THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502120211
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Michael Waltrip has been waiting for his breakthrough year for nine years.
Everybody thought it would come in 1991, when he slid behind the wheel of the Pennzoil Pontiac for the first time.
It didn't, although there was improvement. Waltrip had 12 top-10 finishes that season, including a third at Darlington, and he closed out the season 15th in the points standings.
But instead of building on '91, the team fell apart in '92. Waltrip managed just two top-10 finishes that year.
``At the end of '92, this team was in shambles,'' Waltrip said. ``(Crew chief) Doug (Hewitt) had just gotten here. In '93 we had a decent year and '94 was decent but we never really had all of the pieces together. . . .
``We are all really positive about (this) season. This year, we think we really got everything together.''
If winter testing and his performance so far are any indication, 1995 may be the year Waltrip gains his first Winston Cup win.
Waltrip ran the fastest lap at 192.802 mph during the final test session last month. And he wasn't too far off that pace Saturday when he posted a qualifying lap of 192.152, was seventh-fastest overall and the best speed posted by a Pontiac.
``We had a good, steady car all winter. When you run that close to what you ran before, you can't complain,'' Waltrip said. ``We had a little bit of a problem on our lap, the car bottomed out a little worse than it had for two days, but you can't complain. We are way ahead of things, and that usually results in good runs for us.''
This may be the most confidence Waltrip, 31, has ever brought to Daytona, and it can be credited to a very busy winter.
``We've got better cars, better people and definitely better engines than we have ever had,'' Waltrip said.
The Pennzoil team has built new cars for the short tracks and brought the superspeedway cars to the forefront on the track - no small feat for a Pontiac team.
The Grand Prix has taken a dive on the circuit in recent years, and NASCAR has gone out of its way to help the Pontiac teams keep up with the Chevrolets and Fords.
Last season, NASCAR allowed Pontiac teams to make adjustments to the body style that made the Grand Prix more competitive.
``It just takes a lot of work to build a Pontiac and have it perform,'' Waltrip said. ``The pieces Ford sends you, you put them all together and it hauls. . . . You can put a Ford car together and not really know what you are doing and still build a fast car.
``If you get a team together that doesn't know what it's doing to put a Pontiac together, you are going to run into to trouble. ``This team we have here is really on top of it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Michael Waltrip
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