DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- On Sunday night, in the aftermath of one of the most bizarre, and at the same time most thrilling Daytona 500s in years, Michael Waltrip's self-owned race car had barely stopped rolling and he was out of the car -- and the Sprint Cup garage area.

It looked like the act of a man who knew he'd be back, and not just as the owner of a couple Sprint Cup teams, co-owner of a Nationwide team fielding one of the hottest young talents in the sport and a burgeoning business and entertainment entity.

“

It was so cool to see Martin and David up there battling. It's just really a proud accomplishment.

”

-- MICHAEL WALTRIP

And soon after, both Waltrip and his operations manager who was his crew chief for this Daytona 500, Bobby Kennedy, confirmed it was true.

"We had a good week and it was enjoyable," Kennedy said. "We just threw a group of guys together and come down here -- we didn't have a set crew, just pulled a bunch of guys from the shop and it went good.

"You never know, you might see us again next year."

Waltrip's hasty exit beat a lot of other people's arrival at his car, but he briefly spoke about the future.

"It's not my last one, I don't think," Waltrip said.

As disgusted as he was with the 18th-place finish in the race that in many corners was thought to possibly be the last time Waltrip -- a two-time Daytona 500 winner -- would appear in the Great American Race, he should've been inside out at the performance of his two full-time drivers.

With two laps remaining in the race that Waltrip says "defines his career," his newest driver, Martin Truex Jr., was leading. Then, Truex got shoehorned by 2007 Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick and made a miraculous save. You could almost say he was never as proud of a sixth-place finish. (Continued)