Waltrip trying to leave wreckage of 2007 behind

Michael Waltrip doesn't call it a race shop, but a race world, and the place certainly looks the part. From the neon tower outside to the video displays, informational graphics and viewing platforms within, the two-time Daytona 500 champion has carved a veritable automotive fantasyland out of his little corner of the North Carolina piedmont. It's come a long way in a relatively short time; just a year ago, the facility was nothing more than a grandiose plan hidden amongst so much rubble and dust.

Michael McDowell

MWR in 2008

• Sing new tune, score some hits
• McDowell aims to prove self
• Reutimann set for double-duty
• Kauffman becomes partner
• Pemberton among crew chiefs
• Warren new technical director

The same could be said for the man himself. Waltrip almost giddily guides visitors through his complex, up a flight of stairs and to a balcony overlooking the main shop floor. He's clearly proud of the place, as he should be. For a $15 admission price, visitors get a much more in-depth look at the car construction and setup processes than they do at most other race shops. But no one seems to get more out of it than the car owner himself, who among all those shiny displays and all that Toyota equipment, looks like a man reborn.

"I really believed that we could do it," Waltrip said. "I really believed that our philosophy and what we have built as an organization could survive. Now, we might have had to take a different path than we first anticipated, but we could survive."

That's what Waltrip did through much of his 2007 season -- survive. Now, ensconced in his new environs and surrounded by a bolstered staff, he talks as if he knew he'd make it all along. He may have. But there were more than enough dark moments that would have made any reasonable man doubt, from the illegal fuel scandal that cast a pall over his Daytona 500, to all those missed races, to all those questions about whether he could hold on to his sponsors, or his manufacturer support, or even his race team. He lost 100 points and $100,000 for the infraction discovered during Speedweeks. He failed to qualify for 21 of 34 starts. He watched his other drivers, David Reutimann and Dale Jarrett, struggle just as mightily.

He even crashed his personal car one night when he fell asleep behind the wheel. How much could one man take?

"There were always people, faces that I would see that would make it seem like it was going to be all right. My brother [Darrell], who just wanted to give me a hug, who had a team that didn't succeed, had days at the racetrack when he didn't understand why things went the way they did. His presence was important to me. My momma, who loved me more when I was doing bad than she ever could have when I was doing good, because she knew I needed it worse. She was special to me," Waltrip said. (Continued)