Waltrip wins, pays tribute to Earnhardt

Michael Waltrip planned to spend his time at Daytona International Speedway celebrating the life of Dale Earnhardt.
He ended up emotionally celebrating in Victory Lane — again.
Exactly 10 years to the day from Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash in the Daytona 500 — a race also won by Waltrip — he found himself paying a special tribute to his then team owner.
This time, it was in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race that Waltrip raced to a win Friday night, not the Sprint Cup Series. But there was much else that was eerily similar. His brother, Darrell Waltrip, was in the booth to call the win. He battled a close friend to the line at the end — only this time it was Elliott Sadler, not Dale Earnhardt Jr. And this time, as in 2001, his thoughts turned to Earnhardt.

Sadler would finish second, driving for team owner Kevin Harvick, the man who took over what was the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team following that 2001 accident.
Friday night, Waltrip brought his black truck that carries the No. 15 — the same one he had on his car that fateful day — and just wanted to remember Earnhardt.
“I'm drained. I'm thankful. I didn't come here to celebrate winning the 2001 Daytona 500, I came here to celebrate Dale's life and honor him with my 15 car and 15 truck,” said Waltrip, who will carry that number in Sunday's race as well.
“First thing I wanted to do was lead lap 3 for him. I tried. I got close to leading it, but I didn't. And then I focused on leading lap 100, the last lap, whichever it was, 103.”
He was emotional following his run in Thursday’s Gatorade Duel and racing his way into Sunday’s Daytona 500. He was even more so Friday night at Daytona. He kept his helmet on briefly after he climbed from the truck, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. He clutched his daughter, Macy, closely.
“It's been really emotional,” said Waltrip. “But I knew as soon as they threw the green flag it would be all about racing, and I would put all that out. If you read my book, you know that race cars seem to focus me and a lot of things in life don't. So I just was determined to win the race for him.”
He was joined shortly afterwards by another family member, brother Darrell.
“(Darrell) came to Victory Lane. He never got to do that in 2001,” Michael Waltrip said. “... We talked about Dale's stories. He was a mess when he got to Victory Lane just now because this day is unbelievable, that 10 years to the day was the worst day of my racing career, one of the worst days in my whole life. And then to be able to honor our friend. Darrell and Dale were the fiercest of competitors forever.
“We were both there just thankful that we were having the chance to honor our friend.”
The victorious Waltrip admitted that the experience was an emotional one.
“Most of the time I'm all right,” he said. “(Ken) Schrader came over (Thursday). We can't look at each other without crying about it. We were probably the two, other than Dale Jr., drivers that were as closely tied to the events of that day than anyone. We cry a lot. It's hard.
“But, you know, I'm an emotional person. I don't mind people knowing that I'm not altogether right about all this. But I'm going to get there. And the book was really therapeutic for me. I really believe in what I learned in writing the book. I learned a couple things. I'll just tell you real quick. One was Dale was as happy as he had ever been on this earth (during) Speedweeks 2001.
When we were coming off turn four, he knew he was going to go win the Daytona 500. He had two cars that were going to do that. I have two cars this week. If my two cars are going to do that, I might just be the happiest guy on earth, too.”
In another Earnhardt tie, Jeffrey Earnhardt, the grandson of Dale, finished seventh.