Welcome back, Waltrip ... yeah NASCAR needs ya

"Who'd have thought they'd lead ya (Who'd have thought they'd lead ya)
Here where we need ya (Here where we need ya)
Yeah we tease him a lot cause we've got him on the spot, welcome back,
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.
-- theme from Welcome Back, Kotter

Have you ever just left a song on the radio and didn't know the reason? Maybe it's on in the background and you're not paying attention and the song just plays right on through to its conclusion.

Beau Estes co-hosts the Jack Daniel's Post-Race Show with Nikki Alexander. It can be seen following every Nextel Cup race live on NASCAR.COM.

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Perhaps later, you're embarrassed to admit the song made it past the first chorus on your FM receiver. I understand this, I really do. However, this is not one of those stories.

When the theme from Welcome Back, Kotter made its way from my antenna through to my speakers on the drive home following the Sunday washout in Delaware, the only move I made was to jack up the volume.

You see, all week long leading up to Dover I had become consumed with seeing Michael Waltrip finally make it back onto the track in a Nextel Cup event and for some reason when John Sebastian's song popped on the stereo, the notes struck a chord with me.

It's hard not to like Mikey, in my book. He's the younger brother of a NASCAR legend who will always be climbing uphill chasing Darrell's shadow.

Forevermore, he'll be tied to one of NASCAR's darkest days in a race he won the 2001 Daytona 500.

And yet, amidst all of this and more, his positive personality and sense of humor in commercials and on television -- like the sunshine -- seems to shine on through. (Continued)