Darrell Waltrip Motorsports was a NASCAR team owned by three-time Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip. 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 licensing 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. In 1991, the racing team moved up to the Cup level, with Hendrick support, but he divested himself of Busch operations at the end of the 1993 season. Sold the Busch team to Hank Parker Sr Racing in 1994.
Waltrip has also run part-time with his team, with his final NASCAR Truck Series race coming at Martinsville Speedway, where he finished 12th.
NASCAR Winston Cup
The Darrell Waltrip number 17 in 1997 at Pocono
DWM debuted at the 1991 Daytona 500 as car No. 17 with sponsorship from Western Auto. (The car number and numbering style were a carryover from Waltrip's days as a driver for Hendrick Motorsports.) Waltrip led at one point during the event, but finished 24th following an accident late in the race. Waltrip won five races over the next two years, with his final top-10 points finish coming in 1994. After that, the pressure of being an owner/driver started to crash down on Waltrip, and his performance declined. After Western Auto was renamed to Parts America, they planned on leaving the team, but stayed on for another year before leaving after 1997. That same year, Waltrip failed to qualify for his first race in 23 years since the 1974 Winston 500 at the fall race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In addition, DWM briefly expanded to two cars, when Rich Bickle finished 34th at that year's Brickyard 400 the No. 26 Kentucky Fried ChickenChevy also fielded by DWM, as well as Waltrip running special paint schemes to commemorate his 25th year in the sport.
For 1998, Waltrip agreed to terms with concrete company Speedblock to replace Western Auto as his primary sponsor. However, Speedblock never paid Waltrip and he was not getting enough money from secondary sponsors Builders Square and Hechinger to justify keeping his team open. After the spring Darlington race, where he ran an unsponsored car with a paint scheme honoring terminally ill NASCAR legend Tim Flock, Waltrip agreed to sell his team to Tim Beverley and became an injury substitute for Steve Park for Dale Earnhardt, Inc.. Beverley would put the team on hiatus after buying it; after he later purchased the assets of ISM Racing's NASCAR operation that same season, he merged his two acquisitions into one and brought Waltrip back to drive for what was now Tyler Jet Motorsports, in what had originally been ISM Racing's #35 Pontiac sponsored by Tabasco. Waltrip finished out the season in the #35.
In 2007, Darrell Waltrip admitted that he failed as an owner-driver because he thought more like a driver and not like an owner. [citation needed]
In 1996, Waltrip began his own team in the Craftsman Truck Series team, hiring Bill Sedgwick to drive his No. 17 Sears/DieHardChevy. Sedgwick collected eight top tens and finished 14th in points. In 1997, Rich Bickle drove the truck, winning three races and finishing second in points. After the season, Bickle resigned as he had hoped to run with Waltrip in the Cup series in 1998. Waltrip was about to run Phil Parsons in the truck, but after Sears pulled out, he shut the team down until 2003.
In 2003, Waltrip fielded his own truck, this time in partnership with brother Michael and HT Motorsports for a pair of Craftsman Truck races at Martinsville Speedway with the No. 17, the first with Tide (with the Tide with Bleach brand, intentionally reminiscent of his 1989 Daytona 500 win), and the second with the Aaron's promotion of The Three Stooges that ran in various series.
Joey Miller attempted to pilot the No. 12 truck full-time in 2006, but was released late in the season and the team finished with various drivers. Reutimann ended the season third in points and moved up to the NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series to drive for Waltrip's brother Michael Waltrip. The team became co-owned by Darrell and Michael Waltrip but kept the Darrell Waltrip Motorsports banner, as noted on the Waltrip Racing Web site.
As part of changes in 2007 with its move into Michael Waltrip's operations banner, the team became a one-truck team and the number was switched to No. 00 to maintain consistency with the rest of the Michael Waltrip Racing banner, and A. J. Allmendinger drove the No. 00 for a few races to help in his NASCAR experience, with Aaron's as the sponsor, along with Red Bull for a few races early in the season) and Michael Waltrip Racing putting developmental drivers Josh Wise and Ken Butler III in the truck, although Justin Labonte also drove a few races for the team. After one last race with Michael McDowell the team sold off its truck equipment in October 2007 to legendary road racing team The Racer's Group.
Darrell Lee Waltrip is an American motorsports analyst, author as well as a former national television broadcaster and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series, most notably driving the No. 11 Chevrolet for Junior Johnson. Waltrip is a three-time Cup Series champion.
James Carlyle "Carl" Long is an American professional stock car racing driver, mechanic, and team owner. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 66 Toyota Supra for MBM Motorsports. In the past, he served as a mechanic for Mansion Motorsports, Spears Motorsports, and Travis Carter Motorsports. He was a crew chief at Front Row Motorsports for Eric McClure and Competition director at Rick Ware Racing.
Terrance Lee Labonte, nicknamed "Texas Terry" or "the Iceman", is an American former stock car driver. He raced from 1978 to 2014 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup and Sprint Cup Series. A two-time Cup Series champion in 1984 and 1996 and the 1989 IROC champion, he is the older brother of 2000 Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte, and the father of former Nationwide Series driver Justin Labonte. He also co-owns a Chevrolet dealership in Greensboro, North Carolina with Rick Hendrick. He appeared on the CBS series The Dukes of Hazzard in 1984, where he played an unnamed pit crew member.
Michael Curtis Waltrip is an American former professional stock car racing driver, racing commentator, racing team owner and published author. He is the younger brother of three-time NASCAR champion and racing commentator Darrell Waltrip. Waltrip is a two-time winner of the Daytona 500, having won the race in 2001 and 2003. He is also a pre-race analyst for the NASCAR Cup Series and color commentator for the Xfinity Series and the Craftsman Truck Series broadcasts for Fox Sports. He last raced in the 2017 Daytona 500, driving the No. 15 Toyota Camry for Premium Motorsports. All four of his NASCAR Cup Series wins came on superspeedways driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Jonathan Thomas Benson Jr. is an American retired stock car racing driver and the son of former Michigan modified driver John Benson Sr. Benson has raced across NASCAR's three national series, and his career highlights include the 1993 American Speed Association AC-Delco Challenge series championship, the 1995 NASCAR Busch Series championship, the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year Award, and the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship.
Charles Robert Hamilton Sr. was an American stock car racing driver and racing team owner. A driver and owner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series circuit and the winner of the 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship, Hamilton owned Bobby Hamilton Racing. Hamilton's son, Bobby Hamilton Jr., was also a NASCAR driver.
Hendrick Motorsports is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All-Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 301 Cup Series races and 14 Cup Series owners and drivers championships to go with three Truck Series owners and drivers titles and one Xfinity Series drivers crown. Additionally, the team has 26 Xfinity Series race wins, 26 Truck Series race wins, and seven ARCA Menards Series race wins.
Justin Labonte is a former NASCAR Busch Series driver. He is the son of two-time Winston Cup Series champion Terry Labonte, and the nephew of 2000 champion Bobby Labonte. He currently races on short tracks in North Carolina.
Ronald Lee Hornaday Jr. is an American former professional stock car racing driver and businessman. He currently owns Team Hornaday Development, a driver development program as well as Hornaday Race Cars a Dirt Modified chassis builder. He is also the father of former NASCAR driver Ronnie Hornaday and son of the late Ron Hornaday Sr., a two-time NASCAR Winston West Series Champion. Hornaday himself is a four-time champion in the NASCAR Truck Series, his most recent coming in 2009 and is a NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour Champion. He was noticed by Dale Earnhardt while participating in the NASCAR Winter Heat on TNN.
Jack Eugene Sprague is an American former stock car racing driver who has competed in all of NASCAR's three top divisions, most notably in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, where he won series championships in 1997, 1999 and 2001.
Richard Allen Bickle Jr. is an American former professional stock car racing driver. Now retired from NASCAR racing, Bickle, who never completed a full season in the NASCAR Cup Series, had a long history in short track racing. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel described him in 2012 as a "stud on the short tracks in the late 1980s and early '90s and a journeyman who rarely caught a break in NASCAR." He won three NASCAR truck races and had a career-best fourth-place finish in the Cup Series in 218 career NASCAR starts.
Emil David Reutimann is an American professional stock car racing crew chief and former driver. A native of Zephyrhills, Florida, he has competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and Camping World Truck Series. In 2004, he won NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors in the Craftsman Truck Series. He is the son of Buzzie Reutimann.
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Jeffrey L. Hammond is an American NASCAR personality and crew chief. Currently, he is a commentator for NASCAR's coverage on Fox Sports. He is also referred to as Hollywood Hammond by his Fox colleague Darrell Waltrip. He is an alumnus of East Carolina University.
Billy Ballew Motorsports was a team that competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. They were formed in 1996 by Georgia businessman Billy Ballew.
Xpress Motorsports was a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team. The team won the Truck Series championship in 2002 and 2003 with Mike Bliss and Travis Kvapil, respectively. The team was owned by Steve Coulter until 2004, when he sold the team to its then manager Dave Fuge. Fuge owned the team until 2007 when he sold it to J. B. Scott. In late 2009 the team was again sold to Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch.
NEMCO Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team is owned by driver Joe Nemechek and his family. NEMCO Motorsports has had success, winning the 1992 Busch Series Championship. The team previously competed in both Cup and Xfinity Series competition. NEMCO currently competes in late models.
The 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the 59th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 36th modern-era Cup series. Beginning on February 10 at Daytona International Speedway with the Budweiser Shootout, the season ended on November 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the Ford 400. The Chase for the Nextel Cup started with the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway and was contested over the final ten races.
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) is a former race team founded by Dale Earnhardt and his wife, Teresa Earnhardt, to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series, the highest level of competition for professional stock car racing in the United States. From 1998 to 2009, the company operated as a NASCAR-related organization in Mooresville, North Carolina, United States. Earnhardt was a seven-time Winston Cup champion. He died in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Despite his ownership of the DEI racing team, Earnhardt never drove for his team in the Winston Cup; instead, he raced for his long-time mentor and backer Richard Childress at RCR. In the late-2000s, DEI suffered critical financial difficulties after drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip, and sponsors Anheuser-Busch, National Automotive Parts Association and United States Army left the team; DEI consequently merged with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2009, moving their equipment into the latter's shop, while the former's closed down. Chip Ganassi Racing's NASCAR operations was subsequently purchased by Trackhouse Racing Team in 2021.
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