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 Waltrip Finishes 26th In Bristol

Flat Tire ends Top-5 Run

BRISTOL, TN (March 25, 2006) Even a snowstorm could not slow Michael Waltrip and the ‘Ol Aaron’s Dream Machine at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday. Qualifying was cancelled due to snow, so NASCAR lined the Busch cars up by owners points, giving Michael a 27th position starting spot.

Waltrip liked the way his car was handling at the start of the 300-lap event and moved up to the 22nd spot by lap 30 when Mother Nature played an unusual trick at a NASCAR event, and the snow came down hard again. The snow was enough that NASCAR brought out the red flag and stopped the race.

After an hour and 20-minute snow delay, complete with snow ball fights, the race restarted and Waltrip and crew chief Culley Barraclough used some savvy pit strategy to put the No. 99 up front for 23-laps when the caution came out on lap-96. Running low on fuel, Waltrip came into the pits for four fresh tires and a full tank of gas.

Michael restarted 27th after the stop and carefully worked his way back toward the front, dodging several spins and crashes ahead of him. By lap 147, Waltrip was back in the top-10 and was one of the fastest cars on the speedway.

Waltrip moved into the 5th position on lap-175 when the right-rear tire began to lose air. Luckily, Michael was able to keep the car low and brought it into the pits for new tires. Unfortunately, the extra stop put the Dream Machine 2-laps down in the 34th spot.

Michael made one of those laps back by passing the leader on lap-212 and was granted the Aaron’s Lucky Dog pass on lap-247 to get back on the lead lap.

With 32-laps left, Waltrip got caught up in a crash and did some minor damage to the front-end of the Dream Machine that relegated him back to the 28th position. With only a few laps to go, Michael held on to finish 26th.

Kyle Busch won the Sharpie 300 followed by Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.

Hermie Sadler will start 42nd for the Food City 500 Sunday in the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine. The green flag drops at 2:00 PM and will be televised live on FOX.