NASCAR Cup

Michael Waltrip Still Motivated by Team's Potential

HARRISBURG, N.C. (July 6, 1999) - During the first half of the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season, Philips Chevrolet driver Michael Waltrip caught many people by surprise. He and his new teammates at Mattei Motorsports showed a competitive fire ...

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

HARRISBURG, N.C. (July 6, 1999) - During the first half of the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season, Philips Chevrolet driver Michael Waltrip caught many people by surprise. He and his new teammates at Mattei Motorsports showed a competitive fire week-in and week-out that let everyone know they would be unwilling to settle for anything less than their best effort.

Although the first half of the season had its share of setbacks, Waltrip remains motivated and optimistic as the second half begins this Sunday at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Michael Waltrip at New Hampshire (career)...

Starts:          8
Top 5s:          0
Top 10s:          1
Ave. start:          23.25
Ave. finish:          25.00
Winnings:          $223,300
Best start:          9th ('95)
Best finish:          10th ('96)
1998:                  24th (race 1), 27th (race 2)

Michael Waltrip on...

...what he can take away from the first half of the season:

"The biggest thing is the fact that we've been competitive week-in and week-out. We've only missed it--where we didn't run respectably--basically in one or two races. And, we were basically a new team when the season started with new cars and a lot of new people. Even with that, we've been able to run respectably and competitively. That's the most important thing to me, and makes me look forward to getting another shot at most of these places a second time."

...overcoming first half setbacks:

"In the first half of the season, we had five finishes on 37th or worse, so knowing that, I'm OK with where we are in the points. I feel like our car is fast enough to pass the people that are around us and move up, so I'm not really worried about the points. That's a good feeling. In the past, I've been worried about them a lot. I used to dwell on them. But, I just don't feel that way this year. I feel more excited about the potential to run well on a given Sunday, as opposed to just trying to collect points. If we stay focused and keep doing what we're doing, the points will take care of themselves."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article DAle Jarrett Makes His Point At Daytona

Next article Mark Martin Has Surgery

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Toyota clinches 2026 NASCAR Cup manufacturer championship early after dominant season

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

6 h

Toyota clinches 2026 NASCAR Cup manufacturer championship early after dominant season

Tyler Reddick really needed NASCAR Phoenix win for several reasons

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

6 h

Tyler Reddick really needed NASCAR Phoenix win for several reasons

Bubba Wallace laments mistake after heartbreaking Phoenix loss

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

7 h

Bubba Wallace laments mistake after heartbreaking Phoenix loss

NASCAR is getting the championship finish it has pursued since 1992

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

7 h

NASCAR is getting the championship finish it has pursued since 1992

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts