Waltrip Still Reeling From Daytona Debacle

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., July 6, 2007 — -- Michael Waltrip sat on stage in the media center at Daytona International Speedway six months ago with tears in his eyes as he recalled his 9-year-old daughter asking his wife "why Daddy cheated."

He told reporters to ask anything they wanted because "you can't hurt me any worse than I am right now."

On Thursday, Waltrip sat on the same stage and said how the only thing that makes him feel better about his tumultuous first season as an owner-driver is looking into his girls' eyes and seeing they don't care that he missed another race.

"It's Not Tough Coming Back Here'

And he's missed plenty, 15 of 18.

"I'm happy with my family and my girls make me happy," Waltrip said. "I'm just not happy with my cars."

This is Waltrip's first trip back to Daytona since his world was turned upside down during prequalifying inspection for the Daytona 500.

Inspectors discovered a foreign substance that still hasn't been identified in the engine of Waltrip's Toyota Camry. Crew chief David Hyder and competition director Bobby Kennedy were escorted out of the track by NASCAR officials and suspended indefinitely.

Hyder and another employee ultimately were fired and labeled as the instigators even though the investigation, according to Waltrip, uncovered only circumstantial evidence.

Waltrip was left embarrassed and humiliated.

And the humiliation spread beyond the track when he was charged with reckless driving and failure to report an accident after hitting a telephone pole and rolling his car not far from his North Carolina home.

It only got worse when critics questioned whether Waltrip should continue driving and rumors about primary sponsors NAPA and UPS jumping ship began circulating on a weekly basis.

But there Waltrip was on Thursday, smiling and cracking jokes like the goofball many know him to be.

He hoped to be here on Saturday for the Pepsi 400, but rain washed out qualifying after he posted the fifth-best lap among the 39 of the 53 cars vying for a spot in the field.

Because he's not in the top 35 in owner's points, he was sent home disappointed again.

"It's not tough coming back here," he said. "Daytona is what NASCAR is all about. Coming here makes me smile. As far as how it felt in February, it strengthened my confidence and my faith in people who supported me.

"And it distanced me from people that doubted me and didn't know the facts and prosecuted me and put me in jail."

Mixed Emotions

Waltrip was all smiles as he posed for a picture with past Daytona 500 champions early Thursday morning.

There he was beside Junior Johnson, Buddy Baker and David Pearson, all childhood heroes who won more races in a season than he has in his career.

"I was in their company," said the 2001 and 2003 Daytona 500 champion. "I can't say I'm in their league."

Outside of a 10th-place finish at Michigan, this was the highlight of Waltrip's season. For a moment he forgot the long walks back to his motorcoach after being told he'd missed another race.

"Being able to hang with those guys was so cool," Waltrip said. "I never will get over the fact I get to sit with those guys and be a part of their fraternity."

Waltrip was in another fraternity in February, the one that linked him to cheating.

"The rules infraction was probably the worst thing that happened to any team," he said. "It put a whole bunch of doubt in what we were doing and what we were about.

"Someone tried to do something they shouldn't have, unbeknownst to me and the people that run our team. It hurt us from a reputation standpoint. It hurt our competitiveness. All the things that resulted from the infraction are still part of who I am today."

Just as he did in February, Waltrip denied any knowledge of the foreign substance even though most in the garage said there was no way he couldn't have known.

He talked about how the guilty parties no longer were with the organization and everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing has cooperated with NASCAR in the investigation.

He reminded that he lost his first 462 races before getting to Victory Lane and how things are starting to get better.

"I've never experienced anything like this year before, where I haven't been able to qualify, our cars haven't been able to qualify, and we haven't shown any signs of a solid foundation to build upon," he said.

"But I will say that the improvement over the last couple of months has been extremely important to my mental state."

Light in Darkness

Ty Norris shook his head as he thought about the past six months.

"We've moved from the dark side of the moon to the side where people are more proud to see us," Waltrip's general manager said. "We've made a tremendous amount of progress since Daytona.

"We were like a boxer down there that took it on the chin and we staggered for about two months to get our heads right to figure out what happened."

Waltrip missed 11 straight races after making the Daytona 500 field through a qualifying race. Dale Jarrett, who was supposed to be the star of the organization, used all six of his past-champion provisionals by the ninth race and had missed five of the last seven heading into this week.

David Reutimann has been the biggest surprise, making 11 races and recording a career-best 15th-place finish at Michigan.

"We're starting to get the parts and pieces together," Norris said. "It doesn't make it any easier on Fridays. Fridays are fractions of fractions deciding who gets to stay and race and who doesn't. We're way more comfortable now than when we came to Daytona the first time."

Nobody takes Fridays harder than Waltrip, who was described by former crew chief Tony Eury Sr. earlier this year as being on suicide watch.

"He's constantly torn between the excitement of the future, how much we're gaining and the disappointment of in the now," Norris said. "The reason he's so positive on Saturday mornings after missing a race is he knows what this is going to be long term."

Norris remains optimistic about the future as well. He said NAPA and UPS are committed to the team next season, and that Toyota's backing has only gotten stronger through the struggles.

He came to Daytona looking ahead, but not forgetting what happened in February.

"We live those memories every day because it's a lesson learned on how to instruct our people, how we manage them," Norris said. "We've been kind of living with that every day anyway.

"Going back to Daytona doesn't necessarily do anything but give us another opportunity to redeem ourselves."

Hyder Bounces Back

Hyder, notebook in hand, scrambled to make adjustments to Jeremy Mayfield's car.

Four months after having his suspension lifted, he was given a second chance by Bill Davis Racing.

"I worked hard before Daytona to be a crew chief," Hyder said. "I'm working hard after Daytona to be a crew chief. It's not affecting me as far as working.

"The people that know me before [Daytona] know how I was. I'm the same way now, which is what I've always been, as straight as I can be. I don't run my group like that. People in the garage that know me know that."

This is as close as Hyder will come to addressing his guilt or innocence. From being asked what it was like to be ejected to if he's been instructed by lawyers not to talk about the incident, his answer was the same.

"I don't even want to talk about it," Hyder said. "It's behind me now."

Davis is confident Hyder was not responsible for the foreign substance, saying he wouldn't have hired him had he thought otherwise. Other owners and crew members who know Hyder insist he's been made a fall guy.

Waltrip only says that "we've separated ourselves from the people that were responsible."

There was a time when Hyder thought that publicity may keep him out of the garage forever. He's thankful to be back.

"I've always been a racer, so that's all I know," he said. "What happened in the past happened. I'm looking at the future and every day I'm trying to build on my future and get the best of it."

Ring, Ring

A cell phone rang in the media center as Waltrip began his press conference.

"Telephone!" he deadpanned.

Waltrip expected a laugh. When there wasn't one he moved on just as he did in February when nobody laughed at his attempt at humor.

Despite all that has happened, Waltrip isn't changing.

He's confident there are brighter days in his future and the future of his organization.

"Nevertheless, we still have a long way to go," Waltrip said. "It's really been tough and it's made it hard to smile at times. ... [But] I hate to look back. I'm not made that way.

"A lot of times, if you look back you'll decide it isn't worth going forward."

David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com