2014 Team Spotlight Review: Michael Waltrip Racing

Michael Waltrip Racing 2014 Review

By Richard Tix

Season Preview

2014 Team Stats

Wins: 0

Top 5: 8

Top 10: 24

Pole: 1

Just as recently as 2012 I thought this MWR team was on the verge of being a big player when it came to NASCAR teams. They entered 2013 and had a great season until it fell apart at Richmond before the 2013 Chase when "spin gate" became a term.

Enter 2014. Not much has changed since that incident at Richmond. The team and sport has moved on (for the most part), yet MWR still is in that same funk how they left the 2013 season. In 2014 MWR moved back to only two drivers because spin gate cost them NAPA Auto Parts as a sponsor. Martin Truex Jr lost his spot on MWR due to that sponsorship loss and no new sponsors for a third car were brought in.

Clint Bowyer came back in the #15 and Brian Vickers was cleared to race and took over the #55 full time. Nothing was smooth sailing in 2014 for either driver as neither found a win or made the Chase. 

Clint Bowyer

• Before Richmond in 2013 (spin gate) Clint seemed to be making a push to be a rising star. He had just finished 2nd in 2012 and he was helping MWR try and reach a new level. A lot of things seemed to have crashed down after the incident at Richmond and he hasn't quite found his step yet. Some of this maybe due to the lack of speed some Toyota's experienced in 2014 compared to 2013, but maybe spin gate has something to do with it. He finished 2014 with 0 wins, 5 top 5's, and 15 top 10's while having an average finish of 17.1. All of those stats were lower than 2013 and most of them were close to career low's.

Brian Vickers

• Expectations were not as high for Vickers entering 2014. 2014 was the first time he ran a full time schedule since 2009, which in itself is a win for the #55 team and his health. Bad news struck this offseason that he will have to have heart surgery again and will miss the start of 2015. With lower expectations Vickers did about what most thought he would when he posted stats of 0 wins, 3 top 5's, 9 top 10's, 1 pole, while finishing the season 22nd in points.

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