Nationwide Series Teams
Waltrip made his debut as a car owner in 1996 driving the #12 MW Windows Ford Thunderbird. He ran thirteen races that season, winning the pole at Richmond International Raceway and posting three top-five finishes. The next season, MWR switched to the #21 with sponsorship from Band-Aid and had three fourth place finishes, and had six top-ten finishes the following season. In 1998, Waltrip fielded a second car, the #14 Rhodes Furniture Ford for Patty Moise full-time. Moise made 19 starts and a best finish of tenth at Bristol Motor Speedway, finishing 37th in points.
In 1999, Waltrip got his first career win as an owner/driver at the All Pro Bumper to Bumper 300. The next year, he switched to the #7 as well as driving the #99 car with Aarons sponsorship for three races, his best finish coming at Michigan International Speedway, where he placed second. Ted Christopher drove the #99 at Memphis Motorsports Park with sponsorship from LesCare Kitchens, qualifying 29th and finishing 28th. MWR switched to the #99 full-time in 2001, as Waltrip drove twelve races, his best finish third at the Aaron's 312. Waltrip also fielded the 99 for three races for Shawna Robinson, who had a 19th at Talladega Superspeedway, and Kerry Earnhardt, whose best finish was a 20th at Kentucky Speedway.
Waltrip had sole driving duties in 2002, running nineteen races and winning at Michigan International Speedway. The following season, he won at Bristol Motor Speedway. After making 31 starts in 2004 and winning at Nashville Superspeedway, Waltrip had only four top-tens in 2005. In 2006, Waltrip partnered with FitzBradshaw Racing to pick up FitzBradshaw's #40 car's owner's points. He drove a majority of the races in 2006, with his brother Darrell and David Reutimann driving additional races using Evernham engines.
David Reutimann drove the #99 Aaron's Toyota Camry for Waltrip in 2007. He won his first career Nationwide Series race with the team at Memphis Motorsports Park in October, and finished second in points. In the latter part of 2007, MWR also fielded a second car with Michael McDowell to prepare him for a possible Sprint Cup career.
In 2009, the #99 Toyota carried split by Michael Waltrip with sponsorship from Aaron's and Best Western, Trevor Bayne, and Scott Speed with sponsorship from Red Bull Energy Drink. For 2010 the team was co-purchased by former Diamond Ridge Motorsports owner Gary Betchel to form Diamond-Waltrip Racing to field development driver Trevor Bayne in the #99 full-time for 2010, though they had limited sponsorship. Trevor Bayne left the team before the Kansas Speedway race in September. Martin Truex Jr. is the replacement driver for the rest of the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series. Also, the team fielded the #00 NAPA Auto Parts/OUT! Pet Care Toyota for Ryan Truex and Truex Jr. on a limited basis in 2010. Travis Pastrana announced his intent to drive 7 races in 2011 with Boost Mobile, with Ryan Truex intending to run the remaining schedule minus the superspeedways. However, Pastrana was injured at X Games XVII and sat out the rest of 2011, stating that he would run the Nationwide Series in 2012. Truex's bid for Rookie of the Year was cut short when a lack of sponsorship forced the team to shut down briefly. The #99 team returned for some races in 2011, with Cole Whitt driving at Charlotte and Patrick Carpentier driving his final race at Montreal. In 2012, MWR allied itself with Nationwide Series team RAB Racing to field Pastrana for 7 races.
Read more about this topic: Michael Waltrip Racing
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