Waltrip finally able to celebrate at Daytona

Ten years after his mentor, good friend and former car owner Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a last-lap crash during the 2001 Daytona 500, Michael Waltrip found himself in the same place: victory lane.

In 2001 though, Waltrip’s tears of joy in celebration of his first career victory quickly turned into tears of sadness. The man they had called “The Intimidator,” had died. The man that gave Waltrip a chance to win his first career race would never get a chance to celebrate with his driver.

So ten years later, in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, Michael Waltrip did what he did ten years earlier: win.

“I’m thankful. I didn’t come here to celebrate winning the 2001 Daytona 500,” an emotional Waltrip said. “I came here to celebrate Dale’s life and honor him with my No. 15 car and No. 15 truck.”

With the win, Waltrip became a member of an elite NASCAR fraternity. Waltrip joins 21 other drivers that have won a race in all three major NASCAR touring series.

“Today, obviously with it being the 10th anniversary of that terrible day, I wanted to be able to tell people that I was here in honor of Dale. So certainly was a lot of motivation from him, for me, and then fate,” Waltrip said.

“I believe in God. I believe in Jesus. I believe everything happens for a reason. That's my faith. That's what has enabled me to live the last 10 years without total self-destruction because of that.”

And on this day, it was finally a chance to celebrate for Michael Waltrip. It’s a chance he didn’t get ten years ago.

“You know, someone said, I can't believe it's been 10 years. I said, Well, I can. I live it every day.”