Born:
April 30, 1963
Hometown: Owensboro, Ky.
Marital Status: Married, Buffy
Children: Caitlin Marie, Margaret Carol
First Career Cup Start: May 26, 1985 (Charlotte)
First Career Cup Win: Feb. 18, 2001 (Daytona)
First Career Cup Pole: May 31, 1991 (Dover)
Career Cup wins: 4
Career Cup poles: 3
Best Championship finish: 12th - 1994, 1995
Michael Waltrip spent the early part of his career racing in Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee. In 1983, he won the Charlotte-Daytona Dash Series championship. He then moved to North Carolina, where he lived with the Petty family for a time while trying to establish his career.
Since then, he has been successful in the Busch Series where he continues to field the No. 99 Aaron's Sales & Lease Chevrolet.
Waltrip started a disappointing season with wild roll in the grass on the backstrech in the Daytona 500, which led to a 38th-place finish. Waltrip, who finished 20th in the driver standings, scored his best finish (2nd) of the season in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
In 2003, Waltrip won Daytona 500 for the second time in three seasons, becoming one of only
eight drivers to win the series' most prestigious race two or more times. He also recoreded his first multiple-win season of his career by adding a victory at Talladega in September.
Waltrip was one of the best drivers in the midseason of 2002, but he struggled early in the year. A win in the Pepsi 400 was his second career victory, and he finished 14th in the standings -- 10 spots higher than his finish in 2001.
For Waltrip, 2001 started off exactly as he and team owner Dale Earnhardt had dreamed. After moving into a high-profile ride with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Waltrip, ended his 0-for-462 skein in the Cup Series with a win in the Daytona 500.
Earnhardt's death in a crash on the final lap of that race not only tarnished Waltrip's achievement, but changed the face of the sport forever.
His win at Daytona, an emotional second-place finish to teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Daytona's Pepsi 400 and a resounding second-place finish in the penultimate race at Homestead were the only top-10 finishes he mustered all season.
In 18 seasons his best points finish is 12th, twice. He has won two poles, the first of which came at Dover in 1991. Waltrip did lead eight races in 2001 and he more than doubled his previous total career output, where his best finish had been a single second-place in 462 starts.