February 25, 2006 (Fontana, CA) Michael Waltrip and the No.99 Aaron’s Dream Machine hit the 2-mile California Speedway Saturday for the Stater Brothers 300 NASCAR Busch Series race; the second race on the 2006 schedule. Waltrip started the race in the 33rd position and was happy with the car at the beginning of the race. “It’s a little loose, but it has good balance.” Michael reported early.

At the second caution flag on lap-20, Crew Chief, Culley Barraclaw made a call to change two tires during the first pit stop to pick some track position and move Michael up the leader board. Waltrip was 15th on the restart, but lost a couple of positions after a few laps. “The car feels good, but I need more motor.”

Michael raced on as the laps wore down and stayed in the top-20 most of the race. With 30-laps to go in the 150-lap event, Waltrip came into the pits for what was going to be his last pit stop to take on two tires and enough fuel to take him to the finish. The two-tire stop would have moved him up the leader board as most of the competitors took four tires during their last stop.

However, as Michael came into his pit box, he hit the brakes hard and slid to a stop, causing a “flat spot” on his left-side tires. After changing his right-side tires and filling the fuel tank, Waltrip felt the vibration from the flat-spotted left-side tires after he returned to the track, and he had to come back into the pits to change the other two tires. That extra stop put the Dream Machine two-laps down and into the 32nd position.

With 20-laps to go in the race, Waltrip battled to picked up a few more positions and took the checkered flag in 26th. Veteran NEXTEL Cup drivers seemed to have dominated the race as Greg Biffle won followed by Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton and Jamie McMurray.

Michael Waltrip Racing will make another “first” next weekend as the team travels to Mexico City, Mexico for the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez speedway. The 80-lap road course event is scheduled for Sunday, March 5 at 1:00 PM.