Darrell Waltrip Motorsports - Winston Cup

Winston Cup

DWM debuted at the 1991 Daytona 500 as car #17 with sponsorship from Western Auto. (The car number and numbering style were a carryover from Waltrip's days as a driver for Hendrick Motorsports.) Waltrip led at one point during the event, but finished 24th following an accident late in the race. Waltrip won five races over the next two years, with his final top-10 points finish coming in 1994. After that, the pressure of being an owner/driver started to crash down on Waltrip, and his performance declined. After Western Auto was renamed to Parts America, they planned on leaving the team, but stayed on for another year before leaving after 1997. That same year, Waltrip failed to qualify for his first race since 1975 at the fall race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In addition, DWM briefly expanded to two cars, when Rich Bickle finished 34th at that year's Brickyard 400 the #26 Kentucky Fried Chicken Chevy also fielded by DWM, as well as Waltrip running special paint schemes to commemorate his 25th year in the sport.

After almost losing his team due to a lack of sponsorship, Waltrip signed Speedblock/Builder's Square to sponsor his car in 1998, but they did not live up to most of their obligations as a sponsor, and Waltrip cancelled the contract. Waltrip's last race as owner/driver came at the spring Darlington race that year, driving the Tim Flock Special, a special paint scheme to honor the NASCAR legend who would lose his battle with cancer later that month. After that, Waltrip sold the team to Tim Beverly. The team was so disorganized Beverly temporarily suspended operations to get everything situated. The team returned later in the year as the #35 Tabasco Pontiac with Waltrip driving after the team merged with a defunct team. Waltrip left at the end of the year after not posting a top-ten finish. This team ran as Tyler Jet Motorsports for the next two seasons.