Michael Waltrip Racing: Creating a Contender

The Nascar world runs around Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, mix in a little Roush Fenway and Richard Childress Racing, and then you are left with Penske, Stewart-Haas, and Michael Waltrip Racing picking up the scraps. That isn't even mentioning Richard Petty Motorsports, Furniture Row, or any other small team trying to just get a mention.

I bring this up because one team really seems to be making strides and could possibly start to push towards the top in the next few years. That team is the before mentioned Michael Waltrip Racing. MWR has come a long way from their start and it has shown the past few seasons.

Last season MWR finally got a driver into the Sprint Cup Chase for the first time and it happened to be a case of the doubles. That's because after Clint Bowyer clinched MWR's first berth Martin Truex Jr ended up also getting in. It seems like last year was a huge coming out party at MWR. This coming out party was largely due to the season its drivers had.

Last season was Clint Bowyers first season with Michael Waltrip and he had the best season of his career thus far. In 2012 Bowyer finished the season runner up to first time Champion Brad Keselowski. Roger Penske has been a long time owner who has paid his dues and 2012 was his first ever Sprint Cup Championship, proving how hard it is to establish a team in Nascar. In 2012 Bowyer also posted 3 Wins, 10 Top 5's, and 23 Top 10's which were all career best for him. This season Bowyer has gotten off to a hot start and sits 3rd in the standings yet he has not found a win in 16 races.

In 2007 Martin Truex Jr won the first race of his career and this past weekend at Sonoma he finally notched his second. Also in 2007, MWR started to really get the ball rolling. MWR was one of the first 3 car teams to adapt to the new Toyota cars and have stuck with them since. Not only is Truex the latest winner this season but he also is sitting in an alright position to make his second straight Chase appearance. Matter of fact, Truex may not have the points that Bowyer has but he has an important win so far in 2013. Truex is sitting 10th in points through 16 races and is also coming off his best season in his career much like Bowyer.  He may not have posted a win last year but he tied his career high of Top 5's (7) and notched a career best 19 Top 10's on his way to a 12.1 average finish position. He didn't fair too well in the Chase where he finished 11th overall but it was his first taste of the big show.

Truex has long been regarded as a driver with tons of potential but just hadn't quiet tapped into it yet, but last season he showed a glimpse of it. After the win at Sonoma some people now think he could make a run while he is in the peak of his career. 

MWR has Truex and Bowyer who both could be hitting hot stretches in there careers behind the wheels of there Toyota Camry's so Michael has got to be happy. The question is, can MWR take the next step and become a title contender in the near future or even as early as this season?

Last year Roger Penske finally got his long awaited title, and in 2011 driver/partial owner Tony Stewart broke an 11 year streak of Hendrick, Gibbs, or Childress Champions with a Stewart-Haas Championship. From 1993-2010 only Robert Yates fielded a driver (Dale Jarrett) to beat one of the big three. (A look at the History of Sprint Cup Champions and Team Owners)

No one who knows Nascar will argue money wins races in Nascar (Which has lead to many years of research, development, and learning curves), and with that statement that Hendrick and Gibbs are tier one on that list (Childress riding shotgun) but with recent success of two non big three teams could MWR's time be now to break through? When thinking about that, also take this into account, those big three have owner's who are not getting any younger. To take a longer look into that check out this Fox Sports article that takes a look at the new demographic of Nascar and its owners. In my opinion I think that Michael Waltrip Racing is starting to turn a corner and will start to be a force for the next decade. Who else will step up as owners start to age and the cost of getting into Nascar keeps getting steeper and steeper?

• Martin Truex Jr- Sign's with MWR in 2010
• 124 Races. 1 Win. 15 top 5's. 45 top 10's. (With MWR)
• Clint Bowyer- Sign's with MWR in 2012
• 52 Races 3 Win's. 15 top 5's. 32 top 10's. (With MWR)

**I do realize MWR also fields the #55 (Mark Martin) every week but he is just coasting through his time at MWR anyways**

Take a look at this weeks Driver Spotlight that happens to be on Martin Truex Jr
Also take a peak at last weeks Power Rankings and this Weeks Kentucky Preview!

Driver Spotlight: Mark Martin

Nascar Behind the Wall Driver spotlight: Mark Martin. This segment will be a short article about where each driver is right now during the 2013 season. At the end of the season I will review some of the more interesting stories from Driver Spotlight.

Last week I started this Driver Spotlight column with Tony Stewart. A lot of talk was surrounding Smoke after the Fontana race going into Martinsville so I thought why not start there. Well last week Mark Martin also had a lot of buzz around him as confusion set in after Denny Hamlin needed to find a replacement for about 6 weeks while he was out with an injured back.

First Mark Martin was in until Denny came back and then it was just for Martinsville, either way it caused a lot of confusion and Social Media blew up wondering if 50 Cent would be driving the #11 car this past Sunday. In the end we found Mark Martin back in the #11 and most likely listening to 50 Cent so it was a happy medium.

Mark started off Martinsville back in 35 place after slow qualifying and less then stellar practice times. This left many Denny Hamlin fans attacking the decision to have Martin as a replacement. But by the end of Martinsvill Martin found his way to a 10th place finish, one better than Brian Vickers who was running the Aarons #55. The 10th place finish was also Martins best finish since the first race of the season, Daytona (3rd).

PHOTO: What do you think of @55markmartin's look in the @fedex black? #NASCAR twitter.com/NASCAR/status/…
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 5, 2013

Mark Martin is one of the more interesting drivers in Nascar in that he is a very well respected driver and no one really has anything against him. Maybe that is because he could be one of the best drivers in Nascar History to never win a Nascar Championship. Time is running out for Martin and odds say he will never get one (He doesn't run ever race during the season so that doesn't help).

However, their is a chance that Mark Martin could break one of the longest streaks right now in Nascar, and that is his current win less streak which is over 100 races long.  Mark Martin has not won a race since New Hampshire in 2009 and was a part of the We're Going Streaking article which highlighted which drivers in Nascar have the longest win less streaks.

The 2013 season has fared some mixed results for Martin. He has three top 15's, two top 10's, a top 5, and a pole in 5 races so far this season. The downside of that is Martin hasn't been a threat to win any of those races and that has been the case over the past few seasons. Martin seems to have a strong start to race's but when it counts he falls off and just has a good finish.

Can Mark Martin break that mold and better yet,

can he break his streak and get one last trip downVictory Lane? Most Nascar fans that I know would agree that it would be a nice way for Mark Martin to go off (Whenever he finally hangs it up and just races a few here and there). But will it actually happen? Hopefully we revisit this Spotlight at the end of the season to talk about how he broke his win less streak in 2013.

We're Going Streaking

A few weeks ago in Phoenix we witnessed Carl Edwards finally break his win less streak. After a few season's where it became normal to see Edwards do a back flip after finishing first, he went 70 races without thinking about acrobatics. The US Girls Gymnastics's team had achieved Gold in the meantime. At Phoenix International Speedway we got a glimpse of classic Carl and after that win he continued the hot streak with a 5th place finish. Carl had to be the most notable of divers to have a win less streak, but lets take a look at the drivers left and who could snap the streak this year. Boys we are streaking...

Martin Truex Jr

Truex's last win came in 2007 at Dover, it also happens to be his only win in his Sprint Cup Career. Truex has one top 10 on the season and that was last week at Las Vegas. He couldn't seem to stay out of trouble at Phoenix and finished up 36th. His Michael Waltrip teammate Clint Bowyer notched 3 wins last year while Truex had one of his finest seasons with 7 top 5's and 19 top 10's. It is only a matter of time before he gets his second win in the books. Look out at Dover this year, where he has his only win and also has two career poles.

**Update 6/25/13: Well it looks like at least one guy will get off this streaking list. Martin Truex Jr found a comfort in turning right and broke his streak at 218 races at Sonoma. Now the question is, is he done winning this year? He has been having another strong year and may get another one before one of these other guys get out of there slump.**

 

Mark Martin

 

Another Michael Waltrip driver and Truex's teammate, Mark Martin has been on a win less streak since 2009 at New Hampshire. That is 108 races, and 12 skipped races for Martin without winning.  Martin has 40 career victories and I don't know a Nascar fan that wouldn't mind seeing him get back to victory lane at least one more time. Mark Martin is 6th in the points standing so far with a 3rd place finish at Daytona and also had the pole at Phoenix. He has been a dream in the Aarons dream machine notching 10 top 5 finishes last year. Hope he has one last chance to celebrate in victory lane.

 

Jeff Burton

 

Jeff Burton has 21 career victories but hasn't celebrated one since 2008 at Charlotte. Burton use to be Mr. Consistent when it came to Nascar, qualifying for 3 straight years, (06, 07, and 08) he has only been back once in 2010. Burton has the longest active streak on this list as a driver who last won with the same team he is on currently, Richard Childress Racing. Burton is in the same boat as Martin, aging and looking for one last shot at glory. Both may go down as 1 and 2 of the greatest drivers never to win a Nascar Cup title.

 

Jamie McMurray

 

McMurray hasn't notched a win since 2010 at Charlotte, same as Burton. In 2010 McMurray also had 2 other wins giving him 3 on the season which doubled his total of his career. Last season McMurray was a non factor, only finishing in the top 10 three times. This season hasn't started much better with a 32nd, 22nd, and 13th, it could be another long season for McMurray.

 

Juan Pablo Montoya

 

Another teammate tandem on this list. Earnhardt Ganassi teammates McMurray and Juan Pablo are both in slumps but Montoya may have an easier out this season. 39th, 12th, and 13th so far on the season, Montoya hasn't started much better than McMurray, 2 top 10's last year, and only 2 career wins. All of these stats from the past are worse than McMurray, but Montoya has Road courses to fall back on. Montoyas last win was in 2010 at Watkins Glen (A road course). He has yet to win at an oval track, but look for a strong finish at Watkins Glen or Sonoma.

 

• Other notables: Bobby Labante, David Reutimann, Casey Mears, and Terry Labante

 

So who is going to be the next Carl Edwards and break the win less streak and who is going to be Frank Ricard?



 

"We're..We're Going streaking!! We're going up the quad to the gymnasium."