Michael Waltrip possible retirement

wilson89

wilson89

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From the 2009 NASCAR Preseason Thunder Daytona Fan Fest: Saturday news conference transcripts -

My goal is to go win some races this year, run up front so that I don't have to say this is my last year. But if I don't do those things, if I can't compete at the level that Ruderman does or NAPA expects, then I probably won't get to do this again in 2010. This is a real important year for me because I still love it. I'm still emotional about it. That's a great feeling. I'm glad I have that. I'm glad I feel the way I do, and I'm also glad that I own my car, because if this is my last year then I'm fine, because that means I got somebody faster or better than me to drive my car in 2010, and that's how it was supposed to be. I'm not going to be standing around thinking, "well, what am I going to do now?" I know exactly what I'm going to do now, I'm going to continue to be to try to influence my drivers and my team and my sponsors to be the best team that we can ever be
 
Well Mikey, you said a lot with the 30; " I, me, I'd, I'm, my," and the solitary, "we". Wonder how that got in there?:rolleyes:
 
We could only hope and pray that Michael retires soon. Keep him off the air as well!!!!!!!!!!!
 
This would be the best way nascar could save the teams money is make this clown retire. Please do the fans and every other driver a favor and retire.
 
I have always been a Mikey supporter, he is a good if not a great restrictor plate driver. Taking on the ownership responsibilities of his own team has shown with his decline in performance on the track. Plus the growing pains that accompany ownership hasn't helped him much either. He was never a great driver, but he is still a good driver. Yeh he is a clown, a cut up, a goofy mophead, but if you really listen to him he makes good points most of the time. I think right now he would be better off to scale back his seat time this season, then retire all together next year so he can concentrate on managing his team. I guess that is pretty much what he said anyway. He is one of the more colorful personalities in the sport, with out him around in some capacity would be a loss for Nascar.
 
Not saying he don't have a good personality, I'm just saying he causes a lot of wrecks. Everytime you turn around he was wrecking up the field. It does not matter if its in the race, practice or qualifying this guy can tear some stuff up.
 
Not always his fault, but i will say his skills seem to have diminished over the last couple of seasons. I really think he has too much on his plate.
 
can't come quick enough he would STILL be winless if it hadn't been for DEI dominance at the plate tracks for a couple of years
 
I'm sure NASCAR loves Mikey on TV because he totally the holds the company line whenever there's any controversy during a race the weekend before. He's such a kiss-up. I think one of the funniest in-car audio this past year was when people tuned into Clint Bowyer's radio and he was heard saying that, "Michael Waltrip is the worst driver in NASCAR." We busted a gut laughing. Unfortunately for Clint, it wasn't Mikey's fault that time! He might have brought out the next caution though. ;) There's certain drivers whose names we invoke when we'd love a caution and well, Mikey is one of them. Just sayin'! :D Clint's frustration and blaming Mikey ranks right up there with Robby Gordon throwing his helmet at his car. OK, so I'm a wee bit warped, but that kind of stuff cracks me up - as long as no one gets hurt.
 
http://www.racing-reference.info/driver?id=waltrmi01

http://www.racing-reference.info/driver?id=gordoro01

The first link is Mikey, the second link is Robby Gordon, they are quite comparable. People trash Mikey for a lot of things, whether it be because he caused an accident, didn't finish, or because he has a funny hairdoo. I never said he was a great driver, I did say he was a great restrictor plate driver though. Even before he joined DEI he was a good drafter on the plate tracks.
http://www.racing-reference.info/plate?show=1
As you can see his average finish on plate tracks sin't too shabby, all i'm trying to illustrate is that Waltrip is a decent driver that has made a good living at the Cup level. He never was great, he never was in the elite group, but he did make his mark at Daytona and Dega. Trash him all you want, I think he enjoys it, gives him something more to talk about. I have said it all along that I thought his organization would do well, but I figured it would have been sooner than this. Once he is behind the scenes he will be able to concentrate on the management side and focus more. It will be interesting to see who drives his car.
 
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