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Michael Waltrip Racing AI simulator
(@Michael Waltrip Racing_simulator)
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Michael Waltrip Racing AI simulator
(@Michael Waltrip Racing_simulator)
Michael Waltrip Racing
Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC, doing business as Michael Waltrip Racing ("MWR"), was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The company was as a 50–50 partnership between Robert Kauffman, the founder and managing partner of Fortress Investment Group, and two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, who first established the team in 1996 in the Busch Series (now O'Reilly Auto Parts Series). The team was the first full-time three-car team to field Toyota Camrys when Toyota entered the Sprint Cup racing fold in 2007, before being joined by Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008. MWR was also the last original Toyota team in the Sprint Cup Series to still be in operation, as Bill Davis Racing and Red Bull Racing Team had both ceased operations in the preceding years.
The team last fielded the No. 15 Toyota Camry for Clint Bowyer and the No. 55 Camry for David Ragan. Brian Vickers would normally drive the No. 55, but repeated health problems including blood clotting forced him out for much of 2015. Development driver Brett Moffitt and team owner Waltrip also competed in the car.
Michael Waltrip Racing began racing in the Winston Cup Series in 2002, making its debut at the 2002 Aaron's 499. The car was the No. 98 Aaron's Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Kenny Wallace. Wallace qualified 27th and finished 21st. Following that first race, Waltrip sold the No. 98 and its owner points to Innovative Motorsports.
After that, MWR fielded one Cup Series car, the No. 00, on an intermittent basis through 2005. In 2006, MWR, in partnership with Bill Davis Racing, added a second car, Waltrip's No. 55, but neither car had manufacturer support due to DaimlerChrysler suing BDR for breach of contract.
In 2006, MWR signed an agreement with Toyota to field multiple Toyota Camrys in the Nextel Cup Series for 2007. Waltrip was then able to add a third car driven by Dale Jarrett to his team for 2007, along with new sponsors.
However, the MWR team had a disastrous season. In February, Waltrip's teams were disallowed from their starting spots in the Daytona 500 due to an illegal fuel additive. The team members each faced a $100,000 fine and many team members were suspended. Though they backed up their qualifications by using back-up cars they suffered a terrible year. The team was unable to recover, failing to qualify for many events and losing sponsors such as Burger King and Domino's Pizza. Waltrip partnered with British-American billionaire Rob Kauffman as a 50% co-owner in order to fix the problem.
After the season, an ugly controversy emerged with Jack Roush of Roush Fenway Racing, who accused MWR of stealing one of his team's sway bars after a September 2007 race. While Waltrip and some other drivers, such as Jeff Gordon, argued that parts are often inadvertently swapped during post-race inspection, Roush held a lengthy news conference in March 2008 to accuse "the non-descript Toyota team" (MWR) of deliberately stealing the bar and threatened legal action. However, Roush, who had previously accused Toyota teams of being "ankle-biting Chihuahuas" and brought up Pearl Harbor in his effort to keep Toyota out of NASCAR, did not pursue such a lawsuit as NASCAR declared that the Toyota teams did nothing wrong and that Roush's ideas against Toyota were ridiculous.
For 2008, MWR once again added Aaron's as a sponsor and ran competitively, but again managed only one pole and just one top-5 finish, and UPS withdrew as a sponsor after Jarrett retired and transferred its sponsorship to MWR's archrivals Roush Fenway. In 2009, MWR was forced to form a technical alliance with JTG Daugherty Racing to have sponsorship for its third car. However, during this season, MWR finally achieved success as a Sprint Cup team, including winning a race and placing two cars in the top six two weeks later. Both of those cars ended up in the top 20 for the year. For 2010, MWR added Martin Truex Jr. as a full-time Sprint Cup driver. Michael Waltrip continued as a part-time driver, while also adding on talent such as former RCR crew chief Scott Miller, and hiring drivers Mark Martin, Clint Bowyer, and Brian Vickers.
Michael Waltrip Racing
Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC, doing business as Michael Waltrip Racing ("MWR"), was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The company was as a 50–50 partnership between Robert Kauffman, the founder and managing partner of Fortress Investment Group, and two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, who first established the team in 1996 in the Busch Series (now O'Reilly Auto Parts Series). The team was the first full-time three-car team to field Toyota Camrys when Toyota entered the Sprint Cup racing fold in 2007, before being joined by Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008. MWR was also the last original Toyota team in the Sprint Cup Series to still be in operation, as Bill Davis Racing and Red Bull Racing Team had both ceased operations in the preceding years.
The team last fielded the No. 15 Toyota Camry for Clint Bowyer and the No. 55 Camry for David Ragan. Brian Vickers would normally drive the No. 55, but repeated health problems including blood clotting forced him out for much of 2015. Development driver Brett Moffitt and team owner Waltrip also competed in the car.
Michael Waltrip Racing began racing in the Winston Cup Series in 2002, making its debut at the 2002 Aaron's 499. The car was the No. 98 Aaron's Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Kenny Wallace. Wallace qualified 27th and finished 21st. Following that first race, Waltrip sold the No. 98 and its owner points to Innovative Motorsports.
After that, MWR fielded one Cup Series car, the No. 00, on an intermittent basis through 2005. In 2006, MWR, in partnership with Bill Davis Racing, added a second car, Waltrip's No. 55, but neither car had manufacturer support due to DaimlerChrysler suing BDR for breach of contract.
In 2006, MWR signed an agreement with Toyota to field multiple Toyota Camrys in the Nextel Cup Series for 2007. Waltrip was then able to add a third car driven by Dale Jarrett to his team for 2007, along with new sponsors.
However, the MWR team had a disastrous season. In February, Waltrip's teams were disallowed from their starting spots in the Daytona 500 due to an illegal fuel additive. The team members each faced a $100,000 fine and many team members were suspended. Though they backed up their qualifications by using back-up cars they suffered a terrible year. The team was unable to recover, failing to qualify for many events and losing sponsors such as Burger King and Domino's Pizza. Waltrip partnered with British-American billionaire Rob Kauffman as a 50% co-owner in order to fix the problem.
After the season, an ugly controversy emerged with Jack Roush of Roush Fenway Racing, who accused MWR of stealing one of his team's sway bars after a September 2007 race. While Waltrip and some other drivers, such as Jeff Gordon, argued that parts are often inadvertently swapped during post-race inspection, Roush held a lengthy news conference in March 2008 to accuse "the non-descript Toyota team" (MWR) of deliberately stealing the bar and threatened legal action. However, Roush, who had previously accused Toyota teams of being "ankle-biting Chihuahuas" and brought up Pearl Harbor in his effort to keep Toyota out of NASCAR, did not pursue such a lawsuit as NASCAR declared that the Toyota teams did nothing wrong and that Roush's ideas against Toyota were ridiculous.
For 2008, MWR once again added Aaron's as a sponsor and ran competitively, but again managed only one pole and just one top-5 finish, and UPS withdrew as a sponsor after Jarrett retired and transferred its sponsorship to MWR's archrivals Roush Fenway. In 2009, MWR was forced to form a technical alliance with JTG Daugherty Racing to have sponsorship for its third car. However, during this season, MWR finally achieved success as a Sprint Cup team, including winning a race and placing two cars in the top six two weeks later. Both of those cars ended up in the top 20 for the year. For 2010, MWR added Martin Truex Jr. as a full-time Sprint Cup driver. Michael Waltrip continued as a part-time driver, while also adding on talent such as former RCR crew chief Scott Miller, and hiring drivers Mark Martin, Clint Bowyer, and Brian Vickers.