NASCAR: Michael Waltrip Racing Leaves Checkered Legacy

By Matthew Sullivan | Nov 19, 2015

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

When the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season concludes Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, every team in the garage area will be putting full effort toward 2016. One team that will not be preparing for 2016 will be Michael Waltrip Racing team which will cease operations following Sunday’s event.

Waltrip fielded cars in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series part-time through the mid-90s and early 2000s. In 2007, MWR went full-time into the Sprint Cup Series along with Toyota which was in its first season fielding cars in the series. From the very beginning controversy surrounded the team when NASCAR found a fuel additive in Waltrip’s 55 car after qualifying for the Daytona 500. NASCAR levied substantial fines to the team; suspensions for crew chief, David Hyder and competition director, Bobby Kennedy, a $100,000 fine to Hyder and the team and a deduction of 100 driver and owner points.

To say the 2007 season was a disaster for MWR is an understatement. Besides the shame that came with the penalties at Daytona, the three-car team’s performance was horrendous. Waltrip was the only driver to score top 10 finishes for MWR as his teammates Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann failed to do so.

Things were made worse for MWR near the end of the year when team owner, Jack Roush accused MWR of stealing one of his team’s sway bars after a race. Roush threatened legal action but ended up not pursuing a lawsuit while NASCAR did not levy any fines.

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MWR received a huge boost in 2008 when businessman, Rob Kauffman invested in the team. In 2009, David Reutimann won the first Sprint Cup race for the team while also winning in 2010. When Clint Bowyer joined MWR in 2012 and scored three victories it appeared as though MWR was capable of contending for the series championship.

2013 was another solid season for MWR as Brian Vickers and Martin Truex, Jr. both scored victories during the season and it looked as though Truex and Bowyer were bound to make the Chase for the Championship. Of course, things took a turn for the worse for MWR following the outcome of the Richmond event when NASCAR deemed the team had manipulated the finish of the race in attempt to benefit Truex’s chance of making the Chase.

The Richmond controversy put a stain on MWR that they were not able to overcome. The team lost sponsorship from NAPA and ended up releasing Truex from his contract. Added to that was the loss of crew chief Rodney Childers to Stewart-Haas Racing which also impacted the team’s performance.

With MWR went winless in 2014 and has done the same in 2015. When Rob Kauffman announced that he would no longer be funding MWR during the mid-point of the season, it became clear that the team would likely no longer be active full-time after 2015.

In spite of the lack of recent success, Clint Bowyer once again made this year’s Chase. However his chance at contending was halted after the first race at Chicago when NASCAR found illegal truck arms on his car.

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Sadly the legacy of Michael Waltrip Racing is tarnished by the several missteps the team has taken during its time. Instead of the successes and victories the team accomplished in a relatively short time, most will remember the unprecedented penalties from Daytona in 2007 and Richmond in 2013.