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NASCAR WCUP: 'The Rock' holds plenty of insight for Michael Waltrip

19 February 1999

HARRISBURG, N.C. - Michael Waltrip, driver of the consumer electronics giant backed Philips Chevrolet, jumpstarted his 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series campaign with a fifth place finish in Sunday's Daytona 500, marking his best finish ever in the "Great American Race." Now, his thoughts broaden to the rest of the 1999 season, which picks up this weekend at North Carolina Motor Speedway.

Michael Waltrip on...

...the importance of Rockingham:

"We had to put Daytona behind us pretty quick and start thinking about Rockingham. Running well at Daytona means that this Philips Racing Team will probably run well in the four races at Daytona and Talladega. But, if you can run well at Rockingham, that means you'll be good in about 30 other races, so we're pretty eager to go down there and have a good run. If we look good at Rockingham, we're going to be pretty excited."

...preparing for Rockingham:

"For me, everything is basically different than when we were at Rockingham last fall, and I'm pretty happy about that because we didn't run as well as we wanted to.

"I have every note from every spring and shock that we ran there last year. We'll just try to make a better set up for this weekend. That's why we tested at Greenville [S.C.] this week. This is the first unrestricted Chevrolet Monte Carlo I've been able to drive. Our team has been finishing cars almost every day getting us ready to go for the season. But this is the first chance for me to drive my Philips Chevrolet without a restrictor plate on it, and it's feeling good."