Budweiser Shootout - 2/6/10
Michael Waltrip was wrecked out of the Budweiser Shootout, tonight's nonpoints Sprint Cup race at Daytona International Speedway. Joey Logano got into the #51 Napa Camry twenty-four laps into the race. Mikey recovered from that spin, only to have Ryan Newman put him in the wall several laps from the finish. He was scored 21st at the end, seven laps down.
I was goin straight on the straight. Wth? Mikey posted on his Twitter just after the race.
Mikey drew 15th in Budweiser Shootout qualifying selection by choosing the Budweiser bottle with a #15 flag inside. In 2001, 2002, and 2003, he drove the #15 Napa car to victory at this track. Tonight, he drove the #51 - the reverse of the number 15. Mikey ranked 4th and 12th in practice sessions for this race.
The call to start engines came at 8:17pm ET. Carl Edwards, who drew the pole, led the field off pit road and onto the track. Then he led the field to the stripe when the green flag waved at 8:30pm. The field remained even for half of the first lap, until the inside line moved up slightly. Mikey was 16th along the outside and dropped to 17th as he dropped to the bottom line. Edwards led the first lap, and Mikey was 17th. The #51 was 16th on lap 3 and was still riding against the yellow line. Lap 5 saw Mikey pick up 13th, as cars in front of him jockied for positoin. The first six were single-file, with everyone else double-file behind them. Mikey was back to 16th on lap 6 and 17th one lap later.
"You're clear, whatever you want there," his spotter said. "44's going to give you a push here, good push. Outside outside outside. You've got one out there with him, you've got the 18 on the bottom with you. Clear up two back if you want it. Inside, the 18, all by himself. Clear behind him if you want it. Clear one back to the 42. Outside outside. He's going to have a run all by himself. 42, that white car, is the last car if you want it."
Mikey was 19th on lap 9.
"Still outside, 24. Still outside, he's got help. Two by two. Still outside on your quarter, still there. The 18's still with you. Outside, the 18's up top. The 18. 18 fell off there. Whatever you want, bud. High or low. Coming outside, the 18. He's got a run outside."
"I just can't go nowhere. I'm stuck. I'm a little tight, but I'm not bad," Mikey said.
"10-4. Clear there, whatever you want, whatever you want."
"You're stuck with the traffic
"Yeah, traffic. I'm faster on the bottom, but they're all lined up. I can't figure out what I can do."
"All right, that's good. Lap 10, lap 10. Still down there. Still there barely. You can see it better than me now. You're clear clear. 18's still down there, still there, still there. Clear clear."
Mikey was 22nd on lap 11.
"Still clear whatever you need. Still clear two back to the 18. Whatever you want outside outside outside. Half back right there, half back. Looking inside."
On lap 12, Mikey was 20th.
"Clear now, all clear. Still outside, outside. The 18's out there with the 2. Clear there, one back. Got a run, he's going to take you right there. Outside outside."
Mikey addressed his crew chief. "It's starting to really skate, but it ain't bad."
"10-4," Pat Tryson replied.
"Bottom line backing up a little bit, backing up a little bit. You're all clear, all clear." His spotter noted that someone had slipped, "but you're cool. Still on your quarter, all by himself. Now you're clear clear, two back. One back. Still there on your quarter, still there on your quarter, going to be there off the corner. 42's closing up behind the 18, outside. That's lap 15, bud. 15."
Mikey was 22nd.
"Still outside, still there at the top. Still there at the top. Clear there one back, clear there one back. Still clear both sides, whatever you want. Still outside. You see that one backing up in the middle. Outside, outside. Clear on the bottom, clear on the bottom. Still there. Back to two wide now, two wide. 82's still outside, outside."
On lap 17, Mikey was 15th.
"You've got one hung in the middle. Three-wide, three-wide. No help in the middle for him.S till three wide. Back to two wide, two wide. Still outside. That 5 and 18 are on the bottom. That 39 has no help."
Derrike Cope went to the garage.
"Still outside, outside. That hole's going to be closing. 82 outside. Still out there, still out there. You've got a little help coming. Clear there, clear one back. All clear. Clear two back."
Mikey was 14th on lap 18. Edwards, who had been challenged for the top spot by Tony Stewart, still held the lead.
"Still two by two, bud. Still two by two. Still outside, two by two."
Mikey was 10th on lap 19.
"Six more in this section, six more. Still up top, the 83. Both lines have help. That's Schrader in your mirror, 82. 83's still out there. Both of you have help. Five more. Three-wide right there, still three-wide. No help on the bottom, bud. He jumped up top. Still three wide. Three-wide back there. Back to two wide, the middle lane is clear. He went all the way to the top, middle lane's clear."
On lap 21, Mikey was 9th.
"Four more, four more. Still outside outside. Still outside, the 48's closing up behind you. He's going to give you a push here."
Mikey was 7th on lap 22.
"Go wherever you want. The 48's trying to get there though. Clear, whatever you want. Still clear, whatever you want. 24 outside, outside. Still outside, 24. Quick clear behind him, two back, one back. One back to the 20. Inside, the 20. Inside. All by himself right now. All right, he's looking on the bottom, just looking. Clear low if you want it. 20 car's still down there, still there. Two to go, two to go. Clear the 20."
Mikey was 9th on lap 23.
"Still outside, still outside. Clear high, two back right there. Clear high, two back if you want it right there. Still inside inside inside."
Mikey was 11th on lap 24.
"Clear low if you want it, clear low if you want it. 20's got a look. Got him all the way at the top, 24. Right there, the 20's inside inside. You okay, bud?"
"Yeah," Mikey replied.
"Looked like it kicked out a bit there."
Mikey was the first caution on lap 24 when Joey Logano spun him out.
"I just got hit," he said.
"Yeah, 10-4."
"It handles better than most of them, but it's real skaty at the end, like bad. We need less left front air for sure."
Pat asked about the oil temperature.
"It was like 210. The caution car's where, Ty."
"The caution car's turn 2, turn 2."
Mikey said he'd come in for four tires.
"Don't worry about gas. We'll get it during the ten minute break," Pat directed.
"Come on now. You're going to have to get your tires going. They're going to obviously count this as the caution."
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Right here, Michael, right here. We'll worry about the grass when we pit here."
"Middle of 3 and 4."
"All right, go ahead, Michael."
"48, 48. All right, slow it down slow it down slow it down. We've got trucks down here. We've got ten minutes."
"If you can let air out of the left front tire, it would fix a lot of shit."
"10-4."
"All right, buddy. 4800, and we'll be going around the 20 here."
Mikey was 23rd when the red flag came out at 8:54pm ET.
"All right, they're going to start the ten minutes now," Ty stated.
It sounded like someone said something to Booty through static. Cars went to pit road, and teams worked on them.
"Let's get a rubber, put it in the right rear."
"All right, Pat. You probably heard this already. Five minutes."
"All right. We'll put the tires back on it."
"It really feels like to me that the set up is probably pretty good," Mikey said. "It's balanced really good. It's just that when it starts to go off, it goes off of the front, and it stays balanced for a really long time. Just thinking about next Thursday. If there were anyway to have more bleed or less ___ in the left front shocks if possible."
"We can put less bleed in those."
Mikey said they should have a set with way more bleed to see the difference. "It definitely needs more compliance. You can do that with the shock or air. Who knows."
"Yeah, lots of different options."
"That red 71 right there. He's going to be the one you line up behind," Ty noted. "Pat, I'm sure you'll be coordinating with Zippy and Ryan right here." He said something about coordinating for positions.
"Just make sure I don't come in when that 20's there."
"Yup, 10-4 on that!" Pat replied.
Ty said they were in decent shape until that incident.
"Yeah, 10-4. We'll see what we've got here. There are some decent cars back here with us." Pat said they might just hang out for a bit and see what they have.
"All right, bud. One to go here. One to go. All right, buddy, coming to the green this time. Pull those belts tight one more time."
Edwards led the restart for lap 26. Mikey was 23rd.
"All right, pace car's off. Be ready. Green green green. Everybody's rolling, everybody's rolling. 18's still down there. Clear now clear. Clear two back. 18 jumped up top. He's going to be there off the corner. 21 jumped up there with him."
"They do jump a lot," Mikey commented.
"Yeah, jump around," Ty replied. "Clear there, clear there."
Mikey was 22nd on lap 27. He had passed Bobby Labonte.
Jamie McMurray challenged Edwards for the lead along the bottom line. Lap 28 and 29 saw Mikey in 23rd again.
"You're all clear, you're all clear. Well you can sure tell this is the last segment here. Be ready."
With 46 laps to go, McMurray was out front, and he was weaving between the two lanes to try to keep the others at bay. Both lines got around him, and McMurray was sucked back through the middle. Brian Vickers jumped to Edwards' outside as the two battled for the top spot.
"You're still clear one back, bud."
Kurt Busch slid through the grass fast and hit the outside wall after Mark Martin had tipped him, drawing the second caution on lap 33.
"Watch them in front of you. 2 car's through the grass. Keep coming keep coming. You're fine. Good job. Look at the grill. We've got a little grass action again."
"10-4."
"Can you tell anything there? I know you didn't run a whole lot."
"Definitely way freer."
Pat wanted to know if it were good, and Mikey wanted the rubber pulled back out.
Ty said the whole field was coming down pit road but that pit road was closed.
"The temps are good," Mikey reported. "Well let me check that. They're starting to climb. We're going to be last anyway. You want to knock some dirt off?"
"Come on. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Right there."
Mikey was on pit road. Pat asked Ty to keep track of the pace car.
"Hey, can we make it from here?" Mikey asked.
"No, not quite. A couple more laps, we can."
"If we can, we might ought to get four and try to."
"All right, we're going to be 4800, and watch these trucks crossing over the track here," Ty warned.
"Since we're going to be in the back anyway, Michael, we'll come in and top it off. See how it shakes out."
"10-4. I'm definitely happy with it. It's freer. That'll help you out later. Make sure my splitter's not broken or bent."
"We're not going to pit this time," Pat said. "All your braces and splitter looks good. Paul. What we're going to do is put tires and gas on it with one to go. We'll just wait for one to go here."
"It'll be 40 to go when you come around here, and they're still working here," Ty said.
Pat said they'd wait for one to go. "Looks like they're going to give one to go next time."
"No, they didn't give it yet. We're going to stay out here. You'll be the first one through here. They've got a truck on the top, a truck on the bottom."
The other cars went to pit road.
"You might could put a little tape on it, Pat," Mikey suggested.
"10-4. What's your temps? Are you running two-forty?"
"Probably a little bit less, 200." After a pause, he asked, "It's not one to go here, right?"
Pat said it was and told Mikey to come in. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Four tires and gas here, and a piece of tape. Go go go. 4800."
"Tear off," Mikey reminded.
"Hold up hold up. Okay."
"4800, bud," Ty directed.
"Tail end of the longest line, Ty, for coming in and getting our grill clean."
"10-4."
"All right, we have to let that 39 go around, and we'll be ready to roll. That 39's still behind you there. Be ready, be ready. Pace car's coming off. Be ready. Ready? Green green green. Everybody's rolling, everybody's rolling. 39's still outside on your quarter."
Edwards led the restart with 38 laps to go. Mikey was 22nd.
"Still outside outside."
Stewart ran side-by-side with Edwards, with Stewart's #14 on the outside and the #99 on the inside. Mikey trailed the field.
"Still down there. Still there. You see that 31 backing up. Still inside, still inside. Clear low, clear low."
Burton's #31 was loose and was all over the place. He dropped back behind Mikey, then spun through the grass. The #51 was now 21st.
"Caution's out, caution's out," Ty said on lap 40.
"We're going to stay out here, Michael, so we're going to stay out," Pat said. "We can make it to the end."
"All right," Mikey replied.
"Did it drive any different there without the rubber?"
"No, it's still really neutral, but I'm not in the middle of the thing. I don't even really turn the wheel, I just sort of hang on."
"10-4."
"All right, bud. One to go when you get here. One to go. We'll have the 17, the 1, the 18, and the 31 behind us. It'll be 32 to go when you take the green, 32 to go. I'll keep counting down for you."
"The temperatures are way down. They're about 180, 175 each," Mikey noted.
"10-4. We can add another piece of tape on our last pit stop, if we make another one, that is," Pat replied.
"All right, bud, be ready. Pull those belts. Pace car's coming off. Be ready. Ready. Green green green. Everybody's rolling, everybody's rolling."
Edwards led the restart with 32 laps to go. Mikey was 17th.
"Still outside. You've got the 1 behind you. Clear one back if you want it. The 1 car. You've got it. Still down there. Still there. Clear the 71. Clear. Three-wide, three-wide. Three-wide, still three-wide. Both lanes up top have help, you don't. Outside, the 82's going to have a run. Then it's going to be clear two back. Clear two back to the 71. Still all clear, whatever you want, bud."
Stewart led lap 45. Mikey was 19th.
"The 71's looking low, looking low. Still down there, inside. The 71. You're good in the middle, good up top. You're all clear there, all clear. Clear up behind him if you want it, clear two back. Still up top, still out there, still out there. Clear all clear, whatever you need here. You're still clear all the way to the top, whatever you need. Two back."
Mikey was 18th on lap 48, as Kevin Harvick took the lead. Cars were loose.
"Still outside, outside. The top side had to check up. Still outside. 27 left, 27. Still outside. Still outside on your quarter, still there, still there. Quick clear behind him, one back. Still one back. Still one back. Still outside. Still outside, bud. Still outside. There we go. Three-wide for a second. Two wide, two wide."
Ken Schrader in the #82 was sucked to the back.
"Still outside outside. All the way to the high lane by himself. Three-wide for a second here. Back to two wide. They're in the middle now. You're all clear right there, whatever you need. Still one back. 99's right there. He was the leader two laps ago. Inside inside inside, 99. All by himself."
Mikey was 16th on lap 51.
"Clear three back behind you. 23 to go."
"Just real loose," Mikey reported.
"Still clear, still clear," Ty observed. "Still clear one back to that 82. He's going to the top side, 82, all by himself. 82's still out there, still out there."
Mikey was 17th on lap 52. Greg Biffle now led. Harvick took the top spot back one lap later, and Mikey was now 18th. Cars went four wide at the front.
"Clear one back to the 82. Still outside, still outside. Two by two. 9 car's all the way at the top. Watch that 18 there."
Mikey was 16th on lap 54.
"Still outside, two by two. Still outside, still outside. Not a lot of help on the bottom, bud. Still outside all the way at the top, all the way at the top. Clear there if you want it, clear there if you want it. Back to two wide, that 48's in the middle lane. Still outside, still outside. Two by two. 20 to go, 20. Still outside, that 24's still up top."
Mikey was 15th on lap 56, having passed Edwards.
"Still outside, two by two. Looking inside inside, all the way at the bottom. Both sides, both sides. Quick clear on the bottom if you can get there. Got them outside, two by two."
Mikey was 14th on lap 57, ahead of Jeff Gordon.
"Still outside outside. Got you covered outside. Clear there, clear clear. Watch that 5 car! Clear low clear low clear low. Still outside, outside. You're clear now, clear clear. Clear two back, clear two back. Nice move right there. Good job, bud."
Mikey was 18th on lap 58. Mark Martin's car had come out of gear and fell back a quarter lap.
"Still outside. Clear up if you want it. Outside outside outside. You're clear right there. That 11's been struggling on the high side. Clear one back."
Mikey was 16th on lap 59 and 15th one lap later.
"Clear there. Still outside outside. It will be clear right there if you want it. 88's trying to look outside, outside. Clear now, clear clear. Good job. Still outside outside. Clear right there half back. 24's right there, half back. Outside outside. 82's still outside. 24 up there with him, 24's up there with him. Clear behind the 24 if you need it. Clear four back if you need it. Clear there if you want it, clear there if you want it. Half back, one back. Outside now, outside. Still both si... still outside, outside. You're going to be three wide here, three-wide, three-wide. Still three-wide, still three-wide. Outside outside, all the way at the top. Outside all the way at the top."
Mikey was 13th on lap 63.
"Still outside outside, outside. Behind that 24 if you need it, if you need it. 12 to go, 12 12."
On lap 64, Mikey was 14th. Tony Stewart led.
"Still outside outside. They've got all the help up top, 24 and the 20, 24 and the 20. Clear behind the 20 if you need it. Clear high there if you want it, all clear. Closing up with that 20, closing up top. 11 to go. 11. Still outside, two by two."
Harvick shot into the lead on the backstretch during 11 to go. Mikey was 15th.
"88's right there. Clear clear clear. Still outside outside, still outside. You see that 83 backing up in the middle. Ten to go, ten ten ten. Still outside outside."
Mikey was 13th on lap 66. Harvick still led.
"Still outside outside. 24's right there with you. You're all clear all clear all clear all clear. Two back to the 24. Still clear all clear. One back to the 24, coming to your bumper. Outside 24, outside he's there."
Mikey was 12th on lap 67.
"8 to go, 8. Middle 24. Three wide, three wide. Still three wide three wide. Two wide there, two wide. 88's up there with the 24. No help yet. Outside outside. Closing up, outside. 20's the last one outside, outside. Still out there, still there. Clear there, clear there one back. Big run there. You're still clear, still clear. Still outside on your quarter. Clear up if you want it, clear up if you want it. 20's still there on the bottom. You see that one backing up on the bottom. You're clear."
Mikey was 16th on lap 69.
"Still outside, still outside. Two by two. Six to go, six. Clear up if you need. Clear. Outside outside."
Ryan Newman wrecked Mikey, drawing the fourth caution on lap 72.
"Damn it! UGH!!" Mikey exclaimed.
"Inside inside."
"I can't believe that just happened, man. I mean, I cannot believe that. Ryan Newman ran right into the side of me. Id idn't chop him or nothing. Fat headed. I'm going to get me some of that head too."
Ty said something about clean-up.
"Man, I'm really mad."
"Did it get
"It was good. Dale Jr spun out or about spun out, so I lost some of my momentum. I don't know. You'll have to look at the replay to tell me why I got wrecked."
"It sure looked like he just ran into your door."
"I'm going to find out how serious they are about letting us express our feelings, because I'm going to get up beside that guy's head."
Mikey was 21st and in the garage as the field prepared for the green/white/checkered. Greg Biffle led the field to the stripe. Much of the field wrecked before the lap finished, and Kevin Harvick won his second Budweiser Shootout in a row. Biffle's flat tire may have triggered the accident, which collected Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Bobby Labonte, Ken Schrader, Mark Martin, and Ryan Newman. Mikey finished seven laps down in 21st.
Coverage of the Gatorade Duals begins Thursday at 2:00pm ET on the Speed channel.
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