup teams last season. Fielding Toyotas for himself (the No. 55), former points champion Dale Jarrett (No. 44) and rookie David Reutimann (No. 00) in 2007, all three struggled to consistently make races.

Reutimann started 26 races and failed to finish nine of them, with his best finish 13th at Dover in September. Despite the luxury of having six past champion provisional starts, Jarrett made only 24 races, failed to finish eight of them -- and never finished higher than 17th. Waltrip himself missed 11 consecutive races after rallying to qualify for the Daytona 500 this past February, and went on to make just 14 starts -- although he did win the pole at Talladega in the fall and registered MWR's only two top-10 Cup finishes.

But that was last year, the first in Cup not only for MWR but also for the Toyota manufacturer which initially chose Waltrip's organization as its flagship operation, ratcheting up expectations of instant success in the process.

Success came only in small doses and barely recognizable baby steps, however. The season started unraveling quickly, as soon as Waltrip's No. 55 team was caught trying to boost speed by adding a fuel additive to his engine for qualifying prior to the season-opening Daytona 500, leading to open-ended suspensions by NASCAR of crew chief David Hyder and competition director Bobby Kennedy. It got only marginally better -- and never for long -- the rest of the 36-week season.

As is typical of the usually optimistic Waltrip, he prefers to look forward rather than behind.

"Last year was very, very important to me because it got us prepared for next year," he said. "And when I say that, I mean that when I look back to where we were a year ago right at this moment, and I see where we are now, it makes me smile. It makes me very happy.

"We weren't ready to go, and we didn't know it. We were trying to build old cars, new cars, finish a shop, hire people. You know, quite frankly, I thought we had a grasp on it. There were times when I was a little bit concerned; but most of the time, all of my positive thought process and justifying that we were going to be OK, I hinged that all on Toyota. And quite frankly, it was their first year in Nextel Cup racing and they had a lot to learn as well." (Continued)