Darrell Waltrip

Darrell Waltrip

NASCAR Nationwide Series career 95 race(s) run over 14 year(s) Best finish 22nd – 1986 First race 1982 Mello Yello 300 (Charlotte) Last race 2006 Goody's 250 (Martinsville Speedway) First win 1982 Miller Time 300 (Charlotte) Last win 1989 Goody's 300 (Daytona International Speedway)

Wins	Top tens	Poles
13	53	4

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career 17 race(s) run over 6 year(s) Best finish 37th – 1996 First race 1995 Heartland Tailgate 175 (Heartland) Last race 2005 Kroger 200 (Martinsville)

Wins	Top tens	Poles
0	8	0

Darrell Lee Waltrip, (born February 5, 1947), is an American motorsports analyst, author, national television broadcaster, former racing car driver, a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, (1981, 1982, 1985), a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series runner-up, (1979, 1983, 1986), winner of the 1989 Daytona 500, and the first 5-time winner of the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 (formerly the World 600), (1978, 1979, 1985, 1988, 1989), (a first for any driver, all time). Posting a modern NASCAR series record of 22 top five finishes in 1983, 21 top five finishes, (both in 1981, and 1986), Waltrip is the winner of 84 NASCAR Cup Series races, including seven consecutive wins at Bristol Motor Speedway. Waltrip's 84 wins places him second only to Jeff Gordon, for the most wins in the modern era of NASCAR, and tying him with Bobby Allison, for fourth on the all-time list of NASCAR Cup series winners. Waltrip won 59 NASCAR Cup Series pole positions, (second all-time), including 35 on short tracks, and 8 on road courses, both all-time highs for any driver. He has 271 top-five finishes, (33% of all NASCAR Cup series races started), and 390 top-ten finishes, (48% of all NASCAR Cup series races started), competing in 809 NASCAR Cup series races, spanning 29 years, (1972–2000).

In addition to NASCAR's top racing series, he has won 13 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series races, 7 American Speed Association (ASA) races, 3 IROC races, 2 Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) races, 2 NASCAR All-American Challenge Series events, 2 All Pro Racing Association races, a USAC race, and has competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona, a 24-hour sports car endurance race. Waltrip also holds the all-time track record with 67 wins at the Music City Motorplex, formerly Fairgrounds Speedway, in Nashville, Tennessee, counting NASCAR, USAC, ASA, and local track races.

Waltrip also became the first NASCAR driver to win $10 million (February 18, 1990). He is a 2-time winner of NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award, (1989, 1990), was "American Driver of the Year", (1979, 1981, 1982), and was "NASCAR's Driver of the Decade", (1980s). In addition, he was the "National Motorsports Press Association Driver of the Year", (1977, 1981, 1982), the "Auto Racing Digest Driver of the Year", (1981, 1982) and the first "Tennessee Professional Athlete of the Year", (1979). He is a 2003 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee and a 2005 International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee, and was announced in July, 2009, as one of the initial 25 nominees for the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame induction class of 2010. Waltrip was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998), and was awarded the Bill France "Award of Excellence", in 2000. On July 1, 2010, Waltrip was again nominated for the 2011 induction class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. On July 14, 2011, it was announced that Waltrip, in only his third year of eligibility, will be inducted as one of the five members of the class of 2012, one of only nine top series Nascar drivers to be inducted to the NASCAR Hall of Fame thus far.

Waltrip currently owns Honda, Volvo and Subaru auto dealerships in Franklin, Tennessee, and is a lead television analyst and race commentator with Fox Broadcasting Company and Speed TV, a columnist at Foxsports.com and an author. He is the older brother of NASCAR driver and MWR team owner Michael Waltrip. He is married, has two daughters, and resides in Franklin, Tennessee.