Mikey 43rd in the Pennsylvania 500 by Kellyanne Lynch
3 August 2008
Michael Waltrip is currently 43rd and out in the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono International Raceway, as of lap 37.
"You got a copy there, Bobby?" spotter Ty Norris was the first on the team frequency.
"Yeah, I got you," crew chief Bobby Kennedy replied.
"10-4. Yeah, just want to make sure my waterlogged radio still works."
"Thanks, man. 1, 2, 3. Hello?" Mikey came on the radio next.
"Yeah, got you loud and clear, bud," Bobby replied. "Loud and clear."
"All right. Have a good day in there. Get us something out of this, get us a good run. Up until a couple weeks ago, we were on a pretty good roll there. Let's get it back."
"Yeah, right on. Right on," Bobby responded to his driver. "Just remember. Mandatory caution there, lap 20."
"Bud, just want to check make sure I'm clear for you," Ty said.
"Yeah," Mikey replied. "Sounds good."
"10-4."
A series of radio keys followed for about a minute.
"Somebody's got an issue with the radio, if they could figure that out," Mikey commented. "I guess somebody's probably working on it."
Kiefer Sutherland gave the call to start engines at 2:09pm ET.
"Bobby, just make sure you keep on me if you need more information about what the car's doing," Mikey told his crew chief. "I've got a long front straightaway. Just tell me you need more information."
"Okay, 10-4," Bobby replied. After a minute, he added, "Hey, Ty, on pit road here, if you will get him to the 24 there right there at the entrance or opening, I'll get him past the 24 now."
"10-4. Michael, you've got a couple of good things to find your pit stall." Ty noted one marker. "Plus you're right next to the big yellow box. Looks like that one's for Pennzoil."
"Yeah, that's what you're looking for," Ty replied.
"It's available at NAPA."
"It is. You'll see purple, yellow, blue."
Bobby said pit road speed was 5,000. "Remember, guys, if we do pit before the competition yellow, no fuel. No fuel."
"There they are right there. What did you say you would look for for pit road speed?" Ty asked.
"5,000," Bobby replied. "5-0-0-0."
Ty repeated this to his driver.
"I can go along with that," Mikey said. "Back where I'm at, that seems reasonable."
"10-4. 5,000."
"Does anybody ever do two tires last time?" Mikey asked.
"Yeah, we did, we did, and that will be an option today," answered the crew chief.
"All right."
"There was quite a few cars who did that when you didn't have ten or fifteen laps on your tires, so that will be an option, will be an option. Two would probably be stretching it for that competition yellow, as that's twenty laps, but we will keep that as one of our options today for sure."
"Okay."
"All right, bud, one to go this time. One to go," Ty noted.
"Go ahead and get some heat in your brakes there," Bobby told his driver. "Have a good day. Heads up in the pits. Have a good day. Let's get him a good one.
"Ty, once we get going today, when the cars go down the straightaway, let me know how my car looks in relationship to the others," Bobby requested.
"10-4."
"I don't know where this is coming from, but Robby Gordon's track bar is about seven inches on the right and fifteen on the right," Mikey observed.
Bobby noted his car was like that at Indy too.
"It was like that at Indy, but it wasn't like this. It's the most I've ever seen."
"10-4."
"31's normal looking, a little higher on the left."
"The pace car's off. Be ready. Ready? Green green green," Ty led. "Everybody's straight, everyone's in line. Still inside, the 26's coming with the 31."
Jimmie Johnson led the field to the green flag. Mikey was 42nd, David 28th, and McDowell 35th.
"Still down there. Still there. Still going to be the corner. Still there. 66 right with you. Spin in front of you, spin in front of you. Back it down, if you can. Can't see anything. You're good, you're good. Just keep it straight."
"I gotta have tires."
"10-4. We're ready, we're ready. No fuel, no fuel."
The first caution was on lap 2 for Kevin Harvick's spin. Joe Nemechek got into him when they were three-wide. Mikey was 41st.
"I probably didn't hurt them, but I definitely slid them. I was probably going slow enough where I didn't hurt them, so..."
"Well, there's no use taking a chance if you did. We'll put on four tires," Bobby replied.
"You see, that's what I'm talking about. I spun out That's just enought o hack you off."
"I'm with you there."
"Ty, if you could tell if my car was more crooked than others or the same?"
"No, I couldn't tell."
Mikey said he needed Ty to speak more into the microphone, and Ty said he would.
"It'll be four tires, guys, four tires. It'll be 5,000 on pit road. Four tires."
"All right, 5,000. Ten away."
"Five, four, three, two, right here, right here. Wheels straight, put on the brakes," Bobby guided the #55 to pit road. "Okay, halfway, halfway, halfway. All right, clear behind the 01."
"Nice job on the start, by the way. Pretty impressive," Ty praised the driver.
"The front end felt good on that first turn. I hope that's a sign of what we've got, but it really did," Mikey commented.
"10-4," Bobby acknowledged.
"Michael, they say we were too fast exitting pit road. Maybe our pit road speed is wrong. Maybe 5,000 is too fast," Ty stated.
"Too fast exitting?"
"Yeah, they just said too fast exitting."
"Hmm. Well, I did... I don't... maybe I was. Maybe I messed up, because on the way in, I was right on 5, so maybe I got carried away. I can't honestly say. I didn't pay close enough attention to actually..."
"All right, well we'll get another judge of it when we come down for this competition yellow."
"But you're in good shape right there," Ty noted the cars behind him also got penalties. Six cars had pit, and most were caught for penalties.
Mark Martin led the restart on lap 5. Mikey was 41st, David was 23rd, and McDowell 35th.
"29's got a run on the outside, outside. He's there. Clear one back. Inside, 78, all by himself. Inside, inside. Clear one back. Clear one back."
"He's just got way more power than me," Mikey commented.
"10-4. You're clear behind him."
By lap 7, David was 24th, and McDowell was 37th. Mikey was 42nd, having lost a spot to Joe Nemechek.
"Real slow one against the wall in the tunnel turn. The 07. I don't know if he has a problem or not. Spin off of 3. NO caution yet. Keep coming. Caution's out, caution's out. The track will be clear when you get here. The 2. Stay up if you can."
The second caution was on lap 8 when Kurt Busch spun trying to pass a car on the inside. Juan Pablo Montoya received the free pass.
Bobby asked about the car.
"It feels fine, I just got some issues with going straight," Mikey said.
"10-4, 10-4. Just keep me posted."
"Feels like you did a good job with the handling. If we can get some laps on these new tires, I think we can get some of them."
"10-4, 10-4."
"Well, you talk about going straight there. We have that new tailpipe configuration. We had it at Indy, and we have it here." Bobby told Mikey to remind him of that on Monday.
"Yeah, I know we tested it out, and it's what we thought we needed to do," Mikey said. He noted it was bad at Indy and here, and he hadn't really complained all year. "Something ain't right."
Bobby agreed and said they'd look into it as it was supposed to help them. He also noted light rain.
Ty said that Kurt Busch had spun by himself.
Bobby told his driver that, with the speeding penalty, he was caught in the last box before reentering the track.
"Yeah, it was my fault. I just took off too soon. I don't have any issues with our speed."
"10-4, 10-4."
Eight cars pit under yellow; Mikey was not one of them. McDowell appears to have been one of the drivers who made a stop.
"The 42's going to be hauling tail by you. He's getting the lucky dog, and we are coming back around to the green. I'll let you know when he gets there," Ty warned. He then said the race wasn't returning to green yet and warned when the #42 of Juan Pablo Montoya was actually passing.
"Make sure your tires are cleaned off," Bobby adviced his driver.
"You're going to be coming to the green this time. Going to get you started a little bit earlier this time. Pace car's off. Ready? Green. Jamming up in front of you. Clear, clear. Looking low, inside. The 7."
Martin led the lap 12 restart. Mikey was 33rd, David was 22nd.
"Looking outside. Clear up there if you need it. Outside, outside, outside. Three-wide. Clear low behind the 7. You're clear high, you're clear high. You've got one on the bottom. Still there. Clear, clear. Nice job. All clear. Looking low. Inside, the 7. Can't tell. Clear all clear. Clear one back. A run back inside."
Mikey said something, but it came out in static. He was 35th on lap 13.
"You're going to be clear there, clear."
Mikey was 36th the next time around the track. David was up to 21st, and McDowell was 42nd.
"Clear one back to the 2," Ty noted. "Outside, outside. The 2. Outside. Clear up behind him, one back. Clear up behind him to the 96. Inside, inside. Clear down there if you need it."
On lap 15, Mikey was 38th. David was 22nd.
"Inside, the 42. Inside. 42's got one down there with him now. Clear one back to the 07. Got a run inside. The 07."
Lap 16 saw Mikey drop to 39th with Clint Bowyer's pass. David was 21st, and McDowell was 42nd.
"Clear two back. All clear."
"57 flat, 57 flat."
"Big run on the outside. The 07. There by himself. Clear all clear."
"Now it's blowing up."
"Inside, inside. One more coming. The 78."
"I switched boxes. I don't know what else to do."
Bobby said to try to make it three more laps to the caution.
On lap 18, Mikey said, "I'm blowing up there, so kind of how I called it at Loudon. It's just ridiculous that we're like this, but we are."
"10-4, 10-4. We've got three more to that caution." Bobby directed the crew to get equipment.
"Well, it's the perfect race track for y'all to fix it, but it's worse than that," Mikey said. "Gosh dang! You know, I know I'm supposed to be nice on the radio, and I'm going to try to be."
"If we can take care of him, I'll get a plan together. Okay."
"You might want to tell me my lap times, unless you want to get blackflagged."
"One more to the competition yellow, if we can nose it around."
Mikey said he knew he needed to nurse it around but wanted lap times. When he was told his speed, he said, "Well, that ain't good enough."
The #55 was last on lap 20.
"A minute ten seconds. Right at a minute," a crew member said. "59.78."
Lap 21 saw the competition caution.
"All right, caution is out, caution is out," Ty said.
"Yes, we will fuel," a crew member stated.
"Go to the front here, Shelly. Go to the front," Bobby directed. "Hey, you got any kind of smell before. I know you've been around long enough to tell different smells."
"Yeah, that's why I said that. It's blowed up. It dropped a valve or a cent or something ridiculous."
Bobby said they would go through the routine and see if it were a plug wire first.
"Somebody round up a couple extra hood pins in case we drop one. Okay, 10-4," said a crew member.
"I say we stay out as long as we can and lead a lap, even after it goes green," Mikey suggested. "Because we're going to blow up."
"10-4, 10-4. Let's do that. Let's do that," Bobby replied.
The leaders pit, and Johnson came off pit road first. The #55 stayed on track.
"All right, one to go when you come around. One to go," Ty said.
Mikey said something that was covered by static. "I should be able to get this lap. If anyone sees any holes in my theory, they're going to have to speak up."
Ty and Bobby responded, but static came with it.
"Where are they scored at, Ty?" Mikey asked. He led lap 24.
"All right, next time by, next time by." Bobby called for another helmet for an engine guy. The team determined who was going over the wall and came up with six guys, including their engine expert.
"Let me see if I can get into the tunnel too hot," it sounded like Mikey said.
"A little bump draft."
Johnson led the lap 25 restart as Mikey went to pit road.
"All right, 5,000, 5,000," Ty reminded his driver. "Ten away."
"4, 3, 2."
"All right, then there's nothing we can do than keep going."
"I smell it. I smell it."
"If they want to park it, I'll park it, but I don't want to park it unless I have to," Mikey stated.
"All right, got anything over there? Ron? Cale? Let me know," Bobby told his crew.
"Want to pull the plug wire off of it, if y'all know which one it is?" the driver asked.
"Talk to me!" Bobby demanded. "Tell me what the fuck you've got!"
"We're going to pull the plug wire off," a crew member said.
"Why do I have to come up with things like that?" Mikey asked. "I think it just ended. I think it just blew up. It was idling, and it just shut right off. It got terminal. So y'all can figure it out, I guess."
"Get the oil," Bobby said.
"Good try, Michael," a crew member said.
Bobby decided to put the car behind the wall on lap 29. The team talked about who was getting together what tools. Meanwhile, David was 15th, and McDowell was 42nd.
"I'm going to try to start it," Mikey said. "I'm going to start it getting it down to the truck."
"10-4," a crew member replied.
"That's not a good sign," Mikey commented. "I believe she's locked up, boys, so if we can dig in there and see if we can unlock it."
"Jack the right side up, right side up."
"As soon as the driver gets out, we need to get it out of the road here," a crew member said.
"Yeah, we'll just pull it right over here, across our box," Bobby replied. "Clear, all clear. Keep rolling. Right side up, right side up. Jack stands right there."
"Guys, give me the one lap scuffs. If this thing gets going, we'll be ready to go."
"Bring set six to the car, set six," another crew member said.
"Hey, Ty, we're done," Bobby said. Johnson had just taken the lead, on lap 37.
"10-4."
"Hey, we're done. M-Dub said to hurry up if we're going to Sherrills Ford."
"All right, in or out."
A crew member said to break down the pits and get everything put away. They talked about where they were sending their tires. Someone said to make sure they cleaned up any oil left in the stall.
Check out the upcoming report about David Reutimann for more about this race.