Full Throttle

Michael Waltrip’s early season success has allowed his mind to wander to things other than concerns of being part of the Go, or Go Home crowd and illegal fuel additives.

During Friday’s media access at Atlanta Mikey’s mind may have wandered a bit further than we need to know.

“I have hair growing out of my ears now,” Waltrip said. “I might be the only guy in the Chase who’s got that going on. I did not realize that until yesterday, when there was this little white hair coming out of my ear. I pulled it out and said, ‘OK, I guess this is next.’”

Thankfully Mikey turned his attentions from his new found Hairsonality to the performance of the #55 and his teammate David Reutimann.

“I’m very realistic, and there were days when we thought, ‘If we get out of here with a top 20, that’s a successful day,’ and now we’re looking at top 10,” Waltrip said. “And that’s not just a coincidence, the cars are better now. It’s fun to unload them at the track.”

It’s even more fun to watch those fast cars translate into top results. For the first time in the team’s history, both of Michael Waltrip Racing’s Cup cars are in the top 12 in points. And last weekend at Las Vegas, David Reutimann notched his first career Cup top-5 finish.

“I’m so proud of David, getting his first top 5,” Waltrip said. “I remember my first one of those and it was a wonderful feeling.”