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."

One year after Waltrip and his race team lay shattered in disgrace in the wake of a cheating scandal that was uncovered during pre-qualifying inspection, the owner/driver was absolutely floating around the World Center of Racing.

And rightfully so, as coming out of Speedweeks 2007, his entire three-team Cup operation had struggled, with none of the cars ultimately making the critical top 35 in owner points by the end of the season.

Front-row seat

Michael Waltrip will join pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson on the front row for the Daytona 500.

• Complete story, click here
• Waltrip leaves 2007 behind
• Andrews among crew chiefs
• Video: Waltrip leads Toyota

Andrews is in "Waltrip's house" now, as a member of his team, but even last year when he was wrapped up in tuning Bobby Labonte's car at Petty Enterprises, he had some empathy for what his current crew was going through.

"Last year, you looked at that and said, 'Oh, my God -- I'm glad I'm not a part of that,'" Andrews said. "But also, you feel [badly] for the people that are a part of it -- because most likely, it was a small group of people that decided to [cheat].

"It could have been as small as one person or maybe three or four people. We'll probably never know that and to be quite honest, I don't want to know. But it affected every single person on all three of those teams.

"Even without what happened at Daytona, they had a tough assignment with what they were trying to accomplish last year. And now that I am here, and talking to people about the trials and tribulations that went on, we have so many things going on differently now -- and for the positive.

"We've got a lot of really good things going on."

Andrews has always been a low-key, focused individual, and his current regimen is certainly a challenge.

Andrews said the pain in his foot increases as the day goes on, and it gets stiffer as well. And as if a crew chief's responsibilities weren't enough, he's currently locked into "about three hours" of rehabilitation, including physical therapy and ice packs, each day.

But on Monday, when many teams' crewmen and crew chiefs had gone home, gone fishing or gone to Disney World, Andrews sat in his motor coach at Daytona, poring over notes and devising strategies.

Andrews was in a brace for about four-and-a-half months as his back healed, and he was able to stop wearing it in early January. He said his back's painful now because he can neither walk nor sit comfortably, as he has to keep his foot propped up when he's seated.

His shattered heel was a bigger issue as, after undergoing surgery two weeks after the accident to place a load of supportive metal in the area, an infection forced another operation nine weeks after that to remove the pieces and the infected tissue.

Andrews

Andrews doesn't remember much about the dynamics of the fall, except he was pushing up on a power drill to install the fixture, which pushed the ladder down and, he thinks, disengaged it from the beam it was resting against.

"I don't remember falling -- my [mind] has completely blocked that out -- and I'm fine with that," Andrews said with a laugh. "My doctor says I jumped, and that was the right thing to do. But I didn't do it because it was right, that was what instinct told me to do."

Waltrip on Sunday raved about his crew chief's organizational skills and his desire -- but Andrews only laughed again when told his survival was because "crew chiefs always have a plan, and they're always thinking."

"That was no plan, I can guarantee you that," Andrews said. "It was just the way I did it."

But moving ahead, Andrews does have a plan and he's enthusiastic about Waltrip's possibilities.

"We've got a lot of good things going on, and a lot of good, solid people, so we really feel good about our chances this year to turn all this around," Andrews said. "I'm really optimistic about our whole season. Things were rough last year, but all things are pointed to having a good season."

That might include completing the work on that light fixture.

"The first time I hobbled into the shop, after the accident, I looked up at the work I had been doing, and it was just like I left it, to be honest," Andrews said. "I saw the junction box I had put in, just like the one that was already there, but I said, 'Hmmm, I don't remember [doing] none of that.'

"I've got a 100-foot-deep shop and I've put up conduit in it from one end to the other, using that extension ladder. I guess I did something wrong, but you live and learn."

This season, Michael Waltrip and his race teams hope to be the benefactors of that.