Ford 400 - Michael Waltrip Notes

WALTRIP SET FOR HOMESTEAD

The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season may be coming to a close, but don't expect to see any of the 43 teams to be laid back entering the season's final showdown in Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, especially Michael Waltrip and the NAPA team.

"This team is hungry," said newly appointed crew chief Pete Rondeau. "We are used to winning and used to being an every-weekend contender and that is exactly what we expect at Homestead (Speedway)."

Michael Waltrip has competed in all five Cup events with a career-best finish of second (2001) and career-best start of eight (2001) on the 1.5-mile oval.

This Week's Race Car will be Chassis #28 which has been run seven times this year. The most recent run for chassis #28 was at Lowe's Motor Speedway in October finishing 28th. It also ran at California Speedway in September where it finished 23rd. Other races include the All-Star race where Waltrip finished fourth, the Coca-Cola 600 where he finished second (his best finish of the 2004 season), Michigan International Speedway in June where he finished 10th, and Chicagoland Speedway where he finished ninth. The car was tested on Nov. 9 and 10 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"We made 44 runs over two days," said car chief Greg Osborne. "It was a productive test. We spent the majority of the time trying new ideas that Pete came up with that he felt might work with Michael's driving style."

Look at the Numbers
605 - Points out of 11th
605 - Career Cup starts for Waltrip
143 - Career Cup starts for Waltrip at DEI
1077 - Laps Waltrip has led in his career
1 - Career top-fives at Homestead
10 - Top-10s by Waltrip this season
3 - Consecutive seasons Waltrip has won

Championship Points Currently in the 19th position, the No. 15 car trails the 18th position held by Joe Nemecheck by 30 points, the 17th position held by Rusty Wallace by 47 points, and the 16th position held by Jeff Burton by 81 points.