Michael Waltrip Racing turns to 22-year-old in relief role
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Brett Moffitt, who made his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut in 2014, will drive the No. 55 Aaron’s Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 1 as Brian Vickers recuperates from offseason heart surgery.
Owner Michael Waltrip made the announcement Tuesday during his team’s stop on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour.
“He was the driver that everybody at Michael Waltrip Racing wanted to be in that car at Atlanta,” Waltrip said. “They believe in him.”
Moffitt said he learned of his appointment to the No. 55 Toyota two weeks ago, making it exceedingly difficult to keep his fill-in role a secret.
“It was a stressful wait to find out that I was going to be in the car, that’s for sure,” Moffitt said. “I obviously wanted this opportunity really bad and I’m thankful for it.”
In seven Sprint Cup starts last season, the best start and finish for the 22-year-old native of Grimes, Iowa and former NASCAR Next driver and K&N Pro Series East race winner came in his debut on June 1 at Dover International Speedway when he began the race in 18th and finished 22nd.
Though he said he has been enjoying his time as a developmental driver in the MWR system, Moffitt said he was continuing to explore options — in any of NASCAR’s three national series — that would allow him to race on a more consistent basis.
“I’m very happy with MWR. They’re very supportive of me — have been since 2011,” Moffitt said. “They gave me the first opportunity to test a Cup car, they gave me the first opportunity to race one, so they’ve been huge supporters of my career and I wouldn’t be where I am without them, that’s for sure. But at the same time, I need to be in a race car more often and they’ve been willing to work with me on that, and they said hey, if you find an opportunity, we’re not going to hold you back from it.”
Waltrip agreed: “We’ll let Brett do anything he wants to do in order to get laps so that he can continue to mature as a race car driver. We believe in Brett, he’s our guy, but if we can loan him out and he can race somewhere else that would make me happy.”
Waltrip will drive the No. 55 Toyota in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 22 (1 p.m. ET, FOX) as he attempts to win his third Great American Race.
Despite missing the first two races of the season, Vickers received NASCAR’s blessing to run for the Sprint Cup Series championship provided he meets all other requirements for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs. He will return to his ride at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the third race of the year on March 8.
Last month, doctors discovered Vickers’ body rejected a patch that was placed over a hole in his heart. They alleviated the problem and gave him clearance to race just three months after the corrective heart surgery.
“They took my heart out and replaced it with a lion heart,” Vickers joked on Tuesday.