Ten years to the day that Michael Waltrip won the Daytona 500 he took the checkered flag in the Camping World Series Truck race in a Toyota.
Ten years ago Dale Earnhardt, his car owner, died as a result of a crash in turn four on the last lap spoiling the utter joy of Waltrip’s first win in 463 attempts.
Ironically, the issue of a broken spoiler cast a shadow of his victory in a race which saw two “big ones,” multi-vehicle crashes.
After the race his thoughts went back to the Intimidator. “Yeah, this day, it was hard," Waltrip said "I've been emotional all day long. I see one of my buddies and we laugh about things that we did with Dale, and I see another buddy and we cry about it.
“So I just was determined to win the race for him," Waltrip added
Elliott Sadler, who finished just .061 seconds behind in second, tried to lose Waltrip in Turn 3 of the last lap, but to no avail.
“When I went into Turn-3 I jammed the brakes trying to get him off my bumper,” Sadler said. “Coming off Turn-4, he got me – made a really good move. That’s the way it is.”
Commenting on the broken spoiler Waltrip said: "I just know if it had fallen off before the checkered, they would have black flagged me," Waltrip said.
"I guess that last push, I think they said we went a second faster than we'd been all day long, then the constant beating on the back of the truck from the other trucks, then that last push with me on Elliott, all the air off his truck and my truck onto the back, just knocked it loose."
Oddly enough Sadler didn’t contest Waltrip’s victory: ''I think he still would have won anyway,'' Sadler said. ''He made a really good move off of Turn-4. Might have been a little bit closer to the line, but he had a lot of momentum. That's not the reason why. It definitely helped some.''
Clay Rogers, who finished third, leads the points under the new “pick a series” rule which permits a NASCAR driver to only earn points in one declared series.
Ten years ago Dale Earnhardt, his car owner, died as a result of a crash in turn four on the last lap spoiling the utter joy of Waltrip’s first win in 463 attempts.
Ironically, the issue of a broken spoiler cast a shadow of his victory in a race which saw two “big ones,” multi-vehicle crashes.
After the race his thoughts went back to the Intimidator. “Yeah, this day, it was hard," Waltrip said "I've been emotional all day long. I see one of my buddies and we laugh about things that we did with Dale, and I see another buddy and we cry about it.
“So I just was determined to win the race for him," Waltrip added
Elliott Sadler, who finished just .061 seconds behind in second, tried to lose Waltrip in Turn 3 of the last lap, but to no avail.
“When I went into Turn-3 I jammed the brakes trying to get him off my bumper,” Sadler said. “Coming off Turn-4, he got me – made a really good move. That’s the way it is.”
Commenting on the broken spoiler Waltrip said: "I just know if it had fallen off before the checkered, they would have black flagged me," Waltrip said.
"I guess that last push, I think they said we went a second faster than we'd been all day long, then the constant beating on the back of the truck from the other trucks, then that last push with me on Elliott, all the air off his truck and my truck onto the back, just knocked it loose."
Oddly enough Sadler didn’t contest Waltrip’s victory: ''I think he still would have won anyway,'' Sadler said. ''He made a really good move off of Turn-4. Might have been a little bit closer to the line, but he had a lot of momentum. That's not the reason why. It definitely helped some.''
Clay Rogers, who finished third, leads the points under the new “pick a series” rule which permits a NASCAR driver to only earn points in one declared series.