Nationwide Daytona Qualifying - 2/13/09
Michael Waltrip qualified his #99 Aaron's Dream Machine 11th for the Camping World 300, this weekend's Nationwide series race at Daytona International Speedway. This is a track where he's won three poles in this series.
The driver described his qualifying lap as "uneventful." "The RPMs were the only thing that I knew to go by and what it was supposed to run. They said it should turn about 7000 or 7100, and it turned 7200, so I figured I was going faster than they thought I would be going. We ran a little bit better. They thought we would run a 20 and we ran in the teens so I am really proud of the guys and looking forward to tomorrow."
Mikey was the 18th driver to take to the track in qualifying. He came out at 4:02pm ET in the Aaron's Dream Machine. He ran a 50.70 second lap at 177.525 MPH his first time around the track. He ran close to current pole sitter Clint Bowyer's speed throughout the second lap but dropped off toward the end of the lap. Dale Jarrett in the commentator's booth speculated that the #99 may have been running too hot. Mikey's 50.166 second lap at 179.404 MPH placed him 4th at the time.
After his run, Mikey talked about how excited he was to be racing in the Nationwide series again. "Not only tomorrow, but also going to California and on down the road. I'm looking forward to getting to race and be a part of the team that started all this stuff for me and working with Jerry (Baxter, crew chief) and the guys. I'm optimistic about how we'll do this year and I'm looking forward to running my first Nationwide race in a Toyota -- that's pretty cool."
Coverage of the Nationwide Series' Camping World 300 begins tomorrow at 1:00pm ET on ESPN2.
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