Michael Waltrip qualified 36th for the Pocono 500, this weekend's Nextel Cup race at Pocono International Raceway. He took to the track at 4:10pm, and was the 12th driver to make an attempt. He turned a 54.742-second lap his first time around the track.
"Do I need more?" he asked. He turned another circuit, this time in 55.03 seconds. His first lap ranked him 8th at the time. He told his crew it would have been nice to know his time for the first lap so he'd know if he should run a second.
Crew chief Joe Shear Jr told him he'd talked to him during both laps.
"I heard 'I didn't know what you run'," Mikey replied.
Shear said Mikey had run a 74 the first lap, but there had been some confusion in the tower as NASCAR hadn't reportedly timed his first lap.
"I've never had to qualify like this before," Mikey commented, "but I can get used to it."
"I was really trying to talk to you," Shear assured his driver.
Mikey ultimately ranked 36th. He had run his lap at an average speed of 164.408 MPH and was 1.688 seconds behind pole-winner Denny Hamlin.
In first practice, Mikey ranked 16th. He turned his fastest lap in 54.933 seconds at 163.836 MPH, and was 1.183 seconds behind session leader Brian Vickers. He went to pit road at noon to line up for the start of practice. Shear Jr asked him to get a plug check.
Mikey commented that the track bar on Martin Truex Jr's #1 car was down really low. "Just FYI."
"10-4," Shear said. "We're about one-eighth inch below what NASCAR will let us go." He told his driver they'd change that before qualifying.
The #55 took to the track. After a while, Mikey asked, "What are they running?"
"54," Shear replied. "Second lap was a 54.71."
The spotter told his driver a bunch of cars were coming by. "Stay left of the 31."
The Napa Dodge returned to the garage at approximately 12:14pm.
"Caution out for debris," the #55 spotter informed the team. "Hit pit road for a plug check."
Shear said the monitors in the garage area were not working, so they hadn't been able to give times.
"Joe, you want a plug check?" somebody asked.
"Nah, just coast it in here."
"Feels like it needs a smaller shock manifold," Mikey commented. He said the car never hit the ground.
"3 1/2 and 2 3/4," Shear said on the radio.
"We can't settle for 2 3/4 like we did at Dover," Mikey voiced. He said they needed to find out how to get the left front travel. "Maybe it's a different right front we need, you know. Try to help both sides. I don't know.
"Has anyone gone to NASCAR to see if we can see what I ran?" Mikey asked.
"Tom is going to go see," Shear replied. After a minute, he gave a time. "55.84."
The radio was silent.
"Did you hear that?" asked the crew chief.
"Yup," was Mikey's reply.
"That's 36th right now."
"Sounds about right," Mikey sighed. After spending some time in his garage, he said, "I need to hurry. Every chance I get."
"10-4," Shear acknowledged. "We're just taping it off."
The Napa Dodge was back on track at 12:30pm.
"Michael, just keep an eye on your temperatures," Shear advised. "We've got it taped up pretty well."
"Okay," Mikey promised. "I will."
"That's the 9 car at the line," the spotter noted. "He'll be coming by you. You've got the 49 car at the line, but you've got room. Clear all the way out.
"30 car lengths back to the 10. All the way."
Mikey headed back to the garage shortly after he had taken to the track.
"You had like a 52 on the infield," Shear commented.
"52 flat?"
"I hope," Shear answered his driver. "I wish.
"What'd you feel there, buddy?"
Mikey said the trackbar needed to be lower but that he knew that he couldn't. He thought he needed more forward bite. Shear told him he could lower the trackbar another half inch. Mikey said he needed to know what he ran and to run faster.
"Anyone over at the NASCAR truck?" Shear asked.
Somebody told Mikey to bring it in, just before his spotter said he'd clocked that lap at 55.69. "22 ran 52 up here," he added news regarding teammate Dave Blaney's #22 Caterpillar Dodge.
Five minutes later, Mikey was in the garage and out of the car. Shear told the crew to put the scale tires on the car for the scales, and to back it up so they could put fuel in it first. He asked for a 375 wrench, and told the team to look at the height on both sides and the spring on the left front when the car was up on scales.
"Pull forward and check our height," Shear said. "See if the wedge still looks good." He gave his crew instructions regarding adjustments before telling them to get sticker tires and qualifying air pressures ready. He asked for a 375 again, and asked to have Mikey sit on the door first.
Mikey sat on the edge of his car at 12:55pm. Two minutes later, he returned to the track. His spotter told him to let the #10 get going, then dig hard. He clearned him after Elliott Sadler.
Mikey gave 80 and 190 for oil and water temperatures.
"55.28," 55.28," Shear gave the times. "That's P 28th right now."
Mikey headed back to the garage.
"You got one about ten car lengths back," the spotter noted. "You're all clear now."
"What did that feel like?" his crew chief asked.
Mikey said it was better, but he also drove it harder. "It handled pretty doggone good," he said. He said the car didn't push and it hadn't gotten loose. He figured he could run for two laps with that much tape; his temperature was at 240. He told his team that they needed to hurry to get another run and to just survey the front spring.
Shear wanted to make a front left adjustment. He said they had approximately thirty-five minutes, if he wanted the shocks looked at.
"Is there a computer update over there?" Mikey asked.
Shear told the crew to jack up the car and to put it on stands. "Michael, cut your wheel over to the right there, buddy." He said David Stremme was just ahead of him with a 54.20. Mikey had run a 55.29. He said everyone else was running 33, 39, and in the 40's. With thirty-five minutes remaining in practice, he asked his driver if he wanted to go out on scuff tires.
"I think I want to go out on these scuffs," Mikey said. "I don't know what you think." He then decided to go with new tires.
"Do you want anymore tape on this?" Shear asked. Mikey said no more for now. Shear requested another oil and water temperature reading again on this run. He decided to change the front shocks and to do something in the right front.
Mikey was back on track at 1:08pm.
"Keep on digging," his spotter said. "Clear all the way out when you get there."
Mikey said fuel pressure was at 75, with 190 for water temperatures.
"That was a 55 flat," Shear said.
"Got a car coming to speed at the tunnel," his spotter said.
When Mikey returned to the garage at 1:12pm, his spotter asked how the car feld that time.
Mikey said the car "traveled differently." When pressed for more specifics, Mikey said the car was "grippy on scuffs." He wanted sticker tires to see what they felt like. "Felt a little tire snug, I thought. It feels good. I don't know what I want, but it feels good out there."
Shear told his driver to get out of the car so they could put it on scales, and then they would run stickers and see how it would do. He told the team to put on the scale tires on the way up, and stickers on the way down. After Mikey got out, Shear told the crew to put the car down again so they could move it forward. He said the car would be a quarter inch low, and that the quarter panels would be one-eighth of an inch too high. He told them to take one out of the left side in the rear, and siad they needed to lower the vallance approximately one-forth of an inch. He said to unhook them and change the shocks on the way down.
"Ten minutes," the spotter reported how much time was left in practice.
Mikey returned to the track at approximately 1:29pm. The spotter said four or five cars were in front of them.
"How many minutes left?" Mikey asked. The spotter said there were five. Mikey asked him to say when to go. The spotter determined that "a great place to go" would be after Tony Stewart's #20. "Plenty of room behind, except the one guy trying to pass you. You got a lot of room out the back."
Mikey returned to the garage almost immediately.
"What'd you feel there?" Shear asked.
"Pushed to the green more than it had, for some reason," Mikey commented. "Otherwise, it was fine. Still as good as the run before."
Shear asked for temperatures. Mikey said it was approximately 225 when he got to the checkered flag. Shear wanted to work on shock travel and tire vallance. He asked if the scuff tires ran better.
"I don't know," Mikey replied. "Certainly felt different."
Shear said, if Mikey wanted scuff tires, they could put them on and go right back up. He asked if he should put a fourth of a pound into those tires.
"It wouldn't hurt," Mikey said. He asked how much time was left. Shear said approximately three minutes. Mikey wanted to take off tape. Somebody commented that NASCAR's computers were not updating. Mikey left the garage and was told to hurry before the end of practice. Mikey returned to the garage immediately. Shear told the team to put the car up on scales, check out the car, and get shock travels. Practice was over.
Coverage of the Pocono 500 begins Sunday at 1:30pm ET on FOX.
