FOX broadcaster Darrell Waltrip [DW]was back in the infield and behind the wheel at Martinsville Speedway Tuesday. Waltrip, a 11-time Martinsville Speedway winner, made the trip to prep for the Advance Auto Parts 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville, and it wasn’t his on-camera work he was honing. For the second straight year Waltrip will be attempting to make the Advance Auto Parts 250, which will be held the day before the Virginia 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race at Martinsville Speedway. Last year Waltrip qualified 17th for the event and wound up 34th after losing an engine. Waltrip wasn’t in a Craftsman Truck Series truck Wednesday; there’s no testing in that series. Through an odd arrangement, Waltrip was in a Busch Grand National car owned by Winston Cup team owner Andy Petree. Petree also dabbles in the truck series as a driver. He, too was looking for Martinsville seat time, so he brought a Busch car to Martinsville and on Wednesday shared driving duties with Waltrip. Waltrip’s first run was quickly short-circuited Wednesday. Two laps into it, the engine exploded and he was sidelined for a couple hours while a new power plant was installed. Kyle Petty asked Waltrip to take a laps in his Winston Cup car to get a little extra input. By 1:00pm he was back in Petree’s car, logging valuable laps in preparation for the Advance Auto Parts 250. “This is a lot of fun, but it’s also great for my other job. Just walking back into the garage like this helps me know what they are doing, if they are doing the same things they were doing when I was racing. It helps me know if things have changed.” And getting behind the wheel is even more valuable to Waltrip and his job with FOX. “How can I talk about the track if I’ve not been on it. How can I talk about what’s been done to the track if I’ve not been on it,” said Waltrip. But as important as these forays into the truck series may be to Waltrip’s current fulltime job, he likes to be thought of as a driver first. “The guys told me today it was like a flashback, seeing me in the Tide uniform,” said Waltrip, who will be sponsored by Tide, his longtime Winston Cup sponsor, in the Advance Auto Parts 250. “Days like to day give me an opportunity to come back and I want to come back in here as a driver first as long as I can.” There were also eight Winston Cup teams on hand Wednesday closing out the two-day test session. Rookie #41-Casey Mears posted the best time of the day, 92.597mph. #0-Jack Sprague 92.461 #32-Ricky Craven 92.101 #25-Joe Nemechek 91.967 #74-Tony Raines 91.567 #45-David Hyder 91.258 #16-Greg Biffle 91.346 #1-Steve Park 89.659. All times were provided by teams.( Martinsville Speedway PR )(4-2-2003)
