Darrell Waltrip

Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports analyst, author as well as a former national television broadcaster and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series during his time as a driver), most notably driving the No. 11 Chevrolet for Junior Johnson. Waltrip is a three-time Cup Series champion (1981, 1982, 1985).

Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history, Waltrip won 84 NASCAR Cup Series races throughout his career, including the 1989 Daytona 500, a record five in the Coca-Cola 600 (formerly the World 600, 1978, 1979, 1985, 1988, 1989), and a track and Cup Series record for any driver at Bristol Motor Speedway with twelve (seven consecutive from 1981 to 1984). He is fifth on NASCAR's all-time wins list in the Cup Series, one behind Bobby Allison. In the modern era of NASCAR, only Jeff Gordon won more races than Waltrip. He is ranked fifth for all-time pole positions with 59, including all-time modern era highs with 35 on short tracks and eight on road courses. Competing in 809 Cup starts over four decades and 29 years (1972–2000), he has scored 271 top-fives and 390 top-tens, and posted a modern NASCAR series record of 22 top five finishes in 1983 and 21 top five finishes both in 1981 and 1986. Winning nearly $19.9 million in posted earnings, he became the first NASCAR driver to be awarded over $10 million in career race winnings.

Waltrip has additionally won thirteen NASCAR Busch Grand National Series races, seven American Speed Association (ASA) races, three IROC races, two Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) races, two NASCAR All-American Challenge Series events, two All Pro Racing Association races, and a USAC race. He competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona. He also holds the all-time track record 67 wins at the Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee, including NASCAR, USAC, ASA, and local Late Model Sportsman NASCAR sanctioned series races. He still holds many NASCAR records, more than two decades after his retirement as an active driver.

Waltrip has also won many awards in NASCAR. That includes two for NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award (1989, 1990), three for "American Driver of the Year" (1979, 1981, 1982), and "NASCAR's Driver of the Decade" for the 1980s, as well as three for "National Motorsports Press Association Driver of the Year" (1977, 1981, and 1982), two for "Auto Racing Digest Driver of the Year" (1981 and 1982), the first "Tennessee Professional Athlete of the Year" (1979), one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998, and the Bill France "Award of Excellence" in 2000. He has been inducted into numerous halls of fame, including the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America for 2003 the International Motorsports Hall of Fame for 2005. After being nominated for the inaugural 2010 and 2011 classes, he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame's 2012 class.

Waltrip served as a color analyst for Fox Sports alongside Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds, and Jeff Gordon, a columnist at Foxsports.com, and an author. He is the older brother of former NASCAR driver and the now defunct MWR team owner Michael Waltrip. Waltrip retired from the commentary box at the conclusion of Fox's broadcast schedule for the 2019 NASCAR season in June 2019.

Early years

Waltrip was born on February 5, 1947, in Owensboro, Kentucky. Starting his driving career in Go-karts at the age of twelve, Waltrip entered his first stock car race just four years later. Waltrip and his father built a 1936 Chevrolet coupe and headed to a local dirt track near their Owensboro home. The first night out was far from a success as the youngster, barely old enough to drive on the street, slammed the wall and heavily damaged the coupe. Waltrip soon left the dirt and found his niche on asphalt where the smoothness he learned in the karts proved a valuable asset. Waltrip was a 1965 graduate of Daviess County High School in Owensboro.

He was an early racer at the Kentucky Motor Speedway (an asphalt track in Whitesville) and Ellis Raceway, a dirt track on US Highway 60 west in Daviess County (Ellis Raceway is now closed), driving a car called "Big 100" built by Harry Pedley, owner of Pedley's Garage, on West Second Street, in Owensboro and sponsored by R.C. Bratcher Radiator and Welding Co. His success gained the attention of Nashville owner/driver P. B. Crowell, who urged Waltrip to move to the area to race at the Fairgrounds Speedway, at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville, where he would win two track championships, in 1970, and 1973.

Waltrip drove the No. 48 P. B. Crowell owned Ford sponsored by American Home, in Nashville, where he aggressively promoted the week's race when he appeared on a local television program promoting the speedway's races, and was not afraid to embrace the local media when other competitors were reluctant to do so. Some of the notorious "on air" trash-talking included making fun of some of the other local drivers such as Coo Coo Marlin (whose son Sterling later raced at the circuit and is a two-time Daytona 500 winner) and James "Flookie" Buford, whose nickname he would mock on air. It pleased track management that he was helping sell tickets, leading to packed grandstands and extra paychecks from track operators for his promotional skills.

He became friends with WSM radio host Ralph Emery in his early years, forming a bond which would be influential throughout his career, as Waltrip would appear frequently on Emery's early morning television show on local Nashville television station, WSMV, and later substitute for Emery in the 1980s on Emery's television show, Nashville Now on the former TNN cable network (now the Paramount Network). Waltrip would use the success he enjoyed at the Music City Motorplex, and his notoriety and public speaking skills that he acquired from television appearances in Nashville, as a springboard into NASCAR's big leagues.

He became a Christian in 1983 but states it was years later before God came first in his life. One of the charities he supports is the Motor Racing Outreach (MRO) providing spiritual support to racers and their families.

NASCAR career

Early years in NASCAR: 1972–1975 Waltrip started in NASCAR Winston Cup Series (Winston Cup), NASCAR's top racing series at age 25, (25 years, three months, two days), on May 7, 1972, at the 1972 Winston 500, at Talladega, Alabama, the series' fastest and longest track at 2.66 miles, (4.281 kilometers), driving a 1969 Mercury Cyclone he purchased from Holman-Moody, originally the Ford Fairlane driven by Mario Andretti to victory in the 1967 Daytona 500. Waltrip finished 38th in his first Winston Cup race after retiring on lap 69 due to engine failure. Waltrip paid $12,500 for the car, a spare engine and some spare parts and drove it in five Cup Series events until mid-1973. The car was converted from the Ford Fairlane Andretti drove, to a 1969 Mercury Cyclone as driven by Waltrip, and later converted to a 1971 Mercury Cyclone. The car was sponsored by Terminal Transport of Owensboro, Kentucky, Waltrip's first major sponsor. Waltrip still owns the car today as part of a collection of cars he has raced and is one of his favorites.

The early years found Waltrip competing against legendary stock car racers such as Richard Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, and Bobby Allison, among others. Waltrip soon earned the respect of his more experienced peers. He was given the No. 95 as a number but Waltrip preferred car No. 17 because his hero, David Pearson, had success with the number in earlier years. As an owner/driver, Waltrip ran five races in 1972, fourteen races in 1973, sixteen races in 1974, with seven top-five finishes, and seventeen races as an owner/driver in 1975, with his first Winston Cup victory coming at his home track, May 10, 1975, at age 28, (28 years, three months, five days), in the Music City 420, outpacing the field by two laps at the track where he had won 2 track championships in Nashville, Tennessee, in the No. 17 Terminal Transport Chevrolet, a car Waltrip owned.

During the 1973 season, Waltrip drove in five Winston Cup races for Bud Moore Engineering.

DiGard years: 1975–1980

Except for five races in 1973, driving for Bud Moore Engineering, Waltrip primarily drove his own cars from the beginning of his NASCAR career until the middle of the 1975 NASCAR Winston Cup Series (Winston Cup) season, when he was signed to a multi-year contract and replaced driver Donnie Allison to drive the No. 88 DiGard Chevrolet, Waltrip's long-awaited jump into the big leagues of United States stock car auto racing. The DiGard racing team was founded in part by Mike DiProspero and Bill Gardner, who were brothers-in-law, with the legendary Robert Yates as engine builder.

Waltrip's first race with DiGard came on August 17, 1975, at the Talladega 500, Talladega Superspeedway, in Talladega, Alabama, finishing 42nd after experiencing engine failure. Waltrip would compete in ten more races in the 1975 season for DiGard, sponsored by Terminal Transport, and get his second career Winston Cup victory October 12, 1975, in the Capital City 500, in Richmond, Virginia. He would post three top-five and four top-ten finishes in the eleven races he ran for DiGard in 1975.thumb

During the late 1970s, Waltrip would begin his domination of NASCAR's short track venues, especially at the Bristol International Speedway (Bristol, Tennessee), Martinsville Speedway (Martinsville, Virginia) and the Music City Motorplex (Nashville). He holds the track record at Bristol International Speedway, for wins with twelve victories, and for pole positions at Martinsville Speedway, with 8 pole position awards.

In 1976, Gatorade became Waltrip's primary sponsor as he started his first full race season at age 29, driving the DiGard Gatorade Chevrolet. Waltrip won only one Winston Cup race in 1976, the Virginia 500, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, but in 1977 and 1978, working with legendary NASCAR crew chief Buddy Parrott, he won six times each year, including his first of four career victories at the Talladega Superspeedway, in Talladega, AL, on May 1, 1977, and his first of a five career victories in the series' longest race, a grueling 600 mile race, the Coca-Cola 600 (formerly the World 600), May 28, 1978. Waltrip, and Parrott, would win 21 NASCAR races together from 1977 through 1980.

In perhaps the most famous and most well known NASCAR race, the 1979 Daytona 500, held February 18, 1979, a race that Richard Petty won, Waltrip was a pre-race favorite to win the race. As the first NASCAR race covered "flag to flag" on national television, Cale Yarborough, and Donnie Allison, while battling for the lead on the last lap, came together and crashed hard, taking each other out in the third turn. While the Allison and Yarborough cars were spinning and coming to rest in the grassy infield, attention turned quickly to the new leaders, Richard Petty running third, and Waltrip, running closely behind in fourth, as a fist fight ensued between Yarborough, Donnie Allison, and his brother and racer, Bobby Allison, in the turn three grass. Earlier in the race, Waltrip's DiGard Gatorade Oldsmobile, dropped a cylinder and while able to hang onto the slipstream of the Petty car on the final lap, was not able to draft past the Petty car in the fourth turn on the final lap due to the reduction in horsepower. Still, Waltrip finished runner-up in perhaps the most famous race in NASCAR history, and was an early turning point in Waltrip's career.

The 1979 Daytona 500 would be an early season precursor for the remaining nine months of the racing season. Waltrip and Petty would engage in a bitter battle, race after race, for the 1979 NASCAR championship. In that 1979 season, Waltrip won seven Winston Cup races and was a serious contender for what would have been his first championship despite numerous engine failures, mechanical problems, and differences with DiGard management. On September 23, 1979, after winning pole position and leading 184 laps at the Old Dominion 500, at Martinsville, Virginia, Waltrip again experienced engine failure. The DiGard team pitted the car and made a rare mid-race engine change in a record 11 minutes. Waltrip lost 29 laps in the pits but was able to finish 11th, as Petty finished 2nd.

At the start of the final race of the season, the Los Angeles Times 500, at Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario, California, Waltrip led Richard Petty by a scant two points in the year-long championship battle after finishing the race fifth ahead of Petty's sixth-place finish in the previous race, the Dixie 500, Atlanta Motor Speedway, November 4, 1979. However, Petty won an unprecedented seventh, and his final, NASCAR Cup Series championship by finishing the final race of the season in 5th position, as Waltrip finished eighth. The final margin of Petty's championship victory over Waltrip was only eleven points, the third-closest points race in NASCAR Cup Series history.

Waltrip closed out the 1970s driving the No. 88 DiGard Chevrolet, sponsored by Gatorade, ranked NASCAR's No. 2 driver, having won 22 Winston Cup races in just 149 race starts. His aggressive driving style and outspoken demeanor earned him the nickname "Jaws", a reference to the 1975 film about a killer shark. The nickname was given to Waltrip by rival Cale Yarborough in an interview after Waltrip crashed Yarborough and D.K. Ulrich out of the 1977 Southern 500. Ulrich assumed that Yarborough had caused the wreck and questioned him after the race, to which Yarborough famously responded, "That Jaws ran into you." Waltrip himself preferred the nicknames "D.W." or "D-Dubya" but he acknowledged Yarborough by displaying an inflatable toy shark in his pit at the next race.

At the height of his NASCAR Cup Series success in the early 1980s, fans often booed Waltrip, in large part because of his success on the track defeating more established drivers with large fan followings, but also because of his open criticism of NASCAR, his admitting to condoning cheating, and his aggressive "take no prisoners", "win at all costs" approach to driving. Doing him no favors was his widely publicized falling-out with DiGard leadership, where he publicly admitted that he would not have won a championship as long as he drove for them. He attempted several times to be released from his driving contract with DiGard in 1980, a year in which Waltrip won five Winston Cup races. Still, Waltrip had a huge and devoted fan following. It was often said by race commentators and sports columnists that "you either hate him or love him".

It was Waltrip's rival Cale Yarborough, driver for legendary owner Junior Johnson, that privately told Waltrip that he intended to cut back on his racing appearances and leave Junior Johnson & Associates team at the end of the 1980 season, opening the position for Waltrip, but only if Waltrip could successfully negotiate an early termination of his contract with DiGard. Waltrip successfully negotiated his exit from DiGard, and would take over the No. 11 for 1981.

Junior Johnson years: 1981–1986 1983 Junior Johnson Pepsi Challenger Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS. The paint scheme also found its way on a Nimrod NRA/C2 Waltrip drove in the 1983 24 Hours of Daytona. Waltrip's success driving the Junior Johnson prepared cars came immediately and even surpassed the highly successful years he had with DiGard. In his first two years as driver for the Mountain Dew sponsored Buick Regal, Waltrip won 12 races each year, and his first two NASCAR Winston Cup Series (Winston Cup) championships, in 1981 and 1982. Waltrip's success and driving prowess helped to bring the Buick Grand National into prominence. The company later honored the Waltrip years with throwback paint schemes, once in 2006 and again in 2008.

It was during the early 1980s, with Junior Johnson, that Waltrip first worked with Jeff Hammond, a pit crewman for Johnson. Hammond was at first skeptical of Waltrip's driving style since it differed so much from the former driver for whom he worked, Cale Yarborough. Yarborough made adjustments to his driving based on the handling of the car in a particular race whereas Waltrip wanted the car adjusted around his driving style. Hammond eventually came to appreciate Waltrip's "finesse", and smooth driving style which proved highly successful. Waltrip and Hammond would benefit from each other's knowledge and abilities and would work together for most of their careers in the sport. Waltrip and Hammond work together, even today, as broadcaster and analyst at Fox Sports, and Speed TV.

Waltrip's first season with Junior Johnson was a huge success. He won twelve races including big races such as the Rebel 500, the Food City 500, and the Riverside 400 event. He almost swept Talladega for his 1981 season by nearly winning the Talladega 500. On the final lap rookie Ron Bouchard dove under Waltrip and Terry Labonte to take the lead. Bouchard beat Waltrip by a foot in a 3-wide drag race in what has been called the biggest upset in NASCAR history. Waltrip reportedly said "Where the hell did he come from?" in an interview. Waltrip also stated in a post-race conference that part of the reason he lost the race was because he thought Bouchard was a lap down and therefore did not block Bouchard.

He ended 1981 with eleven poles, twelve wins, 21 top fives, and 25 top tens. Not only did Waltrip win twelve races, he also won the Winston Cup championship over nemesis Bobby Allison, rallying from a nearly 300-point deficit in midsummer and taking the points lead for keeps with a second-place finish at Dover in September. Waltrip then strung together four consecutive victories and ran well in the final two races of the season to win by 53 points.

In 1982, Waltrip again won twelve races and basically repeated his 1981 season. He claimed his second championship in a row that year, again scratching and clawing his way past Bobby Allison with a late-season charge, taking the lead at Martinsville in October, and winning the title by 72 points.

At the 1983 Daytona 500 on February 20, 1983, Waltrip, a pre-race favorite to win the race, drove the Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS Pepsi Challenger. He was involved in an accident when his car spun on lap 64, at exit of turn 4, at nearly , as he was making an evasive maneuver to avoid rear-ending a much slower car ahead of him. Waltrip locked his brakes but the car slid for several hundred feet, then struck an earthen embankment near the entrance to pit road. The force of the impact was so violent that Waltrip's car was thrown back onto the track, in front of oncoming traffic. Waltrip then made hard contact with the outside concrete retaining wall once again into oncoming traffic. Cale Yarborough, the eventual winner of the race, barely avoided hitting the demolished Pepsi Challenger. Waltrip was taken by ambulance to the Halifax Medical Center for observation and medical treatment. The crash was a wake-up call and a life-changing event for Waltrip. When he heard drivers and fans joking that the crash would "knock him conscious" or "finally shut him up", he realized for the first time how unpopular he was and resolved to clean up his image. The years following that crash would see a different Darrell Waltrip, one who worked hard to repair and rebuild his relationship with fans and fellow drivers. Years later, Waltrip would be voted (by NASCAR fans) "Most Popular Driver", two years in a row, (1989, 1990).

1985 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo owned by Junior Johnson, and driven by Waltrip to the 1985 NASCAR driving championshipWaltrip would continue his unprecedented success driving for Junior Johnson through the 1986 season, winning his third and final Winston Cup championship, in 1985, winning the inaugural All-Star race, The Winston, in 1985, and compiling 43 total wins with the team.

Waltrip recognized the new and rapid expansion of the sport's popularity among teens and young adults and others never before considered NASCAR fans. The growth was primarily due to increasing national network and cable subscription television which televised almost every NASCAR event live, and the growing interest of new family oriented sponsors never before associated with motorsports. NASCAR was becoming a multi-regional sport enjoyed by men, women and children alike. In addition to the influx of money from new sponsors and television, the more astute NASCAR team owners embraced new resources such as computers, telemetry, research and development, multi-car teams for information sharing, wind-tunnel testing, and engineering. Waltrip, now one of two drivers for Johnson, envisioned the future of NASCAR and sought to take advantage of the coming changes something his car owner, Junior Johnson a pioneer of the sport, was somewhat reluctant to embrace. Johnson and his team had enjoyed success for decades and won numerous races and championships spanning decades using his own formulas for success.

Aware of Junior Johnson's long-standing steadfast rule of never discussing an adjustment to a driver's contractual salary, and never really comfortable with the allocation of resources that Johnson's two car team required, Waltrip approached Johnson about an increase in his contract salary. Although the story as told by Waltrip is most likely folklore, Waltrip drove his final race for Junior Johnson on November 16, 1986, in a Chevrolet sponsored by Budweiser finishing 4th at that year's Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway, completing one of the most successful owner/driver partnerships in all of motorsports history. Waltrip and Johnson remained close friends and respected each other as pioneers and champions of the sport.

Hendrick Motorsports years: 1987–1990

Waltrip's partnership with car owner Junior Johnson led to huge success with three NASCAR Winston Cup Series (Winston Cup) championships and 43 Winston Cup wins. The connection between fast cars and alcohol consumption became a concern for him. He began to seek other opportunities after a conversation with his friend and pastor Cortez Cooper. Johnson had signed Budweiser to be his team's primary sponsor in 1984, which unintentionally made Waltrip one of the faces of the connection he was so concerned about.

Years before, Waltrip had opened a Honda dealership in his home town of Franklin, Tennessee, with the help of his friend, Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. During the 1986 season, Waltrip and Hendrick discussed the possibility of Waltrip joining the Hendrick organization, which fielded cars for Geoff Bodine and Tim Richmond and the two discussed the potential of Waltrip moving to a new team. Waltrip was still under contract with Johnson for the 1986 season, but following the year he was able to break the contract in a unique way. As he recounted in an interview for the Fox Sports Net series Beyond the Glory in 2001, Waltrip gained his release by purposely breaking one of Johnson's cardinal rules: asking for a raise (Johnson forbade his drivers from discussing money matters, including raises, with him). After signing, Hendrick formed a third team for Waltrip, carrying the No. 17 and sponsored by Tide.

In 1987, his first year with Hendrick Motorsports, Waltrip had limited success, compared to his previous years with Johnson. He won only one race (at the Goody's 500) and had six Top 5 finishes. In 1988, he won two races, including his fourth Coca-Cola 600 win.

In the first race of 1989, the Daytona 500, Waltrip won the race for the first time in his seventeenth attempt with a fuel conservation strategy along with his long-time crew chief Jeff Hammond, making his final pit stop for fuel a distant 53 laps (132 miles) from the finish. Most of the other cars could run no more than 45 or 46 laps on a tank of fuel, so that meant Waltrip would need to feather the throttle and draft off other cars in order to save enough fuel to make it to the finish without an additional pit stop. Hammond, interviewed by television pit reporters during the final laps of the race, said that his strategy was for Waltrip to "draft off anybody, and everybody", to save fuel. Even though Waltrip's car ran much slower than other cars in the last 53 laps, he was able to avoid making the additional pit stop for fuel that the other cars had to make. The strategy provided Waltrip with the track position needed to win the race. His post-race interview with CBS pit reporter Mike Joy, became famous, with Waltrip shouting "I won the Daytona 500! I won the Daytona 500! Wait, this is the Daytona 500 ain't it? ...Thank God!", accompanied by the "Ickey Shuffle" dance in Victory Lane. Later, after the Daytona 500 win, Waltrip visited president George H. W. Bush at the white House in Washington, D.C.

Waltrip's popularity as a driver would come full circle on the evening of The Winston, an all-star racing event held May 21, 1989, (an event that did not award points toward the NASCAR national championship), at Charlotte Motor Speedway. With two laps to go, Waltrip was leading the race and poised to win when Rusty Wallace hit his car exiting the fourth turn, sending him into the infield and costing him the victory and the $200,000 purse. Not only was Waltrip and his crew upset at being knocked out of the victory, the 150,000 fans watching the race issued boos to Wallace, the winner. The two crews scuffled in the pits and harsh words were said after the race. Waltrip was quoted after the race as saying "I hope he chokes on it", referring to the $200,000 that Wallace collected for the victory. Waltrip's car was clearly superior to that of Wallace and, had it not been for the contact initiated by Wallace on the final lap, Waltrip would have won the all-star event. During the 1989, and 1990 seasons, Waltrip was voted NASCAR's Most Popular Driver by fans.

Waltrip would win six races in 1989, his best year with Hendrick Motorsports, and helped develop NASCAR's version of the new Chevrolet Lumina in 1989, and delivered its first victory by winning a historic and unprecedented fifth Coca-Cola 600 that May. Besides establishing a race record for victories, the win prepared him for a chance to win the one remaining "major race" which had eluded him since his first race at the Heinz Southern 500 at Darlington. A Darlington victory would award him a one million dollar bonus for winning three of the sport's four majors in the same season, the Daytona 500, the Winston 500, Coca-Cola 600, and the Mountain Dew Southern 500. The pressure of both the million dollar bonus and Career Grand Slam adversely affected Waltrip. He made contact with the wall early in the 1989 Southern 500 and was never a contender for winning the race, and the million dollar bonus.

For many reasons, Waltrip was unable to carry his success of the previous year into 1990. Waltrip failed to visit victory lane all season although he finished second in a controversial finish in the season's seventh race, the First Union 400, at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Brett Bodine had led 63 laps in the middle of the race and then re-took the lead on lap 318 after short pitting on a round of green flag pit stops. When the caution came out on lap 321, the pace car mistakenly picked up Dale Earnhardt as the race leader, putting Brett almost a full lap in front of the entire field. During the ensuing confusion of a seventeen lap caution flag (NASCAR did not have electronic scoring at the time) Bodine was able to make a pit stop for fresh tires without losing any positions. When NASCAR reset the lineup with Bodine as the leader, he led the final 83 laps of the race (a race-high 146 laps overall) to take the victory.

"We messed up," said Chip Williams, NASCAR's public relations director. "By throwing the caution on the second-place car, it kept Bodine in the lead. He slipped into the pits and came out without losing the lead because the pace car was keeping the second-place car back. We messed up by picking up the wrong car. It was a judgment call." Waltrip filed a protest post-race, only to be denied on the grounds that judgment calls were not subject to protest/appeal. 1990 was the first year since 1974, that Waltrip did not win a race and Waltrip still remains irked to this very day over the result. Waltrip only visited victory lane five more times and never won again after 1992.

While practicing for his five-hundredth career NASCAR start in the Pepsi 400, at Daytona, Waltrip's car spun in oil laid down by another car experiencing engine failure, and was hit by an oncoming car driven by Dave Marcis. Waltrip suffered a broken arm, a broken leg, and a concussion. He missed the Pepsi 400, but came back to run one lap at Pocono, before giving way to Jimmy Horton as a relief driver. (A driver who starts, and completes one lap, is credited the NASCAR points regardless of who is driving the car at the finish). Despite missing the next five races due to his injuries, Waltrip finished twentieth in driver points and the team finished fifth in owner points with substitute drivers taking turns in the car.

Owner-driver years: 1991–mid-1998

After his fourth season as a driver for Hendrick Motorsports, Waltrip formed his own team to field cars in the 1991 Winston Cup season. Driving his own cars had been his passion since he successfully drove his own cars in his early NASCAR career in the early and mid-1970s. He would continue his relationship with Chevrolet and drive a Chevrolet Lumina with Western Auto as the primary team sponsor. Waltrip purchased team assets, including the racing facilities, from his former owner Rick Hendrick in Charlotte, North Carolina, and hired long-time friend and crew chief, Jeff Hammond, to oversee the building of race cars and to continue as crew chief. Waltrip and Hammond enjoyed much success together as Hammond had been with Waltrip during the championship-winning years with Junior Johnson, and most of the Hendrick Motorsports years, and was Waltrip's crew chief for his 1989 Daytona 500 win and three of his five Coca-Cola 600 wins.

In the 1991 season, Waltrip visited victory lane twice, his first win in his second stint as owner-driver coming in only the 7th race of the season on April 21, 1991, in the First Union 400, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. His second win of the year came in the thirteenth race of the season on June 16, 1991, in the Champion Spark Plug 500, at Pocono Raceway, in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.

Just two races after celebrating his second win of 1991, Waltrip would again be involved in another serious crash at the summer Daytona race. On lap 119, Waltrip and Alan Kulwicki were racing side by side, leading a large grouping of cars battling for 5th position, with Kulwicki receiving drafting help from Sterling Marlin. Heading down the backstretch, Marlin bumped Kulwicki, causing his car to hit Waltrip's Western Auto Chevrolet at speeds approaching 200 mph on the long backstretch. Waltrip's car slowed and was collected by Joe Ruttman's car, both cars sliding sideways several hundred feet on the grassy infield. Waltrip's tires clipped the edge of an access road causing it to become airborne and tumbling end over end several times before coming to a stop, upside-down, in a grassy area near turn three. Waltrip was extricated and only suffered minor injuries but many feared that he could have re-injured his shattered leg from the crash at the same track the previous year. (Slow-motion video and still photography showed that Waltrip's left arm was outside the car as the car tumbled, and came to rest.) Waltrip still had a plate in his left leg from the compound fractures he suffered in the earlier crash at the Pepsi 400, at the Daytona International Speedway, (Waltrip commented on the January 10, 2013 SPEED Television broadcast of the Daytona NASCAR winter testing that he had spent more time in the hospital from injuries suffered at Daytona than at any other track he had raced). Waltrip would compete in the following race, the summer race at Pocono, but was crashed again when Ernie Irvan spun Hut Stricklin in front of almost the entire field. Waltrip won the year's spring race at the track just five weeks before.

Waltrip finished the first year of his second stint as owner-driver 8th in the overall Winston Cup points championship, after being as high as third place after fourteen races. His first year was generally viewed as a successful first year outing. However, Waltrip was now 44 years old, had children, and had many pressures as owner/driver that he did not concern himself with driving for multimillion-dollar, highly financed race teams, such as Hendrick Motorsports.

In 1992, Waltrip collected three more wins, including the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington in September (the last major race which had eluded his 20-year career), and finished 9th in points, after being as high as sixth after 22 races. That would be Waltrip's 84th and final NASCAR career victory, tying him with Bobby Allison for what was then third on the all-time list behind Richard Petty, with 200 wins, and David Pearson, with 105 wins. Both he and Allison have since been passed by Jeff Gordon, who has 93 wins by the time he retired at the end of the 2015 season.

In 1993, Waltrip signed former Richard Childress Racing engine builder Lou LaRosa, to build engines, and Barry Dodson, a former championship-winning crew chief. He posted four top-ten finishes but did not finish higher than third. 1994 saw him make his final appearance in the top ten in championship points by finishing ninth. He had a then-unprecedented streak over two seasons, of 40 races, without a DNF, all with in-house engines. His only engine failure in the season was after the car crossed the finish line. Waltrip finished 19th in points in 1995 when he crashed at The Winston and was forced to let relief drivers take over for several weeks. His second half of the season was highlighted by his final career pole position at the NAPA 500.

In 1996, Waltrip posted two top-ten finishes. Western Auto remained the sponsor as part of Waltrip's 25th-anniversary celebration. While the year was one of Waltrip's most profitable, his results continued to fall off.

At the 1997 UAW-GM Quality 500, Waltrip failed to qualify for the first time in over twenty years as Terry Labonte also failed to make the race. Because Labonte was a more recent Cup champion (in fact, he was the defending Cup champion that season), he was able to take the past champion's provisional. Waltrip, who was twentieth in owner points, was too low in the owner points position to make the race (only the top-four in owner points of cars not in the field, excluding the most recent former champion not in the field, were added after qualifying under 1997 rules). After the season, Waltrip and his team struggled to find sponsors, but were able to put together a last-minute deal with the Ohio-based company Speedblock for 1998. Speedblock only paid portions of what was promised, and the deal was canceled. Waltrip's team at this point was nearly insolvent, and he sold the team to Tim Beverly. Waltrip's final race as an owner-driver was at the TranSouth Financial 400, and was originally post-drive a sponsorless car, but instead decided to drive a "Tim Flock Special" as the former 2-time Grand National Series champion was fighting liver and throat cancer and was without medical insurance, and Waltrip wanted to help raise money for Flock and his family by having a trust fund with NASCAR's 50th Anniversary. Flock died at age 73, just nine days after the race. In 2008, Waltrip admitted the reason that he failed as a driver-owner team was because he thought like a driver, not as an owner.

1998 mid season with DEI

Beverly chose not to race the team immediately, instead choosing to rebuild the team (now part of Tyler Jet Motorsports after two sales and a merger). During this time, Waltrip signed with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. to drive the No. 1 Pennzoil Chevy, filling in for injured rookie Steve Park. During his tenure with DEI, Waltrip posted a fifth-place finish at the California 500, and led in the final stages of the Pocono 500, and finished sixth.

Final years of racing: 1998–2000

At the 1998 Brickyard 400, Beverly returned Waltrip's former team, now as the No. 35 Tyler Jet Motorsports Chevrolet Monte Carlo with Tabasco sponsorship with Waltrip driving. A sponsorship conflict with Tabasco would switch the team to the Pontiac Grand Prix. Waltrip resigned at the end of the season, citing performance issues. After a brief flirtation with retirement, Waltrip signed to drive the No. 66 Big K Ford Taurus for Haas-Carter Motorsports, with teammate Jimmy Spencer. Waltrip failed to qualify seven times during that season with a new qualifying rule for the Past Champion's Provisional. On August 5, 1999, Waltrip announced during the practice session for the Brickyard 400 that he would retire from NASCAR at the end of the 2000 season following a farewell tour.

During his retirement year of 2000, Waltrip's best run came at the Brickyard 400, where he qualified on the outside pole and finished eleventh. For the Coca-Cola 600, Waltrip bought a ride from Carl Long and Mansion Motorsports. His final race came on November 20, 2000, in the NAPA 500, at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he posted a 34th-place finish in the Haas-Carter Motorsports owned No. 66 Route 66 Big K Ford Taurus. He finished 36th in points that season and failed to qualify six times.

Craftsman Truck Series

In 1995, Waltrip built a Craftsman Truck Series team, and found success by 1997, when Rich Bickle finished second in overall season standings, winning three races, and made Waltrip one of the few car owners to have won races in NASCAR's three national series. When Sears ceased sponsorship of the team in 1997, Waltrip suspended his truck team, not returning until 2004, when he re-entered the series as an owner and part of Toyota's NASCAR development program.

Broadcast career: 2001–2019 Prior to retiring from racing, Waltrip provided commentary on several IROC broadcasts for ABC. Also, from 1994 to 1998, on weekends that Winston Cup was not competing, had provided commentary on many NASCAR Busch Series (one level below Winston Cup) races broadcasts on TNN, teaming with Mike Joy. In 2001, after his final 2000 season as a NASCAR driver, Waltrip signed with Fox, to be lead NASCAR Winston Cup Series (Winston Cup) analyst and race commentator on the network's NASCAR telecasts, teaming with Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds.

Inaugural broadcasts and safety advocate Waltrip began his career with Fox at the 2001 Daytona 500. His younger brother, Michael Waltrip, won the race, but Michael's victory was overshadowed by the death of Dale Earnhardt. On the final scheduled lap, Earnhardt's car made contact with Sterling Marlin, as the black No. 3 drifted low on the track, probably attempting a blocking maneuver so that either Michael Waltrip or Dale Earnhardt Jr.driving for Dale Sr.'s DEI, although he himself drove for RCRwould win the race. After contacting the Marlin car, Earnhardt's car suddenly veered right and slammed hard head-on into the retaining wall in turn four. Earnhardt's car came to rest in the infield as Michael Waltrip won the race, with Darrell Waltrip shouting for joy as he called the final run to the checkered flag. His joy at his brother's victory soon gave way to concern for Earnhardt as he watched replays of the crash.

Waltrip and Earnhardt had been bitter rivals on the track in the 1980s but as the years passed, the rivalry and bitterness had given way to a deep respect and close friendship. After the race, Waltrip was taken from the Fox Broadcast booth to the Halifax Medical Center to meet with the Earnhardt family and his brother Michael. Waltrip later gave the invocation at Earnhardt's funeral, and gave the invocation at the following week's race praying for Earnhardt and the promise of moving on from the tragedy.

At the following week's race, Waltrip interviewed NASCAR President Mike Helton for a pre-race segment during the broadcast. This was before NASCAR mandated the use of the HANS device to reduce the risk of catastrophic head and neck injuries, and the "SAFER" (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers used at all NASCAR tracks today. Waltrip believed that the deaths of Earnhardt, Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, Jr. and Tony Roper in the previous ten months, all caused by basilar skull fractures incurred in accidents, were too many, and was not shy about asking Helton for an explanation. Helton's responses irritated Waltrip, who was noted by one magazine for "acting a lot more like the next Mike Wallace (of 60 Minutes) than the next John Madden". Waltrip delivered the pre-race invocation for the race in Earnhardt's honor.

As a long-time advocate for motorsports safety, Waltrip then pushed for mandatory head-and-neck restraints, and two weeks later, demonstrated the device during the broadcast at Atlanta Motor Speedway, explaining the benefits and how the device worked. Seven months later, NASCAR mandated the devices after a crash during an ARCA Re/Max Series race, held after qualifying for the UAW-GM Quality 500, killed driver Blaise Alexander.

Broadcast style As the cars take the green flag to start each race, Waltrip shouts "Boogity, boogity, boogity, let's go racing boys!" This somewhat nonsensical phrase has become Waltrip's trademark in recent years. (The phrase "boogity, boogity, boogity" also appears in the 1960 doo wop parody "Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)" by Barry Mann.) Humble Pie used the shorter phrase "boogity-boogity" in their 1970 song "Red Light Mama, Red Hot". Ray Stevens used the phrase throughout his 1974 hit, "The Streak". Jerry Reed also said this phrase in the 1977 movie "Smokey and the Bandit." Waltrip was featured on a 1992 home video from Ray Stevens entitled the Amazing Rolling Revue. In this home video Waltrip played the part of the out of control driver of the tour bus/rolling venue. Waltrip explained that the catchphrase arose because, as a driver, he grew tired of hearing his spotter or crew chief say "green, green, green" at the start of every race and wanted to hear something more original. The catchphrase had always been preceded by fellow analyst and former crew chief Larry McReynolds telling Waltrip to "reach up there and pull those belts tight one more time!" until recent years, when McReynolds used the phrase less and less and eventually phased it out altogether.

In 2011, Waltrip stated that his favorite race to have broadcast thus far was the 2010 Aaron's 499. The race lead was exchanged many times among many different drivers rather than the lead being dominated by a single driver. The race ended with driver Kevin Harvick beating driver Jamie McMurray for the win by only the length of a bumper.

Waltrip also lends his unique verbiage to his commentary, speaking of "coop-petetion" when racers work together, but keep each other under a watchful eye, "s'perince" when talking about driving skills of a veteran driver, and "using the chrome horn", when a driver somewhat purposefully bumps a car that's in the way (bumpers on cars used to be made of metal and coated in chrome). In early 2007, Waltrip was nominated for an Emmy in the category "Outstanding Event Analyst".

In March 2011, FOX awarded Waltrip a 2-year contract extension, taking him through 2014, the same year the network's NASCAR contract ended.

In October 2011, Waltrip, Joy, Calvin Fish and Australian Leigh Diffey traveled to Australia to host Speed's coverage of the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 race held at the famous Mount Panorama Circuit. Since Waltrip had not hosted in Australia before, he counted on Australian NASCAR driver Marcos Ambrose to help him learn about the country. During the trip, in regards to hosting, Waltrip and Joy are most famous for helping Ambrose reconcile with a former Bathurst rival Greg Murphy, known for an infamous Lap 145 dustup at the 2005 event following a restart that led to a famous squabble. The interview took place during a safety car session after Murphy had exited the car during a driver change. In the days leading up to the race, Waltrip was taken on a few laps of the track by Supercars Championship driver Jason Bright in Bright's Brad Jones Racing Holden VE Commodore, describing the 6.213 km (3.861 mi) long mountain circuit as a "Geological oddity".

Waltrip announced his retirement from broadcasting on April 4, 2019, at Bristol Motor Speedway citing his desire to spend more time with his wife and grandchildren. His final race in the broadcast booth was the 2019 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. He has also announced the 2022 Food City Dirt Race.

Post-Cup Series retirement Waltrip fielded a Toyota sponsored by Japanese industrial giant NTN for his Craftsman Truck Series team in 2004. David Reutimann drove the truck for the team and earned Rookie of the Year honors that year. Waltrip's team expanded to two trucks in 2005. In August 2005, the revived Darrell Waltrip Motorsports won its first race, the Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Superspeedway with Reutimann driving. During the 2007 season, A.J. Allmendinger drove the No. 00 Red Bull Toyota but with minimal success. By years end the team was sold to The Racer's Group, a road racing operation.

Waltrip has made occasional starts (three or less each year) in the Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series since his "retirement" in 2000. Each of these races have been either at Martinsville Speedway or Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Waltrip was the honorary starter at the 2007 Food City 500 and was also the honorary starter for the 2008 Gatorade Duel as Gatorade was one of Waltrip's former sponsors. He also started/completed a Busch Series race at Martinsville in his brother's "Aaron's Dream Machine" after appearing in ads in 2003–2005 begging his brother to let him drive the Aaron's Dream Machine.

In 2009, he appeared in commercials for Rejuvenate Auto with his No. 11 Mountain Dew Chevrolet. Waltrip also appeared in Fox public service announcements for breast cancer awareness.

In 2010 and 2011, Waltrip voiced his support for saving the old Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, now known as simply the Fairgrounds Speedway, in Nashville. The speedway was first opened in 1904, and hosted a weekly racing series for decades. It is the track where Waltrip first had success at weekly racing events in the 1960s and 70s, winning two track championships and where his first NASCAR victory came May 10, 1975. The speedway and adjacent Tennessee State Fairgrounds is located in an urban area of south Nashville, roughly from its downtown business district. Some residents living close to the speedway have complained of noise and many local politicians have proposed closing the speedway and developing the property.

Waltrip retired as a race commentator for Fox at the end of the 2019 racing season. In March 2011, FOX announced that Waltrip would continue as their lead NASCAR analyst and race commentator through 2014. In May 2015, FOX announced that Jeff Gordon would join him and Mike Joy starting in 2016, replacing their long-time broadcast partner Larry McReynolds.

In 2017, Waltrip announced on his Twitter page that he had undergone a knee replacement from an injury that occurred during the 1991 Pepsi 400. This was also mentioned in his Facebook account.

Waltrip currently owns Honda, Volvo, Subaru, and Buick/GMC automobile dealerships in Franklin, Tennessee, in partnership with his former team owner Rick Hendrick.

Legacy Waltrip is considered by most in the racing community as a true ambassador to the sport of motor racing. He is a promoter of all forms of racing, especially American stock car auto racing.

As a Fox Sports analyst and broadcaster, Waltrip's opinions, views and comments carry considerable weight with drivers, team owners, fans and NASCAR heads. Waltrip has never been shy about expressing his views, even if controversial.

Waltrip has been a design consultant on some of the newer tracks including the Kentucky Motor Speedway, and the Nashville Superspeedway.

Waltrip has a building which holds many of the race cars he drove throughout his career.

He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2003. He also appeared in the broadcast booth in the films Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, where his phrase was "You know, Larry, there's good days in racing and there's bad days, Ricky Bobby just had himself a bad day". On December 15, 2006, Waltrip played the role of Mother Ginger in the Nashville Ballet's production of The Nutcracker.

He appeared in advertisements for Toyota and Aaron's alongside his brother, Michael, where his gimmick was constantly asking Michael's permission to drive the Aaron's Dream Machine (a nickname for the No. 99 Nationwide Series car). Waltrip has also made a number of appearances in "comedic" segments appearing during his actual Fox broadcasts.

He was featured in two NASCAR Series videos Darrell Waltrip: Quicksilver which explained Waltrip's career and future and he appeared in the NASCAR Video series where he teaches helpful driving tips for driving on the freeway and long-distance drives.

In February 2011, Waltrip appeared in The Day which was a one-hour documentary about the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt at the 2001 Daytona 500.

Waltrip initially believed accidents would happen to him. He was featured in a video testimonial on IamSecond.com talking about his Christian faith in Jesus Christ in which he discussed the meaninglessness of the rest of his career, compared to that relationship.

Waltrip, along with fellow commentators Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon, made a cameo appearance as themselves in the 2017 heist comedy film Logan Lucky.

Books and magazines Waltrip has also been successful in the publishing field. In September 1994, he was featured as the cover story in Guideposts.

His autobiography, DW: A Lifetime Going Around in Circles, was a New York Times best-seller when it was released around the 2004 Daytona 500. The book was co-written with Jade Gurss.

In May 2004, Waltrip became the second sports figure to be featured in former NBA player and basketball coach Jay Carty's One-on-One series of devotional books. Darrell Waltrip One-on-One: The Faith that Took Him to the Finish Line is a sixty-day devotional book featuring Waltrip's stories and how they can relate to Christian faith, and Carty's devotionals.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series NASCAR Winston Cup Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Pts Ref 1972 Darrell Waltrip Motorsports 95 Mercury RSD DAY RCH ONT CAR ATL BRI DAR NWS MAR TAL38 CLT DOV MCH RSD TWS DAY BRI TRN ATL8 TAL27 MCH NSV3 DAR RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT6 CAR TWS 56th 827 1973 RSD DAY12 RCH CAR6 BRI30 ATL33 NWS DAR24 MAR TAL31 NSV24 CLT7 DOV TWS2 RSD MCH DAY25 BRI ATL31 TAL7 28th 2968.2 Chevy NSV24 DOV20 Bud Moore Engineering 15 Ford DAR8 RCH26 NWS30 MAR CLT38 CAR27 1974 Darrell Waltrip Motorsports 95 Chevy RSD DAY7 RCH CAR25 BRI ATL7 DAR9 NWS MAR TALDNQ NSV3 DOV20 CLT4 RSD MCH DAY24 BRI NSV3 ATL4 POC TAL44 MCH DAR2 RCH DOV35 NWS MAR CLT3 CAR5 ONT6 19th 609.97 1975 17 RSD DAY26 RCH15 CAR21 BRI6 ATL5 NWS7 DAR2 MAR2 TAL4 NSV1 DOV22 CLT4 RSD21 MCH5 DAY4 NSV28 POC34 7th 3462 DiGard Racing 88 Chevy TAL42 MCH7 DAR34 DOV27 NWS3 MAR17 CLT24 RCH1 CAR32 BRI3 ATL36 ONT 1976 RSD21 DAY32 CAR2 RCH24 BRI2 ATL5 NWS22 DAR31 MAR1* TAL33 NSV12 DOV30 CLT11 RSD6 MCH29 DAY39 NSV3 POC26 TAL37 MCH27 BRI3 DAR3 RCH4 DOV31 MAR2 NWS24 CLT11 CAR3 ATL7 ONT40 8th 3505 1977 RSD9 DAY7 RCH2 CAR2 ATL7 NWS7 DAR1 BRI19 MAR21 TAL1 NSV3 DOV4 CLT6 RSD26 MCH35 DAY2 NSV1 POC3 TAL22 MCH1 BRI2 DAR6* RCH7 DOV5 MAR10 NWS1 CLT5 CAR3 ATL1 ONT29 4th 4498 1978 RSD23 DAY28 RCH4 CAR21 ATL35 BRI1 DAR2 NWS1* MAR1* TAL22 DOV6* CLT1* NSV26 RSD16 MCH28* DAY3 NSV2 POC1* TAL34 MCH3 BRI3 DAR2 RCH1 DOV5 MAR2 NWS2* CLT2 CAR3 ATL28 ONT5 3rd 4362 1979 RSD1* CAR17 RCH3 ATL3 NWS5 BRI3 DAR1* MAR3 NSV21 DOV18 CLT1* TWS1* RSD2 MCH13 NSV1* MCH19 BRI1 DAR11* RCH2 DOV29 MAR11 CLT3 NWS13 CAR6 ATL5 ONT8 2nd 4819 Olds DAY2 TAL2 DAY4 TAL1* Al Rudd Auto 22 Chevy POC7* 1980 DiGard Racing 88 Chevy RSD1* RCH1* CAR4 ATL28 BRI2 DAR4 NWS12 MAR1* NSV4 DOV20 CLT2* TWS4 RSD1 MCH26 NSV4 POC26 BRI3 DAR25* RCH6 DOV1* NWS2 MAR21 CLT18 CAR3 ATL26 ONT25* 5th 4239 Olds DAY40 TAL42 DAY31 TAL11 Halpern Enterprises 02 Chevy MCH4* 1981 Junior Johnson & Associates 11 Chevy RSD17 1st 4880 Buick DAY36 RCH1* CAR1 ATL36 BRI1* NWS3 DAR1* MAR26 TAL3 NSV2 DOV12 CLT9 TWS30 RSD1* MCH7* DAY10 NSV1* POC1* TAL2 MCH2 BRI1* DAR2 RCH3* DOV2 MAR1 NWS1* CLT1 CAR1* ATL2 RSD6 1982 DAY20 RCH27 BRI1* ATL1 CAR7* DAR23 NWS1* MAR5 TAL1 NSV1* DOV15 CLT22 POC13 RSD32 MCH2 DAY36 NSV1* POC6 TAL1* MCH7 BRI1 DAR24 RCH3 DOV1* NWS1* CLT14 MAR1* CAR1 ATL3 RSD3 1st 4489 1983 Chevy DAY36 RCH29 CAR3 ATL40 DAR2 NWS1* MAR1* TAL33 NSV1* DOV2 BRI1* CLT4 RSD7 POC2 MCH4 DAY20 NSV2 POC2 TAL2 MCH2 BRI1* DAR3 RCH3 DOV5 MAR3 NWS1* CLT2 CAR5 ATL9 RSD6* 2nd 4620 1984 DAY3 RCH2* CAR10 ATL10 BRI1* NWS6 DAR1* MAR3 TAL38 NSV1 DOV6 CLT26 RSD11 POC6 MCH3 DAY31 NSV2 POC22 TAL6 MCH1 BRI21* DAR40 RCH1* DOV11 MAR1* CLT27 NWS1* CAR4 ATL6 RSD34 5th 4230 1985 DAY3 RCH3* CAR18 ATL16 BRI23 DAR2 NWS2 MAR23 TAL24 DOV5 CLT1 RSD8 POC3 MCH2 DAY3 POC3 TAL9 MCH2 BRI4* DAR17 RCH1 DOV2 MAR2 NWS14 CLT4 CAR1 ATL3 RSD7 1st 4292 1986 DAY3 RCH5 CAR5 ATL4 BRI3 DAR2 NWS4 MAR27 TAL34 DOV5 CLT5 RSD1 POC40 MCH5 DAY4 POC4 TAL25 GLN2 MCH3 BRI1* DAR5 RCH29 DOV14 MAR4 NWS1 CLT9 CAR3 ATL39 RSD4 2nd 4180 1987 Hendrick Motorsports 17 Chevy DAY8 CAR7 RCH20 ATL6 DAR10 NWS21 BRI12 MAR21 TAL11 CLT5 DOV7 POC13 RSD30 MCH7 DAY4 POC19 TAL4 GLN11 MCH17 BRI21 DAR10 RCH2 DOV10 MAR1 NWS12 CLT9 CAR3 RSD6 ATL18 4th 3911 1988 DAY11 RCH4 CAR24 ATL3 DAR24 BRI23 NWS14 MAR5 TAL37 CLT1 DOV23 RSD28 POC6 MCH8 DAY5 POC5 TAL33* GLN20 MCH17 BRI7 DAR4 RCH8 DOV17 MAR1 CLT2 NWS12 CAR31 PHO13 ATL5 7th 3764 1989 DAY1 CAR29 ATL1 RCH7 DAR36 BRI2 NWS8 MAR1* TAL5 CLT1 DOV9 SON38 POC32 MCH3 DAY19 POC4 TAL2 GLN16 MCH37 BRI1* DAR22 RCH6 DOV18 MAR1 CLT14 NWS20 CAR3 PHO4 ATL5 4th 3971 1990 DAY14 RCH12 CAR6 ATL26 DAR11 BRI9* NWS2 MAR4 TAL10 CLT22 DOV19 SON33 POC8 MCH15 DAYINQ† POC20 TAL GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH3 DOV19 MAR19 NWS7 CLT9 CAR8 PHO4 ATL5 20th 3013 1991 Darrell Waltrip Motorsports DAY24 RCH7 CAR9 ATL9 DAR25 BRI6 NWS1 MAR3 TAL2 CLT8 DOV7 SON25 POC1 MCH7 DAY32 POC29 TAL15 GLN6 MCH32 BRI8 DAR24 RCH7 DOV19 MAR15 NWS20 CLT9 CAR32 PHO2 ATL10 8th 3711 1992 DAY26 CAR10 RCH5 ATL39 DAR24 BRI25 NWS15 MAR3 TAL29 CLT38 DOV5* SON8 POC13 MCH2 DAY13 POC1 TAL23 GLN12 MCH2 BRI1* DAR1 RCH3 DOV20 MAR15 NWS9 CLT34 CAR22 PHO3 ATL23 9th 3659 1993 DAY18 CAR30 RCH8 ATL35 DAR16 BRI6 NWS5 MAR4 TAL26 SON35 CLT11 DOV24 POC30 MCH19 DAY13 NHA19 POC10 TAL37 GLN14 MCH13 BRI29 DAR28 RCH7 DOV3 MAR18 NWS11 CLT19 CAR7 PHO7 ATL3 13th 3479 1994 DAY28 CAR23 RCH16 ATL3 DAR26 BRI15 NWS28 MAR4 TAL14 SON18 CLT30 DOV6 POC30 MCH10 DAY25 NHA23 POC28 TAL24 IND6 GLN7 MCH9 BRI4 DAR13 RCH10 DOV3 MAR10 NWS13 CLT9 CAR23 PHO10 ATL21 9th 3688 1995 DAY32 CAR38 RCH7 ATL34 DAR21 BRI3 NWS10 MAR4 TAL4 SON35 CLT18 DOV20 POC42 MCH26 DAY34 NHA17 POC36 TAL43 IND17 GLN8 MCH15 BRI4 DAR40 RCH22 DOV36 MAR8 NWS14 CLT34 CAR12 PHO38 ATL16 19th 3078 1996 DAY29 CAR16 RCH27 ATL32 DAR34 BRI26 NWS25 MAR16 TAL21 SON14 CLT13 DOV39 POC30 MCH25 DAY26 NHA37 POC40 TAL9 IND40 GLN18 MCH22 BRI11 DAR32 RCH22 DOV39 MAR23 NWS27 CLT42 CAR21 PHO10 ATL37 29th 2657 1997 DAY10 CAR32 RCH16 ATL16 DAR11 TEX43 BRI25 MAR9 SON5 TAL32 CLT21 DOV28 POC7 MCH24 CAL15 DAY14 NHA33 POC26 IND14 GLN18 MCH15 BRI42 DAR26 RCH32 NHA32 DOV32 MAR24 CLTDNQ TAL37 CAR29 PHO12 ATL40 26th 2942 1998 DAY33 CAR41 LVS35 ATL40 DAR30 24th 2957 Dale Earnhardt, Inc. 1 Chevy BRI23 TEX36 MAR40 TAL15 CAL5 CLT17 DOV20 RCH32 MCH12 POC6 SON13 NHA13 POC13 Tyler Jet Motorsports 35 Chevy IND13 GLN25 Pontiac MCH25 BRI27 NHA32 DAR38 RCH18 DOV21 MAR21 CLT22 TAL23 DAY28 PHO31 CAR32 ATL38 1999 Haas-Carter Motorsports 66 Ford DAY21 CAR27 LVS25 ATL20 DAR41 TEX25 BRI32 MAR12 TAL26 CAL15 RCH25 CLT43 DOVDNQ MCH39 POC34 SON12 DAY38 NHA33 POC25 IND42 GLN15 MCHDNQ BRI14 DAR29 RCH32 NHADNQ DOVDNQ MAR23 CLTDNQ TALDNQ CAR34 PHO26 HOM43 ATLDNQ 37th 2158 2000 DAY32 CAR39 LVS38 ATL31 DAR43 BRI31 TEX24 MAR43 TAL26 CAL29 RCHDNQ CLTDNQ DOV33 MCHDNQ POCDNQ SON28 DAY27 NHA33 POC22 IND11 GLN20 MCHDNQ BRI42 DAR42 RCHDNQ NHA29 DOV31 MAR27 CLT30 TAL35 CAR37 PHO33 HOM36 ATL34 36th 1981 Mansion Motorsports 85 Ford CLT36† - Qualified but replaced by Jimmy Horton

Daytona 500 Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish 1973 Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Mercury 11 12 1974 Chevrolet 11 7 1975 33 26 1976 DiGard Racing Chevrolet 4 32 1977 10 7 1978 8 28 1979 Oldsmobile 4 2 1980 7 40 1981 Junior Johnson & Associates Buick 2 36 1982 2 20 1983 Chevrolet 31 36 1984 26 3 1985 3 3 1986 6 3 1987 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 5 8 1988 4 11 1989 2 1 1990 9 14 1991 Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet 10 24 1992 12 26 1993 26 18 1994 32 28 1995 5 32 1996 40 29 1997 22 10 1998 43 33 1999 Haas-Carter Motorsports Ford 43 21 2000 43 32

Busch Series NASCAR Busch Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Pts 1982 Darrell Waltrip Motorsports 47 Pontiac DAY RCH BRI MAR DAR HCY SBO CRW RCH LGY DOV HCY CLT6 ASH HCY SBO CAR CRW SBO HCY LGY IRP BRI HCY RCH MAR 78th 330 17 CLT1 HCY MAR 1983 DAY1 RCH CAR HCY MAR NWS SBO GPS LGY DOV BRI CLT SBO HCY ROU SBO ROU CRW ROU SBO HCY LGY IRP2 GPS BRI HCY DAR RCH NWS SBO MAR ROU CLT11 HCY MAR 52nd 480 1984 DAY1 RCH CAR HCY MAR DAR ROU NSH21 LGY MLW25 DOV CLT2 SBO HCY ROU SBO ROU HCY IRP3 LGY SBO BRI DAR RCH NWS CLT1 HCY CAR MAR 53rd 345 1985 Olds DAY3 CAR HCY 28th 977 Chevy BRI1 MAR DAR11 SBO LGY DOV1 CLT SBO HCY ROU IRP4 SBO LGY HCY MLW17 BRI DAR1 RCH5 NWS ROU CLT HCY CAR MAR 1986 Olds DAY3 CAR HCY MAR 22nd 1743 Chevy BRI6 JFC1 IRP8 SBO OXF35 SBO HCY LGY ROU Pontiac DAR1 SBO LGY DOV1 CLT30 SBO HCY ROU RAL1 DAR21 RCH DOV MAR ROU CLT2 CAR MAR Lindy White Racing 1 Chevy BRI3 1987 Darrell Waltrip Motorsports 17 Chevy DAY2 HCY MAR DAR4 BRI LGY SBO CLT2 DOV IRP34 ROU JFC24 OXF SBO HCY RAL5 LGY ROU BRI26 JFC5 DAR7 RCH DOV MAR CLT2 CAR29 MAR 29th 1439 1988 DAY3 HCY CAR MAR DAR10 BRI LNG NZH SBO NSH1 CLT37 DOV31 ROU LAN LVL16 MYB OXF SBO HCY LNG IRP5 ROU BRI29 DAR RCH DOV MAR CLT5 CAR4 MAR 29th 1262 1989 DAY1 CAR MAR HCY DAR37 BRI NZH SBO LAN NSH CLT2 DOV37 ROU LVL VOL MYB SBO HCY DUB IRP32 ROU BRI DAR RCH28 DOV5 MAR CLT31 CAR4 MAR 36th 985 1990 DAY30 RCH CAR MAR HCY DAR6 BRI LAN SBO NZH HCY CLT29 DOV36 ROU VOL MYB OXF NHA SBO DUB IRP ROU BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR CLT NHA34 CAR15 MAR 50th 533 1991 DAY32 RCH11 CAR35 MAR VOL HCY DAR24 BRI LAN SBO NZH CLT6 DOV3 ROU HCY MYB GLN OXF NHA SBO DUB IRP29 ROU BRI DAR6 RCH6 DOV CLT6 NHA CAR15 MAR 30th 1305 1992 DAY8 CAR RCH4 ATL38 MAR DAR BRI HCY5 LAN DUB NZH CLT34 DOV ROU MYB GLN VOL NHA TAL18 IRP ROU MCH26 NHA BRI DAR RCH2 DOV CLT27 MAR CAR4 HCY 36th 1173 1993 DAY7 CAR RCH30 DAR BRI HCY ROU MAR NZH CLT DOV MYB GLN MLW12 TAL16 IRP MCH37 NHA BRI DAR RCHDNQ DOV ROU CLTDNQ MAR CAR HCY ATL 50th 513 1995 Labonte Motorsports 11 Chevy DAY CAR RCH ATL NSH8 DAR BRI HCY NHA NZH CLT DOV MYB GLN MLW TAL SBO IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR HOM 82nd 142 2006 Michael Waltrip Racing 99 Dodge DAY CAL MXC LVS ATL BRI TEX NSH PHO TAL RCH DAR CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI NHA MAR28 GTY IRP GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM TEX PHO HOM 122nd 79

Craftsman Truck Series

International Race of Champions (key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.) International Race of Champions results Year Make Q1 Q2 Q3 1 2 3 4 Pos. Points Ref 1977−78 Chevy MCH3 RSD5 RSD4 DAY2 3rd N/A 1978−79 MCH8 MCH RSD RSD ATL 13th N/A 1979−80 MCH3 MCH RSD RSD1 ATL6 2nd 32 1984 MCH4 CLE5 TAL1 MCH6 3rd 52 1985 DAY1 MOH7 TALC MCH4 2nd 45 1986 DAY7 MOH3 TAL4 GLN3 5th 48 1987 DAY3 MOH12 MCH2 GLN10 5th 42 1990 Dodge TAL4 CLE MCH12 9th 23 1997 Pontiac DAY11 CLT11 CAL11 MCH11 11th 18