Michael Waltrip hopes to celebrate his 43rd birthday on Sunday by winning the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. But first, he'll have to get in the race.
Waltrip was a Talladega contender while driving the No. 15 NAPA Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc., winning the EA Sports 500 at the track in September 2003. He finished third in last year's Aaron's 499.
Waltrip left DEI to drive the No. 55 NAPA Dodge for Bill Davis Racing this year, but he hasn't finished better than 18th yet.
The top 35 cars in owner's points automatically earn spots in Sunday's race. While Waltrip is 35th in the driver standings, his car is 36th in owner's points (because Hall of Fame Racing's No. 96 Chevrolet has used two drivers this season). So, he'll be one of 13 drivers trying to qualify on Saturday for one of the eight available positions in Sunday's race.
"The race is on my birthday, man" Waltrip said. "I can't miss the race."
Waltrip has missed only one of the past 571 Cup races, failing to qualify at Phoenix in 1998.
Waltrip realized this season would be a transitional year as Bill Davis Racing prepared to usher Toyota into the Nextel Cup Series in 2007, when Waltrip also will become a car owner under the Toyota umbrella. Waltrip's best finish this season came at Daytona, the series' other restrictor-plate track. All four of Waltrip's career wins have come in plate races.
"The reality is this year has been tougher than I thought it would be," Waltrip said. "I never dreamed we would be outside the top 35, but we are. So we really need to focus on fixing that.
"We understood that this year would be a bit of a challenge without factory support. We thought we could survive that and build and be ready for our Toyota venture in 2007. Talladega is a big part of that. If we can make the race, then we can start patching up what's been going wrong."
In the past, qualifying for Talladega's Cup race took place on Friday, with practice on Saturday. This season, Talladega has joined the shift toward impound races. The Cup cars will practice Friday, then qualify on Saturday before being sequestered by NASCAR until they roll out for Sunday's race.
David Stremme is the only other driver who has participated in all eight races this season who'll have to qualify on speed.
Other drivers seeking the eight open spots will be Scott Wimmer, Mike Wallace, Kirk Shelmerdine, Travis Kvapil, Chad Chaffin, Brent Sherman, Kevin Lepage, Kenny Wallace, Morgan Shepherd, Chad Blount and Stanton Barrett.
