Waltrip rains supreme

Monday, Feb. 17, 2003 | 10:18 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Michael Waltrip finally got to celebrate a Daytona 500 victory in proper fashion.

And it didn't matter that NASCAR's biggest race was called after 109 laps Sunday because of rain.

Waltrip grabbed the lead from Jimmie Johnson on a restart on lap 106 and stayed in front for three laps -- and through the second of two rain delays -- and was declared the winner of the 45th running of the "Great American Race." Waltrip earned $1.4 million from the record purse of nearly $14 million.

Las Vegas native Kurt Busch finished second after driving his Roush Racing Ford from the 36th starting position. It was Busch's career-best Daytona 500 finish in three attempts and was worth $1,022,451.

Johnson was third, Kevin Harvick took fourth and Mark Martin rounded out the top five.

It was Waltrip's second Daytona 500 victory in three years but the 39-year-old driver's postrace celebration was stifled in 2001 when he learned minutes after the race that his car owner and longtime friend, Dale Earnhardt, had died in a crash on the final lap.

Waltrip said Sunday's victory neither was tainted because of the red-flag finish nor closed a chapter on what happened in 2001.

"That chapter will never be closed -- that's part of my life, part of who I am," Waltrip said. "That will never be considered a great race because of what happened but I'm OK with that; I'm at peace with what occurred that day."

In fact, Waltrip said, his wins here are even more special because of Earnhardt's legacy at Daytona.

"When (Earnhardt) he lost his life, that's just another chapter in the book of Daytona," he said. "I loved Dale and he was my friend, so that made it even more endearing to me that he was doing what he loved to do when he had that wreck.

"It didn't make me hate Daytona; it just made me understand that he was doing what he wanted to do when he headed off. If you ask (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), this place is more special to us because of his father."

Waltrip, whose career was reborn when Earnhardt hired him to drive the No. 15 Chevrolet prior to the 2001 season, has registered all three of his career victories at this historic 2.5-mile superspeedway, including a win in the Pepsi 400 here last July.

It had been predicted that the Dale Earnhardt Inc. cars of Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr. would be strong in Sunday's race and would try to team up to outrun the competition. They did -- but not in the expected fashion.

A faulty alternator caused Earnhardt to fall off the pace 90 laps into the race and he fell two laps down after pitting to replace a dead battery.

But Earnhardt helped Waltrip grab the lead on the final restart while Earnhardt was battling to regain one of his lost laps. Johnson was leading when the green flag waved following the fourth of five caution periods. Earnhardt got the jump on Johnson on the restart and Waltrip dove down behind his teammate and raced past Johnson.

"He didn't really help me; he just took off," Waltrip said of Earnhardt. "We didn't talk about it and if that had been anyone else, I would have got behind him and done it.

"It's circumstantial that it worked out that way. I knew that he had a fast car and I knew that I needed to get behind him because of it. It didn't matter that he was my teammate and he darned sure didn't so anything to help me. He just did what he was supposed to do and I took advantage of it."

Busch, who complained all week about how his car handled out of the draft, worked the draft to perfection in climbing from 36th into the top 10 in the first 55 laps.

Unlike Waltrip, who admitted he prayed for the rain to continue during the last delay, Busch was disappointed the race wasn't continued.

"It's a bittersweet finish for us, obviously," said Busch, who finished fourth in last year's 500. "We're happy with the finish and yet we're a bit disappointed because we didn't get to continue the Great American Race.

"But this is a good, solid points start for us. We're very elated to bring a Ford home in second place today."

Busch picked up where he left off last season, when he won three of the final five races (four overall) and finished third in the Winston Cup points race.

"Everybody shows up at Daytona on a clean slate but, yeah, we did have some momentum from last year and the guys (on the team) were really pumped up about getting started," Busch said.

So is Waltrip, who now intends to prove that he can win at tracks that don't require restrictor plates.

"I am wrongly called (a driver who can win) only plate races," Waltrip said. "I don't think that's fair and it will just be a matter of time before I prove that that's not valid.

"I think that we will fare much better at other tracks, and we're prepared to do so, but (Daytona) ain't a bad place to win until you get everything else worked out."