Quotes from Michael Waltrip

As I've gotten older, I know I race less, but I as an owner I have the same anxiety and the same frustration and energy for it.

Predominantly everything I have and everything I do revolves around my commitment to NASCAR on the team ownership side.

I was always one who thought that if something is painful, you just ignore it and it will go away. That's not true.

I would probably build somewhere between a half-mile and three-quarter-mile track. It would be sort of like Indianapolis Raceway Park. When I was a kid, that was my favorite track.

I'm a sensitive person.

The thing that warms my heart is people. I have just met so many kind folks that want to just pat you on the back and say, 'We love you.'

You have to think that if you're starting first instead of 31st you've got a better chance to win.

When I showed up to drive for Dale in '01 it was a brand new team.

When you're not successful, people look at the driver and say, 'what's wrong with him?' and sometimes the drivers look back and wonder 'what makes you think you're not the problem?'

Whether you're Michael Waltrip or Jeff Gordon or Richard Petty, you can't be the Daytona 500 champion without it having an impact on people around you. When I say that, I mean the race fans. They want to congratulate you for winning the biggest race of the year. It has changed people's perception of me.

I really love the camaraderie you can share amongst some buddies, and the ability to laugh, enjoy the afternoon, enjoy the day. Golf brings all of that together and that's something I really enjoy.

I love to give people chances that otherwise wouldn't have them.

They say some people are born with the ability to play golf. I wasn't.

I love the sport, I love getting other drivers' helmets and collecting some of the things that are special to me.

The computer systems that we have on our cars when we go test just blow my mind.

When you've been ridiculed and talked about as much as I have over the course of my career, pressure doesn't exist.

I am just so proud to be able to take my NAPA car, my NAPA Toyota, to the West Coast and race in front of the fans in Southern California.

Obviously you can make a pretty good living these days as a crew member or a crew chief or as a driver. But the technology is expensive.

I don't know anyone who's started more consecutive Daytona 500s than me.

When 'Michael Waltrip Racing' and 'competitive juices' are discussed, naturally the subject of jet fuel arises. I'm here to tell you that I can be competitive without jet fuel; that stuff tastes awful.

I just was fortunate enough to be talented at what I was watching my brother do. It's great that it worked out that way; I might have been wasting a lot of time saying that's what I want to be, but when I got behind the wheel I had the ability.

Some people might say I'm two different people, but I think it's more like seven or eight.

The Daytona 500 is what it is because of the tradition and history of this great event. People have been coming out in February since 1950 to watch this great race. It would be hard to ever change that.

It's my opinion tracks got too wide. You put 43 cars on the track, and if the turns are too wide like they are at some tracks, you sort of lose perspective of what's going on.