Crew chief for MWR enjoys resurgence

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- On Sunday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway, Michael Waltrip was thrilled to be on the front row for the 50th Daytona 500, but his crew chief, the veteran Paul Andrews, was happy just to be alive.

But qualifying on the front row was a pretty good bit of frosting for Andrews, too.

"Obviously, I feel quite a bit better after [Sunday]," Andrews said. "It was quite an ordeal. I was still on crutches when we were here [in January] testing."

Andrews' pure joy at being at Daytona comes from his recovery from a shattered heel and a compression fracture of his back that he suffered when he fell more than 20 feet off an extension ladder that was raised to the roof of his personal shop, where he was installing a light fixture in mid-August of last year.

The damage to his body was much worse than what had happened to the former champion crew chief's career when he was released a few days before the accident by Petty Enterprises.

"Oh, man -- I'll tell ya, it's definitely a different feeling this year than it ever has been," Andrews said, "simply because of my injury, but also, because I lost a job. That wasn't no fun, either.

"If I hadn't had the injury, I probably could have been back in the garage in a couple weeks," Andrews said. "As it was, I was almost out six months. So it's a lot better feeling [coming into Speedweeks] this time, a lot more appreciative.

"After something like this, you just appreciate what we've got so much more and it's a great feeling -- that we sat on the front row, but that we're sitting on the front row after everything I've been through, too."

Once he was able to get around more easily -- despite still being on crutches -- Andrews was eager to get started on the latest round of his career, which began in mid-December at MWR.

"I wanted to get there to get started knowing the people, knowing the cars and understanding what's going on -- but throwing my input in, along the way," Andrews said. "They were good with me starting later, but as soon as we knew we wanted to be together, I wanted to be there -- because typically, you would start on next season in October."

Waltrip visited the media center Sunday and talked about the "redemption" of his race team, with the exclamation point being his No. 55 Toyota sitting in the second starting position for the Great American Race, Waltrip's career best start in the event.

Andrews was a little gimpy as he accepted congratulations for what was as much redemption of his career as it was a new life for Michael Waltrip Racing, which locked two cars into the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

"It's a good feeling, right now, obviously because we've got two teams locked in and another with a good chance to get in because Dale Jarrett's got a really good racecar," Andrews said. "Toyota's in this for the long haul. The competition has stepped up tremendously, and in the short amount of time we've been together, for testing, there's a great amount of heart and dedication in that group trying to make all our teams better." (Continued)