#55 and #00 not in the All Star by Kellyanne Lynch 17 May 2008 Michael Waltrip's #55 Napa Auto Parts Camry strugged throughout the Sprint Showdown. He and his driver David Reutimann in the #00 Aaron's Dream Machine did not transfer into the All Star Race. "Bobby, are you guys on two or one?" somebody asked at 7:30pm ET. "Two," replied crew chief Bobby Kennedy. "I got you. I got you." "Cool. Thank you." "Hello," Mikey came on the radio a minute later. "Hello, man," Bobby replied. "Got you loud and clear." "I heard you good." "Hey, M-Dub, you got a copy?" asked spotter Ty Norris. "Yeah. Cool." "What's the track temp, Paul?" Bobby asked. "Our official's hot!" Mikey commented. "Something I never knew I'd say." "You got Boweval?" It sounded like somebody said. "All right, Ty, you get him onto pit road, and I'll pick him up at the 28 car, which is five away," Bobby said. "And I'll get him off the rest of pit road." "10-4," Ty replied. "4150 should be your number there." "Yeah, I feel okay with that," Mikey said. "10-4. 4150," Ty confirmed. "All right, we're right here," Bobby pointed out as Mikey drove by the pits. "15, opening to the garage, then us, then the opening to the outside. The 07 is in front of us, but he's not in this race, so we have an opening on both sides." "All right, buddy," said Ty. "Pull those belts tight. You're going to be one to go when you get here. One to go." Bobby told his driver to warm up the tires too. "These are scuffs. These are the tires you qualified on. Is that sun a problem at all over there." "Uh, yeah, for about a second," Mikey replied. "Should be over pretty soon." Before the start of the race, the crew chief encouraged his driver. "All right, pull them tight. Have a good night. You've got two forty-lap shootouts. Go get 'em." Elliott Sadler led the field to the green flag at 7:42pm. Mikey was 14th, and David was 17th. "All right, buddy. Here we go. Pace truck is off. We'll be ready any time now. Ready? Ready? Green green green. Everybody's straight. Still inside, still inside. Inside, inside. Three-wide there, three-wide. Slow one on the bottom, way on the bottom. Still there, inside. You got them coming inside, inside. Three-wide. Inside. The 38's down there." Lap 2 saw Brian Vickers take the lead. Mikey was 15th. "Clear there. Clear there one back, if you need it. Clear half back - 00. Two back to the 78. Spin behind you, spin behind you. Caution's out. Caution's out. Spin's behind you." The yellow flag waved on lap 3 when Patrick Carpentier spun. Mikey was 15th, and David was 17th. "I just couldn't go for it on the start," Mikey told his team. "It chattered the front tires and then about spun out the back tires. So, the start was rough. It seems better than it did the other day. Right now, I ran the bottom there about a lap, and it seemed to turn better than it did." "All right. 10-4. That groove looked pretty hairy the first lap. Three guys scuffed it," Bobby commented. "Well, it was, I guess. I about crashed too, I guess. I just didn't finish it off." "We staying out, Bobby?" Ty asked. "Yes sir. Staying out," was Bobby's response. "All right, you're going to be 15th inside row, inside row. We're not going to restart yet, but you'll be 15th when we do." After a pause, Bobby said, "Just remember, cautions do count in this segment. They do count. Not in the next one." "I know they do, but for some reason, the scoreboard still says lap three," Ty said. "Just keep us updated if the lap's wrong." "You never know. They might have changed the rules." After a minute, Bobby asked, "How much damage did the 15 get, Ty?" "Pancaked the right side a little bit. It really wasn't that bad. Yeah, the laps in this thing definitely count. They just changed it. We're coming to lap 6." "15 still outside. Spin in front of you. Get down, get down. Get down if you can. Keep coming. Caution's out, caution's out." Racing resumed on lap 7 with Vickers leading. The yellow flag immediately returned. AJ Allmendinger had spun out Elliott Sadler. "That was nice," Mikey commented. "Yeah, it really was, wasn't it." "Well, good on our tires." "I wonder why, when somebody does something that frickin' stupid, they don't get penalised," Mikey commented. "If you get angry and you do something, you get penalised, like after what Mears did." Bobby said he agreed. "He drove in there and wrecked him. I guess that's okay." Ty asked Bobby to check the #66 of Scott Riggs, where the car was being scored. "Yeah, he definitely didn't maintain a reasonable speed," Mikey said. "He came off pit road anyway, Bobby," Ty said. "10-4." "Okay, you're 13th now. Inside line again," Ty noted. "Make sure your tires are cleaned off." "All right, buddy. Pace car's off. Ready? Green green green. Everybody's straight." Vickers led the restart on lap 11. Mikey was 13th, and David was 14th. "Clear there, all clear. One back," Ty noted. "Run inside, inside. Inside." Allmendinger was creditted with leading a lap, but he lost it again to his teammate Vickers. "Clear two back. Inside there, inside. Still there. Still inside. Still inside, all by himself. Clear there if you need it." "Front end just not working at all," Mikey commented on lap 14. He was 14th, and David was 12th. "10-4," Bobby acknowledged. "One looking low. Clear, clear." Mikey was 13th on lap 15. Robby Gordon's #7 was spitting water. "Still on your corner. Clear there, clear. Five to go in this segment, five to go in this segment." "30.70," Bobby read off lap times. "The front end's just not working, and the back end's about to spin out," Mikey said. "10-4. "30.65, 30.65." Lap 18 saw David pick up 11th. Mikey was still 13th. "70." "Two to go. Two." "80." "Still there. Still there. Clear there." "I can't drive it, and it pisses me off," Mikey said on the final lap of the segment. "I mean, it's halfway. We'll get 'em next week. Gosh." "Caution's out, caution's out," Ty said. The first segment was over. Mikey was 13th, and David was 11th. "I can't believe that we can't get these things to act right," Mikey commented. "If we do that left front, we're going to come out dead last." Mikey's reply kept cutting out. "Well you wanna run... I don't give a... if you think 13th is going to get us. Do what you want. Y'all just do what you want. You know it just ain't... Just make a normal pitstop. Do whatever you want. Don't worry about me." Bobby called for four tires. "I don't give a shit. Learn something for us to do in the future. But I'm just driving. Y'all just do whatever you want." "Pit road's closed. Pit road's closed," Ty said. "I don't know if I got a new cold air machine, but it works a lot better than it did last week," Mikey commented. Bobby said the way it was positioned last time was what had prevented the air from getting through. "Yeah, I agree. It's a big big big difference. It's really nice. Thank you all." "You got one coming outside, Michael," Ty warned. "Just be ready, Chris. Be ready. Okay?" Bobby directed. He asked about temperatures. "220, 240 for me. Pretty regular," Mikey responded. "10-4." "Where'd you go, Chris?" Bobby asked. "Five away." "5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Go ahead and do it, Chris. Go ahead and do the left front. All right, we're taking the round out of that left front. It'll be a second here. Two rounds there. There you go. Two. Restart, so go ahead and do it." "Well, it don't much matter. I can't get up there to win, so we just need to try to learn and make this better next week. You know, what it does is it just chatters the front end off it. I run it high, and it feels like it has a lot of rebound in the front. If we had another caution, we might could take some rebound off the front. It hops the front end up and down, and once it settles down..." The radio cut out. "We have time now, if you want to do that, Bobby." "I'll just see what this does." Mikey said this would help them next week. "10-4. After further review, I agreed with you. That's why I went with it." "I mean, I drove my ass off for a lap or two there and closed on them a little bit, but I mean, I'm going to wreck. It just won't... the harder I try to go, it just won't turn. And there's no reason to wreck, especially running 13th. I wouldn't mind wrecking if I was up closer to the front." "10-4. I'm with you." "All right, you're going to restart on the inside. It's one to go when you get here," Ty said. "Okay, tighten your belts up, bud," Bobby told his driver. "Okay." "Pace car's off. Ready? Green green. Green green green," Ty said. Some cars stayed on track, including David Ragan, who led the restart on lap 1. "Clear, all clear. Still there inside. Clear, clear." One lap into the run, Allmendinger took the lead. Mikey was 21st, and David was 13th. "Clear, all clear. Clear, all clear. Looking low. Inside. Inside. Clear there. Another one looking. Inside. Clear there." Mikey was 22nd by lap 23. David was still 13th. "It's something major. It's so loose, I can't hang on," Mikey said on lap 6. "10-4." "I'd like to raise the trackbar or something. It's real loose off." "70, 70." On lap 26, David was 12th, and Mikey was 21st. "Still down there," Ty said. "Back inside, inside. Still down there. Clear, clear. Got one in the wall off of 2, off of 2. Caution's out. He's still up against the fence. Caution's out." Lap 8 saw the caution for Johnny Sauter hitting the wall. "Dwayne, two down," Bobby directed. "Um, I don't feel what I was feeling earlier," Mikey told his team. "Just real real loose on the gas, it made it turn so much better that I'm just... I'm loose." "All right. Yeah, we went down on trackbar." Bobby said he also made an air pressure adjustment he'd reverse a bit. "Well, the way it is right there ain't no good." "Okay, go ahead and pit." "It's going to be four tires. Three rounds on that trackbar, four tires." "Come on. 4150," Ty noted. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1," Bobby led his driver to his box. "Squaring the right side airs was not a good idea, because I was already sliding through the centre. I told you I was sideways off. I don't know what all went on with that wedge, but it made the car drive a whole lot different," Mikey said after the stop. "All right, 10-4. 10-4." "All right, one to go, one to go," Ty said. "I don't know what side to go on," Mikey replied. "Inside, inside. It's going to be 13 laps to go, 13 laps to go. These caution's don't count in this segment." Allmendinger led the restart on lap 8. Mikey was 21st, and David was 12th. "Green green green," said Ty. "Outside. It's smoking. Everybody's straight. Still outside, still there. Still outside, still there. Still on the top, still there. Clear all clear. Slow one up top - the 7. Clear two back." By lap 9, David was 9th, and Mikey was 15th. One lap later, David was 7th, and Mikey was 14th. "Bunching up there. Keep rolling. They're good now there. Keep going, keep going." Reed Sorenson had hit the wall and slid far back. "Still outside. Still there. Clear there." Mikey and David each lost a spot one lap later. "Still outside. Still outside. Clear, clear. Looking inside, inside. He's there. Still inside, still there. Still there." Lap 12 saw David in 7th and Mikey in 13th. "Still there," Ty warned. Mikey lost another spot on lap 13. "Clear there. Still inside, still inside. Clear there, clear." By lap 14, Mikey was back to 17th. "Inside, inside. Two of them." "This is just ridiculous, man," Mikey commented. "It's like Texas all over again. Every time, every track we go to like this, it's just going to crash, or I've got to slow down. Man, it's bad." "All right, you've got two more coming," Ty told his driver. Mikey was 20th by lap 16. "It's the hardest I ever drove in my whole life," Mikey said. "All right, three to go right here. Three to go." "Got one closing on you here. One to go, one to go. Inside - the 01. Inside." Allmendinger won. David was 6th, and Mikey was 20th. "All right, that's it," Ty announced "Thank God. Thank God," Mikey replied. "That's just embarrassing. I mean, it's so bad, I can't even begin to... I could hardly hold on. Real real loose. Real loose. We did, we helped the front end, but it took it to a way looser feeling than I've been able to feel lately. So whatever we did there didn't work, so we'll take it next week." Bobby asked if the last set of tires helped. "No, it was looser, I mean, that's I've most I've ever hung onto without crashing. I mean, that's as bad as I've ever been my whole life. No exaggerating. If I tried to do anything, I'd about spin out. It was a ridiculous bad, bad car. I mean, I tried hard." "Oh, I don't doubt your committment. All right. Back to work." "I mean, I could have stayed how we started and run about how David did," Mikey commented. "No, I mean. I was with you. Originally, I wanted to stay out." He said then he decided to screw this race and work on the next. "Well, I was matching David's pace, but I was so tight. I just... I don't know. I just want to do good so bad, but no matter what I do, it don't work." Mikey talked about adjustments he thought would work. "I guess that just goes to show how fucked..." His radio faded out again. Dale Jarrett will be the only Michael Waltrip Racing driver in the All Star Race. Stay tuned!