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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
ALL-STAR: Mikey’s Magic Night
Michael Waltrip was the longest of longshots in the 1996 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race
Tom Jensen  |  Posted April 29, 2009   Charlotte, NC
Michael Waltrip drove the Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford Thunderbird into victory lane in the 1996 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. (Photo: David Taylor/Staff Getty Images Sport)

As underdogs go in NASCAR, they don’t come any bigger than Michael Waltrip in the 1996 running of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. And that made his storybook victory all that much more dramatic.

Waltrip, who began his Sprint Cup career in 1985, was winless in his first 309 races at NASCAR’s highest level. He came to Lowe’s Motor Speedway without a guaranteed spot in NASCAR’s All-Star event and therefore almost no attention paid to him whatsoever. Waltrip wasn’t even considered a dark horse. He was virtually invisible.

ALL STAR GALLERY WITH LEGACY PICS

But somehow, the Owensboro, Ky., native pulled off one of the most improbable wins in NASCAR history.

Driving the fabled Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford Thunderbird, Waltrip finished fifth in the Sprint Open preliminary race behind Jimmy Spencer, Lake Speed, Hut Stricklin and Jeff Burton. That gave Waltrip the final transfer spot into the big race, where he would start from 20th and last place.

Not that anyone gave Waltrip a chance. And that includes the driver himself. “I wasn’t in the minds of many, mine included,” Waltrip said. “I don’t think I ever told anyone I would come here and win this thing. If I did, I lied.”

In the first 30-lap segment, pole-sitter Jeff Gordon took the lead at the start, but Dale Jarrett ran him down and passed him on Lap 12, cruising to an easy victory over Bobby Labonte, Ward Burton, Mark Martin and Gordon.

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