Waltrip (#17) racing in a Winston Cup event at New Hampshire in 1997.Īfter almost losing his team due to a lack of sponsorship, Waltrip signed Speedblock/ Builder's Square to sponsor his car in 1998, but they did not live up to most of their obligations as a sponsor, and Waltrip cancelled the contract. In addition, DWM briefly expanded to two cars, when Rich Bickle finished 34th at that year's Brickyard 400 the #26 Kentucky Fried Chicken Chevy also fielded by DWM, as well as Waltrip running special paint schemes to commerate his 25th year in the sport. That same year, failed to qualify for his first race since 1975 at the fall race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. After Western Auto was renamed to Parts America, they planned on leaving the team, but stayed on for another year before leaving after 1997. After that, the pressure of being an owner/driver started to crash down on Waltrip, and his performance declined.
Waltrip won five races over the next two years, with his final top-10 points finish coming in 1994. Waltrip led at one point during the event, but finished 24th following an accident late in the race.
DWM debuted at the 1991 Daytona 500 as car #17 with sponsorship from Western Auto.