MICHAEL WALTRIP 2-time Daytona 500 winner. - Photo by: K. Ma/NYAR

NEW YORK, NY (February 19, 2003) - Long before this year's Daytona 500, it was a common knowledge that the DEI Chevrolets were in the class of their own in terms of restrictor plate racing with recent domination at Daytona and Talladega. Whether it was a 500-miler or a 275-mile, rain-shortened race as seen last Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, a DEI machine still came out on top. Despite the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr. swept all races before the 500 - Budweiser Shootout, Gatorade 125 and BGN's Koolerz 300, it was 2001 Daytona 500 Michael Waltrip who took the crown in the end thanks to his teammate and good buddy Dale Jr. Part of the reason was the fact that the #8 machine suffered electrical problems and dropped two laps down at one point, and the other part was the fact that Earnhardt helped Waltrip to overcome Jimmie Johnson at the restart before the race was called off after 109 laps. It was a sweet victory for Waltrip, who was able to celebrate completely this time around. Now a two-time Daytona 500 winner, Waltrip sat down with me during his New York media tour before heading to Rockingham for Sunday's Subway 400 in North Carolina.

KEVIN MA: Despite the fact that this year's race was cut short by the rain, were you able to enjoy this victory more than the one in 2001 due to circumstances? [Waltrip's friend and car owner Dale Earnhardt was killed on the last lap in 2001 Daytona 500]

MICHAEL WALTRIP: Tons more. I enjoyed it until about 4 in the morning. That night, we had a great time with our car owner Teresa Earnhardt, and Dale Jr. was there as well. We celebrated, as Dale Earnhardt Incorporated dominated all throughout the Speed Week. She won 4 races - the Bud Shootout, the 125, the Busch race and the 500. I am glad that my brother was in the [FOX] booth to call it because he knows what it means to win the Daytona 500 -- he struggled for many years before he finally won it.

KM: What made the DEI machines so fast at Daytona over the years? And how come Steve Park's car wasn't able to keep up with you and Dale Jr.?

MW: The car was so fast because we have such a wonderful engineering staff, and we get a lot of assistance from Chevrolet on aerodynamic and engine programs. We track-tested the car at Daytona and Talladega; we road-tested at the desert - General Motors Desert Proving Ground Facility in Arizona. We have a team that works year-around on the restrictor plate stuff for Daytona and Talladega - 4 races, and we don't shut down in November and get ready for Daytona and then quit in February and go on to the other stuff, they work year-around. We put a lot of effort into the Daytona and Talladega cars. Dale Earnhardt had a lot of success in Daytona and Talladega, and he knew in order to be successful you have to have a fast car, that was the first rule. The car got to be fast in order to do its job, and everybody knows that was Dale's attitude and mentality, and they make sure they honor that by continuing to provide those fast cars.

The fact that Steve didn't do so well is a little bit confusing, because they have all the same tools to do the job with. We need to figure out why his car wasn't allowing him to be with us. It's a concern and we need to figure it out.

KM: Do you guys share information within the Chevrolet squad, such as with RCR?

MW: The development of the 2003 car was a shared program throughout the Chevrolet camp. RCR and DEI work very close together on the development of the car, so it was a group project. As you go down the road, we start to tweak and tune the car you develop, and most of that information stays in-house. We don't voluntarily show the other guys what we are doing. Even when you have a great organization like DEI doing all these works trying to develop the cars, it all comes down to individual teams. My crew chief Slugger Labbe, he is very serious about making sure that I get the best car out there. He works on that thing 24 hours a day - just thinking about that race car.

KM: Dale Jr. was on a roll before the Daytona 500. What was the game plan for the team before the race?

MW: Dale Jr. and I have an unspoken bond, we never say one thing about anything, and we just go out there and drive up to the front. We know how to get there on our own, and when we get there, then we try to hang together to preserve what we got. We never said a word. I am proud of what he accomplished all week, but I knew in my mind that everyone was there trying to win the Daytona 500. Right up to that or what you've accomplished before that, you trade it all to win the Daytona 500.

KM: If the race resumed, were you going to let him to get his lap back?

MW: Yeah, it'd be foolish for me not to because he is part of DEI. What if 10 laps to go my alternator goes out and I can't win because of the problem, and he can't win because he was a lap down. It was better to have both of us to have the opportunity to win the race, so my plan was just to let him to get his lap back and we just fight it out on a leveled ground.

KM: Now you are a 2-time Daytona 500 winner. Do you have time to look back at the days before you joined DEI, where you struggled driving with smaller teams?

MW: I went 0 for 462, and I spent 16 years trying to win. But I didn't look at those 462 races as 462 failures. There were things that I accomplished, even though some of them were just plain failures. A lot of them were actually successful, but just not a win. I knew I'd win when I joined DEI and I trusted my ability to win. It was amazing that I got an opportunity like this after going 0 for 462. Who was going to give me the opportunity? Who was going to hire someone, knowing that how many races you had lost? Dale hired me, and he might be the only one in sport who could pull that off. He gave me that ride. The last couple of years have been, at first it was the worst thing ever [2001 season following Earnhardt's death]. The off-season of 2000 before the 2001 season was the best time ever -- Dale and I were working together, talked, laughed and prepared, and then I won the first race I drove for him. However, he wasn't there to celebrate with me. I probably should have sought therapy after that. The 2001 season was tough, as we tried to figure things out. Then the 2002 season we were starting to gain our focus back. We won Daytona last July, and we had a respectable year. Going into 2003, we were trying to win the Daytona 500, that was our goal and we achieved it. Hopefully we can keep the momentum for the season. I am just thankful for the opportunity I was given from Dale.

KM: How's the TV campaign going? It looks like you are getting more and more people doing commercials with you.

MW: It's a lot of fun to do. You have this job to do racing cars, and why not while you are there to do some TV - do the Speed Channel program and do the commercials. I mean why not just do it while you are there? I don't plan on racing forever, so while the sun's shining - my dad would've said - and make some hay. I am just going along for a ride, basically.

KM: Do they take you away from the track?