Daytona 500 : Waltrip Goes for the Big One That Has Always Gotten Away

Darrell Waltrip has won 13 races at Daytona International Speedway, including the one he stole Saturday from Rusty Wallace in the Goody’s 300, but he would trade them all for one today in the Daytona 500.

“Winning is always nice, but the 500 is what we come down here for, and I don’t want to end my career without winning it at least once,” Waltrip said after charging from fourth to first in the last quarter-mile to edge Wallace by half a car length in the Busch Grand National series race.

“If I’d never won anything at Daytona, I’d be worried, but I’ve won just about everything there is--except for the big one. That’s the one I want.”

Waltrip has won five Goody’s races, five 125-mile qualifying races, one Busch Clash, one IROC and one modified car race at Daytona.

He has also amassed $8,674,063 in winning 73 of 456 Winston Cup races--more money than any other race driver in history--without winning his No. 1 objective, the Daytona 500.

Waltrip will start on the front row today alongside pole-sitter Ken Schrader. They’ll both be driving Chevrolet Monte Carlos owned by Rick Hendrick.

The cars are the same and the owner is the same, but they look radically different. Schrader, who won the pole with a qualifying speed of 196.996, drives the red No. 25, while Waltrip’s No. 17 looks like a box of Tide detergent.

“The 500 is going to be a good, tough race but I’ve got the momentum going after today and I expect it to continue right on through 500 miles tomorrow,” a confident Waltrip said. “Our car is just as strong as Schrader’s, even though he’s looked strongest all week, but our problems were with tires and we’ve put that behind us.”

Schrader, after winning the pole last Saturday, won the Busch Clash and one of the Twin 125 races in impressive fashion. Waltrip, on the other hand, faded badly in the Clash and finished eighth in the 125 after losing a lap when he stopped to change tires.

“We handicapped ourselves on the tire deal and it took all week to get it sorted out, but we’re OK for the 500,” Waltrip said.

His problems started when he decided to qualify on Goodyear tires when most of the others used Hoosiers. In the Busch race, the Hoosiers proved much faster, leading to Waltrip’s poor finish. Then, because he qualified on Goodyears he had to start on them in the Twin 125.

“I was looking for a yellow (caution flag) all day so we could switch and when we never got one, I had to come with 10 laps to go and change on the green. Now we’re on the same tires with everyone else.”

NASCAR rules dictate that a car must start the 500 on the same make of tires it used in the final 10 laps of the qualifying race.

Waltrip won the Goody’s race in his personally owned Grand National car when several cars tangled coming out of the last turn of the last lap and race leader Wallace didn’t see Waltrip coming on the low side.

“I thought I won the race,” Wallace said. “I looked back, and only saw Robbie Moroso coming on. Darrell was down low and I didn’t see him until he was alongside me at the start-finish line and it was too late then.”

Dale Jarrett, son of former NASCAR champion Ned Jarrett, appeared to be the winner until Wallace tried to pass and nudged him into the wall, where he was hit by Geoff Bodine.

“Dale should be disappointed,” Wallace said. “The thing is, on that last lap, there aren’t too many gentlemen out there. I just messed up. I thought I had him cleared, but I got him into the wall.”

Jarrett was more than disappointed.

“He took me up and rode me into the wall,” he said indignantly. “I guess he can’t stand to lose. I had him beat, plain and simple.”

Today’s race will be the first Daytona 500 since 1963 without either Bobby Allison, who is recuperating from injuries, or Cale Yarborough, Benny Parsons and Buddy Baker, who have all retired.

Bill Elliott, defending Winston Cup champion and winner of two of the last four Daytona 500s, will start the race in his Ford Thunderbird despite a painful broken left wrist. How long he will remain in the car depends on how he feels, and how soon the first caution flag period arrives.

“I’m getting out as quick as I can,” Elliott said. “If the race goes green for a long time, I’m going to drive my tail off with one hand. I can’t even put my left hand on the steering wheel, it hurts so much.”

Jody Ridley, a former Winston Cup driver and close friend of the Elliott family, will take over when Elliott climbs out. Ridley drove it to a seventh-place finish in a the 125 race last Thursday.

The race, which will start at 9 a.m., PST, will be shown in its entirety on CBS.