Waltrip falters at the Food City 500

The Bristol Motor Speedway doesn?t really care if you are a rookie or a seasoned veteran. It's a tough track - and even the greatest of drivers have had a day they would like to forget at the ?World?s Fastest Half-Mile.? The latter was the case for NAPA driver Michael Waltrip. A series of misfortunes which were out of the Kentucky natives control left the No. 55 car battered and bruised. Waltrip finished 32nd in the Food City 500 ? 19 laps down.

It was an odd weekend at Bristol for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. Rain cancelled Bud Pole qualifying on Friday and the field was set by 2005 owner?s points. The Waltrip-Jasper team was posted 34th on the grid, due to the 2005 points of Jasper?s No. 77 team.

On Saturday, the weekend?s practice run barely finished up before a massive snowstorm hit the track. The snow delayed the start of the afternoon NASCAR Busch Series race and made many wonder if the same thing could happen on Sunday morning as well. Sure enough, the NAPA team was greeted by snow flurries as they entered the garage area on Sunday to begin preparations for the Food City 500. But in true NASCAR fashion, the weather cleared up and the race took the green flag on time.