Top 66 Michael Waltrip Quotes

There’s been bumps in the road and serious challenges along the way, but my love for NASCAR and my zest for life is what’s most important to me.

There’s a Bible verse that says if you believe, you will be in the presence of the Lord in the blink of an eye. And I know Dale was a believer, and that means that he saw his son and his friend going to win the Daytona 500, and he was in heaven all within the blink of an eye.

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

It’s real important to me to do what I say I’m going to do.

You can’t take your win for granted. Your next win might be your last win or you might never get to your next win, so I can’t imagine not being overcome with joy by winning and never taking winning for granted.

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

You can only beat a guy down so far before he has a tendency to start listening to what you’re saying.

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?’

I’ve never had anything given to me. I’ve never had anything easy. My whole career has been that way.

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

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’ve got to understand, I’d been trying to get to Victory Lane my whole career.

If you look at my career statistics, it’s not pretty.

When there are challenges like there were up to and after Daytona in 2001, you remind yourself it will one day make sense why everything happens the way it does. You may not figure it out now on this earth, but in heaven, it will all make sense.

Driving the No. 26 Sandy Hook School Support Fund Toyota is like nothing I have ever been part of in my NASCAR career.

As a driver, you always want to win every race, but as a car owner you know that isn’t very realistic.

This is racing. There is going to be twists and turns. You’re going to be dealt setbacks.

If you look up the definition of stand-up comedy, it’s funny on purpose. A little bit of pressure there. It’s basically acting. You’re telling stories and acting them out for people. The more you make it seem real, really a person doing it, then it seems to me the better it works.

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

My life is consumed by racing.

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’ll always wear NAPA blue. I’m thankful they were a part of my life.

I like to tell my own story using my personality and my insight, the way I see things.

I know y’all have probably heard I lost a few races in a row before I won one, but I never gave up. Never believed I wasn’t good enough.

I’m used to being judged. I know what that feels like.

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 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.

Anybody can be replaced. I can be replaced.

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.

Nobody had ever lost 462 races and then just won. But Dale Earnhardt Sr. had told me I had the ability, and that day, I knew I would.

I love when architects build a golf course that compliments the landscape rather than intrudes upon it.

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

I act like I’m always in a good mood when I’m not, but it’s my job.

There are several races that anything can happen and Talladega is one of those places for sure.

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

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

I think people – especially folks who haven’t seen a lot of NASCAR – they get this idea that we’re just going around in circles. And that’s so far from the truth. You’re running as hard as you can to get all you can every lap.

Well, my favorite memory of a president was in 1984. I was in the grandstands at Daytona, and maybe I was 20 years old. So just sort of down in Daytona, having a good time for the 500 – or for the 400 in July. And Air Force One lands on the back straightaway. It was President Reagan.

I’m a Christian guy. I believe that we’re going to heaven, and I believe when Dale Jr. and I drove off from Turn 4 at Daytona, I think that Dale Sr. had a smile on his face.

The chances of me getting into the Hall of Fame as a racer are slim to none. But as an owner I have a chance to do something special, mostly because I learned a lot of secrets from Dale.

It’s as much looking out your rear-view mirror as the windshield. You want to make sure you put your car in front of the right line. You’re constantly looking behind you.

I just don’t think human beings are designed to have that big of a swing of emotions. I mean, I’m standing in Victory Lane literally seconds after Dale Earnhardt died. Dale Earnhardt was not only my car owner that day, my first victory in 463 tries, but he was my dear friend, too.

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.

I love my job. It doesn’t feel like a job, and I don’t look at it as work.

No matter what town we went to, if there was a comedian playing, I’d go watch.

I’m pretty comfortable in a car to know what I’m doing, and I’m exactly the opposite onstage.

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

I’ve always loved comedy.

Well, when you think of Dale Earnhardt, you think of determination. You think of grit. Just a blue-collar, working-class guy that got out there and fought for the checkered flag and fought hard for it. And I got so much out of him. He inspired me.

People are obviously capable of handling the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. But I don’t know how many people have had to experience them within seconds of each other.

Lying in bed, I determined that since I’m a Christian, I believe we all have our days – our days are numbered. I figured it was Dale’s day to die, and I was the best person to win the race and be able to honor him in the victory.

It takes a good car for anybody to be good, but it takes a good car and a special driver to achieve greatness.

I do believe I’m not good enough to be a professional dancer. I believe that in my heart.

I’m a Christian and I believe in angels and God.

I’ve got my hands in every aspect of the NASCAR world, not only as the part time race car driver but as the full time TV guy and race team owner.

I was confident that I not only could win races, but I could win the championship.

I love Daytona and Talladega. I’d like to think maybe I could quit one day running all the races and just run a few that I like.

Anytime you’re pushing the envelope as hard as you can to be successful at anything at life it’s easy to go from hero to zero in a second.

I always thought if you run a Marathon in less than 4 hours, there is a tick of athletic accomplishment in that. Anything over that is just an old guy with a hard head who isn’t going to stop until he’s done.

NAPA has been with me from winning two Daytona 500s, to missing races with a new start-up team, and back to victory lane again. The relationship grew far past that of just a sponsor, but more of a partner and a friend.

I don’t understand why everybody can’t remember how exciting the Daytona 500 has been over the years when Richard Petty and David Pearson and Darrell Waltrip ran just the three of them racing for the win. Why do you have to have 40 cars in a pack to say it’s exciting?

I’ve been a pretty impatient driver my entire life.

The racing team is the most important thing in the world to me. It’s where all my eggs are fully in that basket. I go dance and do TV to try to make that world more important.

You don’t win NASCAR races without ability.

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

Talladega is one of the macho tracks on the circuit and when I was a kid, I remember everyone wanting to go watch this race because the cars go so fast on the circuit; there were so many great battles.