CORNELIUS, N.C. -- Michael Waltrip admitted Tuesday that he always has looked up to his big brother, Darrell. But it's obvious he doesn't always take Darrell's advice.

For that, every employee at Michael Waltrip Racing can be thankful today. More than once over the last several years, Darrell Waltrip told his much younger brother to get out of the race team ownership business.

"I even tried to talk him out of it before he got into it," Darrell said.

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There is not another person in this sport who would have had the overhead, people, teams and everything that he had that would have stayed the course like he has. That took an incredible amount of fortitude.

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DARRELL WALTRIP

He tried again and again as Michael's struggles on the track and financial losses off it mounted during MWR's first 18 months of operation after opening for business at the beginning of the 2007 season. Darrell was sure he knew what he was talking about, pointing out that he and several other former drivers had tried their hands at owning race teams and ultimately failed, so there was no shame in it.

Michael refused to listen. Asked to explain what Lil' Brother has as an owner that perhaps he didn't, Darrell answered at first with one word (which, of course, was followed by many others in typical DW style).

"Perseverance," said Darrell, who owned his own team -- and mostly drove for it -- both at the beginning of his Cup career (1972-75) and toward the end of it (1991-98), capturing a total of six wins in 270 starts. "I got scared. When my deal started to go south and I started to lose money personally, I couldn't stand it. I'd worked too hard and had too much invested. I said I've got to get out of this before I start spending my own money and go broke. I was lucky; I was able to sell out.

"Michael, on the other hand, he hung in there when nobody else would have. There is not another person in this sport who would have had the overhead, people, teams and everything that he had that would have stayed the course like he has. That took an incredible amount of fortitude. I don't know how he did it."

The new future

All Michael wanted to be growing up was a race car driver like Darrell, who won three championships and a total of 84 races (either tied with Bobby Allison for third all-time or one behind Allison in fourth, depending on who you ask or where you look it up).

Michael got to do it, too, making more than 1,000 starts combined in what is now the Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series. Not even Big Bro was able to pull that off in his career. In fact, only one other driver -- the legendary Richard Petty -- can make that claim.

But on Tuesday at his gleaming MWR race shop in Cornelius, Michael announced that this likely will be his last as a full-time racer in the Cup Series (he didn't completely rule out one day returning to a seat full time a la Mark Martin, but doesn't plan on it). Martin Truex Jr. will take over Michael's full-time Cup ride next year, albeit in the No. 56 Toyota as opposed to the No. 55 that Waltrip still will drive in the season-opening Daytona 500 and a handful of other races.

Stepping out of his full-time ride is a smart decision by Mikey -- one of many he has made as a Cup owner. The argument could be made that he's showing more potential now as an owner than he ever did as a driver.

Truex to MWR

Michael Waltrip Racing announced Tuesday that Martin Truex Jr. will join the team in 2010 and drive the No. 56 Toyota. Waltrip will step into a part-time driver role.

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Sure, Michael won two Daytona 500 races. That speaks for itself. But prior to winning his first one in 2001, he made 462 consecutive Cup starts without winning a single race -- and he has won a total of just four in 743 career Cup starts.

Even though Darrell proclaimed that Michael still has the rest of this season to get to Victory Lane, and Michael smiled at the compliment and the thought of it, the truth as even the Waltrips know it is that Michael almost certainly will never get there again as a driver.

But as an owner, perhaps that will be another story.

"I'm totally at ease with where I'm at," Michael said. "I think my legacy as a driver is pretty much shaped up by now. One time I lost 462 races in a row; I remember that pretty good.

"When people talk about giving up, that's just not who I am. That's not a part of me. I may have lost 462 races in a row, but I woke up that morning of the [2001] Daytona 500, and I knew I was going to win it. It's the same way with this team. I feel like we're in a battle, and we're going to win it."

Turning it around

Shortly after deciding to start his own Cup team in 2007, Michael invited Darrell over to where his new shop, which really was a converted old movie theater, was being whipped into shape. Darrell thought Michael had a long way to go and wondered when he intended to run, and how many cars he expected to field.

Darrell gasped at the information Michael threw at him. He intended to be running three cars full time in a season that was only four months in the offing.

"I said, 'One car, maybe; two cars, I don't know. But three cars? You're out of your mind,'" Darrell recalled Tuesday.

Yet three cars it was, right out of the box. They weren't very competitive that first year, when Michael's team sort of set the tone for the season by getting caught attempting to cheat to qualify for the Daytona 500.

It was ugly, and it was expensive. Michael joked Tuesday that he recently was told he has amassed more than $47 million in winnings as a driver, "but my half of this place [MWR] cost me 48."

He meant millions. He also joked that times were so tough during the first 18 months or so of operation that he considered putting a For Lease or For Sale up out front -- but not really because, as he said himself, giving up was never an option in his mind.

Instead, he brought on a deep-pocketed partner in investment banker Rob Kauffman, solidified and continued to nurture longtime sponsorship arrangements with NAPA Auto Parts and Aaron's Inc., and cut a deal to forge an unusual but ultimately mutually beneficial technical alliance with JTG/Daugherty Racing, which operates out of the MWR shop. He also hired several quality people in the process and put them to work in the right places.

In short, Michael pulled off what Darrell thought was impossible. He not only survived as an owner, but has begun to thrive. Of the three cars now operating out of his shop, only Michael's own No. 55 is not competitive on a regular basis. David Reutimann won his first race at Charlotte in May while driving MWR's No. 00 and is right on the cusp of the cutoff for the Chase to the Sprint Cup championship. And the No. 47 driven by Marcos Ambrose, fielded by JTG/Daugherty, is 18th in points and coming on strong each week.

His future as an owner seems brighter today than his career as a driver ever really did. Even Michael seems to sense it.

"The plan certainly is to win championships and many, many races. I have to admit that was sort of the plan with my driving career, too, so it's a little easier to say it than to actually do it," Michael said. "But look around. We have a great foundation built to race for many, many years to come."

Even the once-skeptical Darrell believes in Michael's long-term plan now. At least he's no longer trying to talk him out of it.

"I never thought about him being much of a visionary. But he had a lot better vision about what he wanted to do and where he wanted to go than I ever did," Darrell said.

"There is the racing side, and as he always said, he was all in. But he lost a lot to get to where he is -- and not just financially. It's been hard. To go out on a limb as far as he did and take the kind of chance that he took, he's had to pay a serious price for it. I hope he will get a return for all that eventually."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Joe Menzer is the author of "The Great American Gamble: How the 1979 Daytona 500 Gave Birth to a NASCAR Nation." Click here to purchase.

Truex to join Michael Waltrip Racing
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