Innovative Motorsports ( IMI ) is a former NASCAR team. It was owned by George DeBidart and began racing in the Busch North Series in the mid-1990s, before moving to the Busch Series in 1998 .
70-665: MWR may refer to: Michael Waltrip Racing , a NASCAR racing team Monthly Weather Review , an American Meteorological Society journal Morale, Welfare and Recreation , an American military support network Museum of World Religions , a museum in New Taipei, Taiwan Microwave Radiometer (MWR), an instrument on the Juno Jupiter orbiter See also [ edit ] Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered Topics referred to by
140-482: A 22nd at Homestead-Miami Speedway . Wallace ran two races in 2005 , finishing 27th at Darlington Raceway . Johnny Benson ran a pair of races that season as well, but did not finish any higher than 42nd. David Reutimann , who drove for Waltrip's brother Darrell in the Craftsman Truck Series , made his Cup debut at Lowe's Motor Speedway that season, qualifying 26th and finishing 22nd. In 2006 ,
210-538: A 50% co-owner in order to fix the problem. After the season, an ugly controversy emerged with Jack Roush of Roush Fenway Racing , who accused MWR of stealing one of his team's sway bars after a September 2007 race. While Waltrip and some other drivers, such as Jeff Gordon , argued that parts are often inadvertently swapped during post-race inspection, Roush held a lengthy news conference in March 2008 to accuse "the non-descript Toyota team" (MWR) of deliberately stealing
280-460: A caution. Rumors abounded postrace that Bowyer had deliberately forced a caution to help Truex into the Chase. Truex was just ahead of Ryan Newman for the final Chase wildcard slot. They gained even further credence when it was revealed the third MWR driver, Brian Vickers , had pitted after the restart on orders from general manager Ty Norris , who was serving as his spotter. As it turned out, by
350-553: A majority of the races in 2006, with his brother Darrell and David Reutimann driving additional races using Evernham engines. David Reutimann drove the No. 99 Aaron's Toyota Camry for Waltrip in 2007 . He won his first career Nationwide Series race with the team at Memphis Motorsports Park in October, and finished second in points. In the latter part of 2007, MWR also fielded a second car with Michael McDowell to prepare him for
420-424: A mechanical failure on Jimmie Johnson 's car in the final race. Bowyer and MWR struggled more to find speed in both 2014 and 2015, failing to win any races nor contend for a championship. Bowyer and MWR parted ways after the season ended with MWR not fielding full-time teams in 2016. 1999 series champion Dale Jarrett and his sponsor UPS moved over from Robert Yates Racing 's No. 88 car to MWR's No. 44 car for
490-426: A pole at the season finale Ford 400 . Michael Waltrip formed an alliance with Bill Davis Racing in 2006 as Davis was going to switch to Toyota in 2007, which was the selected manufacturer for Waltrip's new team as well. This enabled Waltrip to have a car to drive as he built his team. NAPA Auto Parts, Waltrip's sponsor, followed him to his new team and Waltrip ran a Dodge Charger for 2006, although unbranded due to
560-485: A possible Sprint Cup career. In 2009, the No. 99 Toyota carried split by Michael Waltrip with sponsorship from Aaron's and Best Western , Trevor Bayne , and Scott Speed with sponsorship from Red Bull Energy Drink . For 2010 the team was co-purchased by former Diamond Ridge Motorsports owner Gary Betchel to form Diamond-Waltrip Racing to field development driver Trevor Bayne in the No. 99 full-time for 2010, though they had limited sponsorship. Trevor Bayne left
630-411: A sponsor after Jarrett retired and transferred its sponsorship to MWR's archrivals Roush Fenway. In 2009, MWR was forced to form a technical alliance with JTG Daugherty Racing to have sponsorship for its third car. However, during this season, MWR finally achieved success as a Sprint Cup team, including winning a race and placing two cars in the top six two weeks later. Both of those cars ended up in
700-472: A sprint car accident. It was determined that he would miss the rest of the year. Martin was hired to replace Stewart for most of the rest of the season except Talladega. Michael Waltrip Racing ultimately agreed to release Martin from the rest of his deal and give the No. 55 over to Vickers early (except for Talladega, where Waltrip was going to drive the car). However, blood clots discovered in Vickers' leg after
770-429: A technical alliance with MWR, ran a second car full-time, numbered No. 55. For Talladega , Bristol , Michigan and Sonoma , Waltrip drove the No. 55 as part of Prism (Waltrip started and parked at Bristol and would have at Michigan had he qualified). The No. 55 returned in 2012 with Aaron's moving from the No. 00 car and Mark Martin hired to drive 24 races in the car for the next two seasons. Michael Waltrip drove
SECTION 10
#1732786624752840-485: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Michael Waltrip Racing Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC , doing business as Michael Waltrip Racing ("MWR"), was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series . The company was as a 50–50 partnership between Robert Kauffman ,
910-426: The 2007 Auto Club 500 at California Speedway . Because of the struggles, the team finished 39th in points and had a best finish of 13th. Burger King and Domino's then pulled their sponsorship for 2008. Reutimann opened 2008 in the No. 00 with backing from Aaron's . After the first five races Reutimann moved to MWR's No. 44 UPS Toyota and Michael McDowell took over the No. 00. However, McDowell struggled to keep
980-570: The 2008 Food City 500 , turning the No. 44 Toyota ride to David Reutimann . His final race was the All-Star race in May 2008. In 2008, Jarrett planned to run the first five races and the All Star Race before retiring from Sprint Cup Series competition. However, Jarrett was not guaranteed to start the first five races using the champion's provisional as he had the year before as Kurt Busch ,
1050-409: The 2009 Daytona 500 . However, because Waltrip consistently qualified and finished behind both his teammate Reutimann and MWR satellite driver Marcos Ambrose during the first half of 2009, he began to discuss retirement as a driver, stating that, as his team's owner, he would make himself retire as a driver if he was no longer competitive. In 2010, Prism Motorsports , a mostly start and park team in
1120-489: The 2010 Daytona 500 despite wrecking in the qualifying race. In 2011, the car was renumbered as the No. 15, with Waltrip driving the car at Daytona and Talladega. Waltrip also attempted to qualify for the first ever Cup race at Kentucky (Waltrip's home track), but qualifying was rained out and the No. 15 was too low in points to make the field. The No. 15 ran full-time in the Sprint Cup in 2012 as Clint Bowyer joined
1190-670: The Aaron's 312 . Waltrip also fielded the 99 for three races for Shawna Robinson , who had a 19th at Talladega Superspeedway , and Kerry Earnhardt , whose best finish was a 20th at Kentucky Speedway . Waltrip had sole driving duties in 2002 , running nineteen races and winning at Michigan International Speedway . The following season, he won at Bristol Motor Speedway . After making 31 starts in 2004 and winning at Nashville Superspeedway , Waltrip had only four top-tens in 2005 . In 2006 , Waltrip partnered with FitzBradshaw Racing to pick up FitzBradshaw's No. 40 car's owner's points. He drove
1260-545: The All Pro Bumper to Bumper 300 . The next year, he switched to the No. 7 as well as driving the No. 99 car with Aarons sponsorship for three races, his best finish coming at Michigan International Speedway , where he placed second. Ted Christopher drove the No. 99 at Memphis Motorsports Park with sponsorship from LesCare Kitchens , qualifying 29th and finishing 28th. MWR switched to the No. 99 full-time in 2001 , as Waltrip drove twelve races, his best finish third at
1330-661: The Daytona 500 . The team rebounded to qualify 15th via the Gatorade Duels , but finished 30th, leaving Daytona with negative driver and owner points (the team's finish in the Daytona 500 earned them 73 points, but the 100 point penalty they received from NASCAR left them last in the standings at −27 points). Waltrip proceeded to fail to qualify for 11 consecutive races before qualifying for his second race at Dover International Speedway on June 2. Making just his third start of
1400-507: The EA Sports 500 the following season, where he started 16th and led 19 laps before being relegated to 40th due to a crash. He attempted Atlanta again, but failed to qualify. Mike Skinner closed out the year for MWR at the Ford 400 , qualifying 17th, but finishing 39th after a wreck. In 2004 , Kenny Wallace returned to MWR in the No. 00. Running four races for the team, his best finish was
1470-430: The 2004 champion, had his team's owner points transferred to his teammate Sam Hornish Jr. and would be first to receive it. In his abbreviated final season, Jarrett had a best finish of 16th in the Daytona 500 but no finish higher than 26th otherwise. For the rest of the 2008 season, David Reutimann moved over from the 00 Aaron's Dream Machine to pilot the 44 car. David had four top 10s in his entire season, including
SECTION 20
#17327866247521540-413: The 2013 Chase, but controversy arose in the final race before the Chase at Richmond, in which MWR was found to have deliberately manipulated the end of the race in order to allow Truex to hold off Ryan Newman for a Chase spot (see above). On September 9, NASCAR ejected Truex from the Chase and placed Newman in. On September 19, NAPA announced that it will no longer sponsor the No. 56. On October 14, it
1610-460: The 55, with potential top 10 finishes at Sonoma, Bristol, Daytona, Pocono, Watkins Glen, Martinsville, and Charlotte, but fell victim to bad racing luck, with crashes or mechanical failures in many events. He was ultimately released and left for BK Racing when MWR closed its doors. In 2010, Martin Truex Jr. replaced Waltrip as the driver for this team, renumbered as No. 56. The No. 56 team used
1680-524: The Busch Circuit at the 1998 NAPA Auto Parts 300 . Andy Santerre was the driver of the car, the No. 47 Monro Muffler and Brake Chevrolet Monte Carlo , and finished 25th. Santerre was the driver for the whole season, grabbing two top-tens, a pole at Richmond , and NASCAR Busch Series Rookie of the Year honors. The next season, Santerre suffered a broken leg in a crash at Daytona, and missed half of
1750-509: The Charlotte race ended his season, necessitating the team to hire Elliott Sadler to drive the car for the remaining four races of the year. Vickers returned from his medical issues in 2014, but missed the Chase in only his second full season since 2009. Vickers missed the first two races of the 2015 season after off-season surgery to repair a patch placed over a hole in his heart. Vickers Team owner and race driver Michael Waltrip raced
1820-744: The Coca-Cola 600. The car was sponsored by Aaron's and used Prism's No. 66. In 2014, with no driver or sponsor lined up, the points from the former No. 56 car was transferred to Identity Ventures Racing , owned by Nat Hardwick and Jay Robinson, and the number was changed to 66. The car was fielded out of the MWR shop for select races for Michael Waltrip , Jeff Burton , and Brett Moffitt , with Waltrip and Moffitt running select races with MWR support out of Robinson's shop. The other primary drivers were Joe Nemechek and Mike Wallace . Identity Ventures Racing folded after one season due to ownership issues, ending
1890-454: The Daytona 500, while Brett Moffitt raced the No. 55 for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 . Vickers returned for two races before he was sidelined again just before Fontana. Moffitt was named the interim driver and later declared his candidacy for Rookie of the Year. On April 24, it was announced that David Ragan would take over the No. 55 beginning at Kansas. Ragan had several strong runs in
1960-481: The MWR equipment and several employees went to BK Racing for 2016. They also sold their two charters to Stewart-Haas Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing , which currently use them as the No. 41 and No. 19, respectively. After shutting down, MWR was embroiled in an ugly lawsuit with former tire changer Brandon Hopkins who sued the team for wrongful firing, defamation, and interference with finding work at another team. MWR counterclaimed that Hopkins stole pit road guns which
2030-541: The MWR team had a disastrous season. In February, Waltrip's teams were disallowed from their starting spots in the Daytona 500 due to an illegal fuel additive. The team members each faced a $ 100,000 fine and many team members were suspended. Though they backed up their qualifications by using back-up cars they suffered a terrible year. The team was unable to recover, failing to qualify for many events and losing sponsors such as Burger King and Domino's Pizza . Waltrip partnered with British-American billionaire Rob Kauffman as
2100-500: The No. 00 ran under two separate entries. The first ran with listed owners Mike and Bonnie Anderson under the name MBA Racing . It campaigned Ford Fusions with Hermie Sadler driving. He made only three starts, with his best finish 40th at the Daytona 500 . The other was the MWR car with Waltrip as the listed owner. Bill Elliott drove the Monte Carlo in five races in 2006 with a sponsorship from Burger King . David Reutimann
2170-474: The No. 00 team returned with minimal changes. On July 10, they won the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway , for MWR's 2nd Sprint Cup win. On November 4, 2011, MWR announced that Reutimann would not return as driver of the No. 00 for 2012. For 2012, the No. 00 was renumbered to 55 in honor of Aaron's founding in 1955. The 15 began as the No. 51 because Michael Waltrip's move away from full-time driving,
MWR - Misplaced Pages Continue
2240-428: The No. 00 was once again driven by Reutimann with an Aaron's sponsorship for the entire 2009 season. This became Reutimann and MWR's breakthrough season, as Reutimann won a rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 on May 25, 2009, giving Michael Waltrip Racing its first victory in a Sprint Cup race, which was considered vindication for a team that had struggled for years. After a strong start to the season, Reutimann ranked among
2310-558: The No. 00, on an intermittent basis through 2005. In 2006, MWR, in partnership with Bill Davis Racing , added a second car, Waltrip's No. 55, but neither car had manufacturer support due to DaimlerChrysler suing BDR for breach of contract. In 2006, MWR signed an agreement with Toyota to field multiple Toyota Camrys in the Nextel Cup Series for 2007. Waltrip was then able to add a third car driven by Dale Jarrett to his team for 2007, along with new sponsors. However,
2380-668: The No. 1 truck with sponsorship MW Windows at Las Vegas where he started 27th and finished 4th. Innovative Motorsports Innovative ran four Cup races during its tenure. Using the No. 98 Chevy purchased from Michael Waltrip Racing , Kenny Wallace ran the Pepsi 400 , the Tropicana 400 , the Brickyard 400 , and the Sirius at the Glen . His best finish was 29th. Innovative debuted on
2450-407: The No. 21 with sponsorship from Band-Aid and had three fourth-place finishes, and had six top-ten finishes the following season. In 1998 , Waltrip fielded a second car, the No. 14 Rhodes Furniture Ford for Patty Moise full-time. Moise made 19 starts and a best finish of tenth at Bristol Motor Speedway , finishing 37th in points. In 1999 , Waltrip got his first career win as an owner/driver at
2520-413: The No. 47 team closed its doors, Hmiel moved to the 48 and had ten top-tens and was in eighth in points, when he was suspended by NASCAR for violating its drug policy. Jeff Green , Todd Bodine , Carlos Contreras , Randy LaJoie , and Kerry Earnhardt finished out the year for the team. In 2004, Innovative closed its Busch teams, and signed with Toyota to field entries in the Craftsman Truck Series ,
2590-458: The No. 55 got its third NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at Loudon with Vickers driving. In the final laps, Vickers stole the lead from Tony Stewart and after a debris caution fought Stewart for the lead, ending with Stewart running out of gas in turn 3 just before the white flag; locking up the victory for Vickers. On August 13, it was announced that Vickers would run the No. 55 full-time in 2014 and 2015. In early August, Tony Stewart broke his leg in
2660-604: The No. 55's owner's points for 2010. Truex would join Bowyer in qualifying for the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2012. On June 23, 2013, Truex won the Toyota Save/Mart 350 at Sonoma by 8 seconds over Jeff Gordon , his 2nd career victory (breaking a 218-race winless streak as a driver stretching back to June 3rd, 2007 ), and the 7th as well as final victory for MWR in the Series. Truex also had initially joined Bowyer again in
2730-473: The No. 98 of Premium Motorsports to field a car for Waltrip himself at the fall Talladega race. Premium is owned by Jay Robinson , who was a partner in MWR's research and development team the previous season. Waltrip made his debut as a car owner in 1996 driving the No. 12 MW Windows Ford Thunderbird . He ran thirteen races that season, winning the pole at Richmond International Raceway and posting three top-five finishes. The next season, MWR switched to
2800-536: The Sprint Cup Series to still be in operation, as Bill Davis Racing and Red Bull Racing Team had both ceased operations in the preceding years. The team last fielded the No. 15 Toyota Camry for Clint Bowyer and the No. 55 Camry for David Ragan . Brian Vickers would normally drive the No. 55, but repeated health problems including blood clotting forced him out for much of 2015. Development driver Brett Moffitt and team owner Waltrip also competed in
2870-618: The Top 12 drivers (who qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup ) after finishing third at the Pocono 500 in race No. 14. He was caught by an early wreck at Daytona in race No. 18 that dropped him to 14th, however, and he narrowly finished outside the Chase. He also won his second pole at Texas Motor Speedway in April and his third at Dover in the race after his first victory. For 2010, Reutimann and
MWR - Misplaced Pages Continue
2940-561: The bar and threatened legal action. However, Roush, who had previously accused Toyota teams of being "ankle-biting Chihuahuas" and brought up Pearl Harbor in his effort to keep Toyota out of NASCAR, did not pursue such a lawsuit as NASCAR declared that the Toyota teams did nothing wrong and that Roush's ideas against Toyota were ridiculous. For 2008, MWR once again added Aaron's as a sponsor and ran competitively, but again managed only one pole and just one top-5 finish, and UPS withdrew as
3010-528: The car in the Budweiser Shootout and also drove in the Aaron's 499 , Coke Zero 400 , Quaker State 400 , and Good Sam Club 500 . Former Red Bull Racing Team driver Brian Vickers was hired to drive at both races at Bristol, Martinsville, New Hampshire, and the two road courses. In 2013, the No. 55 was again split. This time Waltrip would race 3 times under the No. 55 team, Martin would race 24 more times, and Vickers would race 9 times. In 2013,
3080-403: The car in the Top 35 in owner points, which is necessary for automatic qualification into each race, and was replaced near the end of the season by Mike Skinner in an effort to reclaim a Top 35 spot. In October 2008, MWR transferred its third team to the No. 47 Toyota of JTG Daugherty Racing , driven by Marcos Ambrose , and discontinued the No. 00 team for the balance of the season. In 2009,
3150-471: The car. Michael Waltrip Racing began racing in the Winston Cup Series in 2002 , making its debut at the 2002 Aaron's 499 . The car was the No. 98 Aaron's Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Kenny Wallace . Wallace qualified 27th and finished 21st. Following that first race, Waltrip sold the No. 98 and its owner points to Innovative Motorsports . After that, MWR fielded one Cup Series car,
3220-509: The course of the season, and had six top-tens en route to a 24th-place points finish. Just before the 2001 season, McLaughlin quit the team for Joe Gibbs Racing , and was replaced by Kenny Wallace . Wallace had two poles as well as a victory in North Carolina Speedway , finishing 10th in points. After Stacker 2 came on as a sponsor, Wallace improved to seventh in points in 2002 and had thirteen top-tens, but did not win. After
3290-465: The following week, bringing his team barely inside the top 43 in points by the end of the season. Waltrip continued to run the No. 55 during 2008 and 2009. The car qualified in the Top 35 in owner points for 2008, and Waltrip recorded his best finish as a Sprint Cup owner with a second place in the 2008 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 in June. In 2009, Waltrip started the season with a seventh-place finish in
3360-491: The founder and managing partner of Fortress Investment Group , and two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip , who first established the team in 1996 in the Busch Series (now Xfinity Series). The team was the first full-time three-car team to field Toyota Camrys when Toyota entered the Sprint Cup racing fold in 2007, before being joined by Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008. MWR was also the last original Toyota team in
3430-637: The full season. Jarrett started the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season on a high note as he drew pole position for the annual exhibition race, the Budweiser Shootout, at the Daytona International Speedway. He finished 18th out of 21 cars. Since Jarrett's team was a brand new team and had no owner points, and due to a rule change, he was eligible to use the Past Champion's Provisional five times as his 1999 championship
3500-444: The other two teams, Jarrett struggled, failing to qualify for twelve races and not scoring a single pole or top 10 finish, leading to a dismal 41st-place points finish. During an interview on Speed , Jarrett said after his contract is up with MWR (which was expected to be in the 2009 season), he would retire, but the timetable was pushed up in October 2007 prior to the 2007 Bank of America 500 . Jarrett retired from points racing after
3570-482: The penalties knocked Jarrett, Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann out of the top 35 in owner points-the safety net for qualifying regardless of rain and cancellations of qualifying. Jarrett started 43rd in the Daytona 500 and finished 22nd. Jarrett used his last champion's provisional at the Spring Talladega race, Aaron's 499. For the rest of 2007, Jarrett had to get into that weekend's race on time. Like
SECTION 50
#17327866247523640-660: The points to be transferred to Waltrip's new ride at MWR for 2007, which they were; however, Waltrip failed to make the top-35 in points, which meant Waltrip would have to qualify on time in 2007. Waltrip took his Bill Davis points to his own then-new Toyota Camry team for the 2007 season with sponsor NAPA Auto Parts in the Nextel Cup Series . It was a dismal first year for the No. 55 Toyota Camry in NASCAR top series competition, as Waltrip's team faced stiff penalties for using illegal fuel additives during qualifying for
3710-768: The remaining schedule minus the superspeedways. However, Pastrana was injured at X Games XVII and sat out the rest of 2011, stating that he would run the Nationwide Series in 2012. Truex's bid for Rookie of the Year was cut short when a lack of sponsorship forced the team to shut down briefly. The No. 99 team returned for some races in 2011, with Cole Whitt driving at Charlotte and Patrick Carpentier driving his final race at Montreal. In 2012, MWR allied itself with Nationwide Series team RAB Racing to field Pastrana for 7 races. He would later join Roush Fenway Racing for 2013. In 1996, Michael Waltrip drove
3780-403: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title MWR . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MWR&oldid=1154428909 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
3850-476: The satellite team. Michael Waltrip Racing began racing in the Winston Cup Series in 2002, making its debut at the 2002 Aaron's 499. The car was the No. 98 Aaron's Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Kenny Wallace. Wallace qualified 27th and finished 21st. Following that first race, Waltrip sold the No. 98 and its owner points to Innovative Motorsports . In October 2015, MWR leased the owner points from
3920-482: The season at Michigan International Speedway on June 18, Waltrip posted the team's first top-10 finish and Toyota's third by finishing 10th and leading a lap. In order to take advantage of the champions provisional, Terry Labonte drove the No. 55 in 2007 at Infineon, Indianapolis, and Watkins Glen. Waltrip gave Toyota its second pole in Cup competition at Talladega on October 7 and grabbed another top-10 finish at Lowe's
3990-436: The stiffest penalties imposed on a team in its history. It fined MWR a record $ 300,000 and docked all three MWR teams 50 driver/owner points prior to points being reset for the Chase. The point penalty had the effect of ejecting Truex from the Chase and putting Gordon in (as 13th entrant after NASCAR was unable to eject Joey Logano from the Chase due to his involvement in another race manipulation scheme that same race). Norris
4060-490: The team already burning bridges with DaimlerChrysler . The team bought points from Penske Racing 's No. 77 team, which shut down after it lost sponsorship. Since the listed owner of the No. 77 was Doug Bawel , whose Jasper Motorsports team was absorbed by Penske a few years earlier, his name was registered as owner and the No. 55 ran under the Waltrip-Jasper Racing banner for 2006. The arrangement called for
4130-529: The team before the Kansas Speedway race in September. Martin Truex Jr. is the replacement driver for the rest of the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series . Also, the team fielded the No. 00 NAPA Auto Parts /OUT! Pet Care Toyota for Ryan Truex and Truex Jr. on a limited basis in 2010. Travis Pastrana announced his intent to drive 7 races in 2011 with Boost Mobile , with Ryan Truex intending to run
4200-401: The team began fielding a fourth car for him in selected races in 2010. Instead of continuing to use the No. 55, Waltrip decided to go with the No. 51, which is the inverse of the No. 15, which is the car that Waltrip drove for DEI to four victories at Daytona and Talladega in the early 2000s. Waltrip first drove the No. 51 for the 2010 Daytona Speedweeks , and he became the final qualifier in
4270-424: The team from Richard Childress Racing . Bowyer ran with 5-Hour Energy as his sponsor. In June 2012, Bowyer won at Sonoma. He won again at Richmond International Raceway in September 2012 for MWR's fourth win, also becoming the first MWR driver to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup . Bowyer would win for the third time in 2012 at Charlotte in October, and ended up finishing second in the points standings after
SECTION 60
#17327866247524340-424: The time Gordon was able to pit, he lost several spots and ultimately finished third, tying him with Truex in points. However, Truex got the final wildcard spot in the Chase via a tiebreaker. An investigation was unable to turn up conclusive evidence that Bowyer's spin was deliberate, but did find that Norris had tried to manipulate the race and Chase standings by having Vickers pit. As a result, NASCAR issued some of
4410-483: The top 20 for the year. For 2010, MWR added Martin Truex Jr. as a full-time Sprint Cup driver. Michael Waltrip continued as a part-time driver, while also adding on talent such as former RCR crew chief Scott Miller, and hiring drivers Mark Martin , Clint Bowyer , and Brian Vickers . In 2013, controversy arose in the Federated Auto Parts 400 . Clint Bowyer spun out with seven laps to go, forcing
4480-561: The year, and posted a seventh-place run at Pikes Peak. After the team did not run in 2001 , it returned in 2002 as the No. 47 with rookie Shane Hmiel driving with sponsorship from Mike's Hard Lemonade . Hmiel had two poles, eight top-tens and a sixteenth-place points finish, finishing behind Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter for Rookie of the Year. The team closed after that. The second Innovative car made its debut in 2000 at Daytona with Mike McLaughlin , sponsored by Goulds Pumps . He wrecked and finished 26th. McLaughlin struggled through
4550-593: The year. Elliott Sadler filled in for him, posting two top-ten finishes. Santerre returned and won his first career race at Pikes Peak International Raceway . Santerre struggled making the field, and was released. Hermie Sadler finished the year, his best finish a 22nd at Phoenix . Sadler took over the car full-time in 2000 , as it was renumbered the No. 30 and receiving sponsorship from Little Trees . Sadler struggled making races as well, and would soon be released. Chad Little replaced him, but when his performance didn't improve over Sadler's, Sadler came back to finish
4620-414: Was announced that due to the lack of sponsorship or a driver, the car's points would be moved to a new research and development team starting in 2014, later named Identity Ventures Racing . It was also announced three days later that Truex was picked up by Furniture Row Racing to takeover the No. 78 from the departing Kurt Busch . In 2009, MWR fielded a car for Dave Blaney and Prism Motorsports at
4690-512: Was suspended indefinitely, while crew chiefs Brian Pattie , Scott Miler and Chad Johnston were placed on probation until December 31. To make matters worse NAPA Auto Parts , who had sponsored Waltrip in both his driving and ownership roles since 2001, elected to end its business relationship with MWR following the incident, a decision that forced Waltrip to release Truex from his contract. On August 19, 2015, co-owner Rob Kauffman announced that MWR would cease full-time racing after 2015. Much of
4760-514: Was tapped to drive the No. 00 Toyota Camry in 2007 , with full-time primary sponsorships from Burger King and Domino's Pizza . He competed for the Rookie of the Year title as well as the Nextel Cup championship. However, the team struggled to qualify for races, as did other Toyota teams, making only 26 of 36 races in the season. Reutimann experienced one of the hardest crashes ever recorded at
4830-529: Was the cause of the firing. The suit was settled out of court in November, 2017. The first race for the No. 00 was at the Tropicana 400 , with Jerry Nadeau driving. Nadeau qualified 34th but finished 37th after suffering a steering failure. MWR attempted another race that season, the NAPA 500 with Buckshot Jones driving with a sponsorship from Charter Pipeline , but he failed to qualify due to rain. Jones ran
4900-405: Was the most recent among past champions who were driving for teams not in the top 35 in owner points; prior to the rule change the use of a Past Champion's Provisional was not limited. Jarrett was forced to use all five of his provisionals at the start of the season, starting at Daytona mainly because Michael Waltrip Racing was penalized by NASCAR for an illegal fuel additive during Speedweeks and
#751248