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CUP: Waltrip Signs Sponsor
Written by: Tom Jensen   
02/05/2009
Daytona Beach, FL
 
Longtime sponsor NAPA will remain on Michael Waltrip’s No. 55 Toyota Camry this season and Aaron’s has agreed to sponsor the No. 00 MWR Toyota of David Reutimann for the entire season. (Photo: Tom Jensen) » More Photos

NASCAR team owner Michael Waltrip said Thursday that’s it’s too early to tell whether or not starting his own multi-car Sprint Cup team prior to the 2007 season was a good idea or not.

But one thing he won’t have to worry about this season is funding for Michael Waltrip Racing. Longtime sponsor NAPA will stay on the flanks of Waltrip’s own No. 55 Toyota Camry this season, and he confirmed Thursday that Aaron’s has agreed to sponsor the No. 00 MWR Toyota of David Reutimann for the entire season. Aaron’s originally had planned to be the primary sponsor of the car for just half the 2009 Sprint Cup season, but Waltrip said he’s signed the company for the whole year.

“There’s two reasons why it’s huge,” Waltrip said during NASCAR’s annual Media Day prior to the opening of Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway. “Aaron’s has been a great partner. The Aaron’s Dream Machine has been the roots for what MWR is today. We raced that car (in the Nationwide Series) from behind my house. Toyota noticed what we did. They said, ‘Hey, we want you to be an owner at the Cup level.’ So it’s the reason I’m here today.

TOM JENSEN BLOG: This Bud's For You

“Secondly, they (Aaron’s) stepped up to half season of Cup and I was talking to (Ken) Butler, the CEO, and I said, ‘Reutimann’s going to win. You watch.’ And I said, ‘If he wins in somebody else’s car, that’s going to really get on my nerves, because you guys have put us here.
We want him to win in your car.’ And we were going to leave Daytona and go to California either with out a sponsor or a different sponsor. I just couldn’t handle that, so we talked and we worked (it out),” said Waltrip.

Still, Waltrip admitted his stretch has a NASCAR Sprint Cup team owner has worn on him in a big way, as the economic downturn and the demands of trying to launch a three-car team tested his mettle.

Asked if he regretted starting his own Cup team, Waltrip said, “Stay tuned. I don’t think I can answer that yet. I will give you a hint: If you drive down to Cornelius and there’s a ‘for sale’ sign in front of the big building I built in a year or two, then, yes, I do regret it. If we’re able to continue the progress that we’ve made so far, and we’re able to become one of the teams where people want to land and sponsors want to be, then the challenges and the sacrifices have been well worth it.”

Where doing double duty as owner/driver of his own Cup team has hurt Waltrip the most has been in the cockpit. “As a driver, it’s definitely been the worst three years of my career,” said Waltrip. “But there was two times in ’08 … (when) I could have won. Not many people who’ve had the worst years of their careers can say that. That’s real life.”

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