Michael Waltrip qualified 39th for the Pennsylvania 500, Sunday's Nextel Cup race at Pocono Raceway. He turned one lap in 54.456 seconds at 165.271 MPH, which was 1.461 seconds behind Denny Hamlin's pole-winning lap.
Shortly before the #55 Napa Dodge took to the track, crew chief Joe Shear Jr came over the radio. "Okay, Michael, there's only two in front of us now."
"Okay, Mikey, are you all hooked up now?" asked the spotter.
Shear stated that Mikey was putting on his helmet. A minute later, he asked, "Michael, you on?"
"Testing, hello?" Mikey replied.
"Can you hear me all right?"
"I do."
Shear told his driver he would have to run a 54.70-second lap to make the race.
"Okay," Mikey answered.
Shear said he would update Mikey after Jimmy Spencer's #78 qualified. After the #78 completed time trials, the crew chief informed his driver that he would only have to run a 54.80 now.
"Okay," was Mikey's reply.
Shear told Mikey he would let him know when he passed the start / finish line if he needed to run a second lap.
"Okay," Mikey responded. "I appreciate that."
The #55 was the 35th of 47 cars to take to the track, at 5:22pm ET. After Mikey turned one lap, Shear told him he had run a 54.45, and he asked about water and oil temperatures.
"250, 200," Mikey replied. He said he was going for a plug check.
"You guys have really made me happy," Mikey added a minute later. "It hits the road everywhere on the straightaways." He mentioned that he had been conservative with his lap, and probably missed about a half a second so that he wouldn't step on himself.
"That car just felt perfect," Mikey continued, "the way it was down on the front." He thanked the crew for their work.
Coverage of the Pennsylvania 500 begins Sunday at 1:30pm ET on TNT.
