This led to an emotional celebration on the infield with driver Michael Waltrip ( who finished in second place ), whose victory at the Daytona 500 was vastly overshadowed.

The same penalty was for Michael Waltrip Racing and the car chief for each team.

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 was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, February 5, 1947.

The first night out was far from a success as the youngster, barely old enough to drive on the street, Waltrip slammed the wall and heavily damaged the coupe.

Waltrip started in NASCAR Winston Cup, NASCAR's top racing series at age 25, on May 7, 1972, at the 1972 Winston 500, at Talladega, Alabama, the series ' fastest and longest track, with a used Mercury Cyclone which was originally the 1967 Ford driven by Mario Andretti to victory in the 1967 Daytona 500.

The car was owned by Waltrip and sponsored by Terminal Transport of, Waltrip's first major sponsor.

He was given the # 95 as a number but Waltrip preferred car # 17 because his hero, David Pearson, had success with the number in earlier years.

Except for five races in 1973, driving for Bud Moore Engineering, Waltrip primarily drove his own cars at the beginning of his NASCAR career until the middle of the 1975 Winston Cup season when he was signed a multi-year contract and replace driver Donnie Allison to drive the # 88 DiGard Chevrolet, Waltrip's long awaited jump into the big leagues of United States stock car auto racing.

During the early years of Waltrip's career, his wife, Stevie Waltrip, was the first NASCAR wife to attend the races and sit in the pit box, something almost all wives now do not only in NASCAR, but Formula 1, Indy Car, and most other forms of professional racing.

In the 1979 season, Waltrip won seven NASCAR Winston Cup races and was a serious contender for what would have been his first NASCAR Winston Cup Championship.

The final margin of Petty's Championship victory over Waltrip was only 11 points, the third-closest points race in NASCAR Winston Cup history.

The nickname was given to Waltrip by rival Cale Yarborough in an interview after Waltrip crashed Yarborough out of a race.

Ironically, it was Waltrip's rival and long-time nemesis Cale Yarborough, the hard-charging, and hugely successful driver for legendary driver / owner Junior Johnson, that privately told Waltrip that he intended to cut back on his racing appearances and leave the highly coveted Junior Johnson team at the end of the 1980 season, opening the position for a new driver.

Waltrip, the most successful Nascar driver at the time, was offered Nascar's top ride by Johnson, but only if Waltrip could successfully negotiate an early termination of his DiGard contract for which Waltrip was contractually obligated to drive.

It was during the early 1980s, with Junior Johnson, that Waltrip first worked with Jeff Hammond, a pit crewman for Johnson.

Darrell Waltrip honored him in a special paint scheme named " Tim Flock Special " after his death as a tribute to Flock.

It was formed in 1991 when Waltrip resigned from Hendrick Motorsports to start his own team, and was originally named DarWal, Inc .. During the 1970s, Waltrip, like many drivers of the time, formed their own teams for racing, in lower levels, originally DarWal, Inc, was his personal licencing agent and operator for many short-track cars he would race at many circuits on non-Cup weekends or special events, and eventually went to Busch Series racing.

Waltrip won only one NASCAR Winston Cup race in 1976, the Virginia 500, at Martinsville Speedway in, but in 1977 and 1978, working with legendary Nascar crew chief Buddy Parrott, he won six times each year, including his first of four career victories at the Talladega Superspeedway, in Talladega, AL, on May 1, 1977, and his first of a record five career victories in the series ' longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 ( formerly the World 600 ), May 28, 1978.

The years following that crash would see a different Darrell Waltrip, one who worked hard to repair and rebuild his relationship with fans and fellow drivers.

Johnson had signed Budweiser to be his team's primary sponsor in 1984, which unintentionally made Waltrip one of the faces of the connection he was so concerned about.

As he recounted in an interview for the Fox Sports Net series Beyond the Glory in 2001, Waltrip gained his release by purposely breaking one of Johnson's cardinal rules: asking for a raise ( Johnson forbade his drivers from discussing money matters, including raises, with him ).

Waltrip, who had long feuded with the entire Allison clan ( Bobby and Donnie ; ironically, Waltrip had replaced Donnie Allison with the DiGard team in 1975 and was a relief driver for one of Donnie's wins at Talladega ), sat next to his car on pit road in lawn chair and held a colorful umbrella, gleefully joking that the rain shower was worth " one million dollars " to him as he became the fourth driver to finish a Career Grand Slam.

In 1985, Bonnett had one of his best seasons, finishing fourth in the points standings while Waltrip went on to win his third championship.

Automatic bids went to the top 25 in series points ( every driver from eventual series champion Tony Stewart to 25th place Brian Vickers ), as well as any Daytona race winner who was not otherwise qualified and who competed in at least one race in 2011 ( which will enable Bill Elliott, Geoff Bodine, Derrike Cope, Michael Waltrip, Jamie McMurray, Trevor Bayne, Terry Labonte, and Ken Schrader to make the race if they decide to run ).

However, Darrell Waltrip, one of the top drivers in series history, who was retiring at the end of the 2000 season, failed to qualify.

After posting one top-five finish over a period of three years, and missing his first race since 1986 at the 1998 Dura Lube / Kmart 500, Waltrip departed the Woods at the end of 1998 to drive the No. 7 Philips Chevrolet for Mattei Motorsports, posting three top-ten finishes and ending that season 29th in points.

Despite one pole and seven top-tens in 2005, Waltrip announced he and sponsor NAPA would depart DEI to drive the No. 55 Dodge Charger for Bill Davis Racing.

Allison had one win in such a race in a Grand American car, which he claims should put him one greater than Waltrip.

Baker is one of eight drivers to have won a Career Grand Slam, by winning the sport's four majors – the Daytona 500, Aaron's 499, Coca-Cola 600, and the Southern 500 .; Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson are the other seven to have accomplished the feat.

Improvements at Michael Waltrip Racing with the addition of former RCR director of competition Scott Miller and veteran driver Mark Martin translated into one of Clint Bowyer's best seasons in the Sprint Cup series.

However his truck failed post-race inspection because the right side of spoiler snapped, likewise the team was penalized, but kept the win since Waltrip was not running for points, under NASCAR's new rule of choosing one series to go for a championship.

Only one road course specialist was substituting for a driver in a fully sponsored, full-season NASCAR team — Patrick Carpentier for Michael Waltrip Racing.

Michael Waltrip Racing development driver Josh Wise became the new driver for thirteen races with one top-five finish.

) Waltrip led at one point during the event, but finished 24th following an accident late in the race.

Waltrip would use the success he enjoyed at the Music City Motorplex, and his notoriety and public speaking skills that he acquired from television appearances in Nashville, as a springboard into NASCAR's big leagues.

Waltrip closed out the 1970s driving the # 88 DiGard Chevrolet, sponsored by Gatorade, ranked NASCAR's # 2 driver, having won 22 NASCAR Winston Cup races in just 149 race starts.

He was eventually publicly defended by two of Earnhardt's drivers, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Michael Waltrip, and was also cleared of any wrongdoing by NASCAR's investigation into the accident.

Earnhardt's drivers Dale Jr. and Michael Waltrip rose in Marlin's defense, and Marlin himself was cleared of any responsibility by NASCAR's investigation into the crash.

Many of the most legendary drivers of the past 50 years have raced there including Ted Horn, Parnelli Jones, AJ Foyt, Bobby and Al Unser, Mario Andretti, Larry Dickson, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Gordon.

The reduction in throttle response, however, has never been shown to have impeded ability to pass ; the criticism was shot down in the first " modern " plate race, the 1988 Daytona 500, as the lead changed 25 times officially and saw several bursts where the lead changed several times a lap and also several bursts of sustained side-by-side racing, notably in the final 50 laps between Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Neil Bonnett, and Buddy Baker.

The company is as a 50 – 50 partnership between Robert " Rob " Kauffman, the 44-year-old founder and managing partner of Fortress Investment Group, and Michael Waltrip, who first established the team in 1996.

Waltrip was forced to add Rob Kauffmann as a 50 % partner in MWR to get the financing to improve the operation.