Menu
Franchises

Waltrip reflects on team success, ‘dream that came to an end’

As stock cars whizzed around the high banks of Daytona International Speedway in early July, Michael Waltrip shed tears nearly 500 miles away in North Carolina.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, for which Waltrip is a commentator on Fox Sports, had that weekend off. With NBC Sports kicking off its portion of the NASCAR season in Daytona, Waltrip didn’t have a reason to be there.

“It was the first time in over 30 years that there was a NASCAR race and I had no reason to be there,” said Waltrip, whose eponymous team started in the Busch (now Xfinity) Series in 1996, moved up to the Sprint Cup Series in 2007 and closed down after 2015. “That kind of makes you reflect on the good times and challenges.”

“It was the first time in over 30 years … I had no reason to be there.”

MICHAEL WALTRIP

After multiple challenging seasons that included on- and off-track issues, Michael Waltrip Racing folded last season as former co-owner Rob Kauffman left the organization to join Chip Ganassi Racing. Waltrip says he’s been in a reflective yet positive mood during his first year on the sideline of team ownership in two decades.

He was so busy with broadcasting work during the first half of the year that he barely had time to stew on the topic, Waltrip said. Since then, he has pondered more about the fate of the organization that he likes to say started in his backyard and turned into a top-shelf Cup team. MWR won 12 races — seven Sprint Cup and five Xfinity — during its 20-year tenure, and nearly won the Cup Series championship in 2012 when Clint Bowyer finished second behind Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski.

However, in 2013, MWR went through what Waltrip says was the beginning of the end when a race-manipulation controversy occurred at Richmond. NASCAR fined MWR $300,000, handed down points penalties to Martin Truex Jr. that cost him a spot in the Chase playoffs and suspended team executive Ty Norris, all of which eventually contributed to the exits of key sponsors NAPA Auto Parts and Aaron’s.

When the team folded two years later, MWR had about 200 employees. Many landed new gigs in the sport, including Norris, who became president of Spire Sports & Entertainment, and former executive vice president Scott Miller, who moved into a competition role with NASCAR. NBC Sports reported in February that more than 80 former MWR employees had landed jobs at other Sprint Cup teams at that time.

MWR’s cars and equipment from its shop in Cornelius, N.C., have been sold to other teams or auctioned off. The shop remains for sale.

“It’s definitely been strange, especially given I see other teams have success, knowing we had all the components to be competitive and to have survived,” said Norris, who was with MWR for a decade. “That’s disheartening really, but … there are a lot of employees at MWR who contributed a lot to our organization and I see them sprinkled all over the Cup garage and so many of them have had wins, success and are doing really well.”

Waltrip said MWR’s plight is a reminder of the potential frailties of NASCAR teams if they lose their corporate backers. Sponsorship accounts for about 75 percent of most teams’ annual revenue. Waltrip also thinks the sport’s teams are putting so much money into on-track research and development that it’s driving organizations into overspending.

“If it costs a couple million to make it 1 percent better, there are teams that are doing that, and the engineering side of it has just really changed the world,” Waltrip said. “I’m of the opinion that the people sitting in the stands can’t see that 1 percent, so why we all spend ourselves into a tough position is hard to understand.”

Waltrip, 53, says he’s at peace with the way things played out, and is happy he’s still involved in the sport. But he won’t deny the bittersweet feelings from the past year.

“When you start something from nothing and grew it to what it was, it was a great feeling — and certainly it’s sad to not see it live on,” he said. “To me, it was more of a dream to be able to have a NASCAR team, race for championships and win races. That dream came to an end.”

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/09/19/Franchises/Michael-Waltrip.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/09/19/Franchises/Michael-Waltrip.aspx

CLOSE