Filed under: Michael Waltrip, Daytona Int'l Speedway, Chase for the Sprint Cup
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- He was in. He was out. He was in. He was out. ...He's in.
That was the emotional final lap-by-lap drama for
Michael Waltrip during Thursday's second qualifying race for the Daytona 500. Waltrip, a two-time 500 winner, will make his final Daytona 500 start Sunday -- thanks largely to the effort of another driver.
"Why did it have to be like that?" a teary-eyed Waltrip said after watching the final laps of Thursday's Gatorade Duel 150 with a television camera capturing his every reaction.
Having crashed out of the first 150-lapper, Waltrip's fate rested in the other Duel with two other drivers, Scott Speed and Bobby Labonte, who needed to finish either first or second among the drivers not already locked into the field. Both were among four drivers on the final lap fighting for the two positions. And Speed took the second spot a few hundred yards from the finish line.
"Scott and I are friends and I love him, I don't care what he does to his toenails,'' a visibly relieved Waltrip said, joking about the eccentric former Formula One driver's fondness for outlandish pedicures.
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