Putting the No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota in the seventh place position just before rain forced NASCAR to end the race early, Michael Waltrip got his season started off on the right note.

Due to wrecking his primary car in Wednesday's practice session, Waltrip took the green in his back-up car. Waltrip was able to capitalize on the cars great handling and maneuver his way into the top-10.

“We might have over achieved a little bit,” explained Waltrip. “We didn’t have a great car especially in comparison to my primary car that was wrecked Wednesday in practice. We had to scramble to get in the top-10 so I’m happy with that. If we would have gone back to racing, we might have gotten an even better finish. I didn’t feel like I had the fastest car, but it handled great. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t so fast because it was set up to handle well. I’ll just take what I can get.”

Teammates David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose finished 12th and 17th respectively, earning an organization record for top-20 efforts in addition to Toyota's highest finishes in the Daytona 500 to date.

“I’m really proud that all three cars did well and finished in the top 20 at Daytona," Waltrip stated. "Marcos Ambrose did a great job especially considering it was his first Daytona 500. Reutimann got 12th. It was a day that MWR needed and now we are going to hopefully build on that and continue the momentum with good runs.

"I am really proud of the NAPA team." Waltrip continued, "It was my first race with new crew chief Bootie Barker. I really enjoyed working with him. It was a lot of fun. I really look forward to going to California.”