by Darrell Waltrip

Updated: March 19, 2008, 5:49 PM EST 55 comments

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Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds, Jeff Hammond, Chris Myers, Steve Byrnes, Krista Voda, Matt Yocum, Dick Berggren and the folks behind the camera, Barry Landis, Artie Kempner, Richie Zyontz, Pam Miller and so many more. I am so proud of the work they do ... and Sunday, well lets just say it was the most frustrating day of my TV life.

As you all know, when it's time to go to Bristol, ol' DW gets pretty pumped up. All those great memories I have from that place make it pretty hard for me to contain myself. I am so proud of the people I worked with and drove for there, but I have never been any more proud of a group of people than those I worked with Sunday.

I was so frustrated, angry and upset. I couldn't do my job and I have never been faced with that before. I was just standing there like a big dummy wanting to help Mike and Larry and give you the driver's perspective, but I just couldn't. Mike and Larry were troopers and carried on. I was giving them notes, pointing things out and even giving them hand signals of things I saw. We really were having a good time with it all, making the best out of a bad situation. But again, I have never been faced with that in my broadcast career and I am grateful they all rallied around me.

They've all called to check on me today. Even my boss, David Hill, has been on the phone trying to get me lined up with voice specialists, doctors, etc. It's amazing the care and concern people have for you. It just means so much to me.

And I had that same feeling during the pre-race show Sunday. Jeff went outside to do what I thought was a report from his cut-away car. Then when he called Chris and me out there, I just thought we were going to help him out, but there sat that Mountain Dew Buick and folks, it got to me. I was speechless when they said it was mine to keep! I was overwhelmed and my voice had just about given out completely. I just couldn't express myself well enough to what it meant to me.

There was just so much emotion. That car is the only one I didn't have in my collection. That car was undefeated at Bristol. I won two of my three NASCAR Championships in that car and to now, finally have that car as my own! Wow — it was just so emotional. I can't thank enough Ralph Santana, from PepsiCola North America, and all my friends at Mountain Dew and Pepsico for the care and love they have shown me and my entire family.

SPECIAL VIDEO: A blast from DW's past

Watch as Jeff Hammond surprises Darrell Waltrip by presenting him his undefeated 1981 Mountain Dew Buick.

Click here for the videos

You know, Saturday I was able to get out in my Roush Fenway Drive and You Ride Ford. Folks ask "How come you call it your Drive and Ride car?" But really, it's Drive and You Ride. I got to get out there on the new surface and boy, Bristol Motor Speedway is so good. Folks, I just can't tell you how good that track felt. Trust me, the things they have done to it made it better. They didn't hurt it. They took out all those aggravating bumps and dips it had in it and made it a really fun place to race.

And I think you were able to see that on Sunday.

Drivers could go high, they could go low — you didn't have to run over someone to get past them — And I was excited about that. I had heard rumors that they had messed up the track. That isn't true. They fixed the track and it's better than it's ever been. I thought the race Sunday was indicative of that.

So, I was hollering at Hammond over the radio when we were taping that portion of the show. Then I stayed down there in the Hollywood Hotel for the final practice and it's just so incredibly loud down there. We were trying to do some things about the car and what the drivers had to deal with and having a lot of fun, but you really had to talk over your limit just to be heard.

In addition to all that, Friday night I got cold and wet during the Trackside show on Speed. So unfortunately, it created the "perfect storm" for me to get sick. The weather this time of year plays havoc with my allergies, just like many of you. I take an allergy shot each week, but it all caught up with me last weekend.

I have to tell you, I was feeling pretty down Sunday after the race because of my inability to be part of the broadcast. But today I am so proud of my guys and gals — my team — for the way they pulled through and rallied around me.

I have to be honest, I really was expecting a lot of negative emails from folks for even being on the telecast Sunday. But you fans really get it. You understood that it's Bristol and how important that race is to me and why I wanted to try to hang in there and do what I could. Maybe if it was somewhere else, I might have tried to sit it out or get someone to take my place.

But none of us saw it becoming so bad. We had our normal Sunday breakfast on the motorcoach with my FOX buddies and then did the pre-race show where I was pretty rough, but never thought my voice would go completely south on me, so we simply didn't have anyone standing by to take over.

It was just one of those days when I look back and say I really, really hope that never happens again. I am just thankful we got through it. Thanks to you fans, the ratings were up again, and naturally, that's important to all of us. One of our biggest missions this year is to bring the ratings back up to where they should be. We've been able to do that with some compelling stories, great racing and Sunday once again didn't disappoint us. I literally said after the telecast was over, after Kevin Harvick got into Tony Stewart on the track and turned him around — it truly did leave me speechless.

I love both those guys. They are two of my best buddies. It's racing. I hated to see that happen, but I could see how it could happen. I just would have loved the chance to explain how it happened to some degree. But those guys are tight and strong friends. In fact, Tony and Kevin are doing a promotion together this week, so I am certain they will work everything out.

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Those guys and the rest of the Sprint Cup Series have a weekend off this week, and that'll let things cool down some. Remember, Martinsville's coming in two weeks. One guy slipped Sunday and who knows, maybe the other will slip up there. You just never know.

Oh By The Way

The other disappointing thing to me was that I was lined up to talk to Dale Jarrett on the parade laps. It was so cool that his dad, Ned, waved the green flag to start Sunday's race. As I said in the pre-race Show, one of my favorite all-time memories was Ned calling Dale home at Daytona. It was the "Dale and Dale" show. I can watch that today and still get tears in my eyes because it was so special. So I wanted to ask Dale how he felt coming to get the green with Ned waving it for his last points race, but didn't get to.

That was another part of the frustration because I also had Stevie and my girls, Jessica and Sarah there. Ed Silva, my best friend and his son Tony were there, too. And here I was with my bare face hanging out and couldn't put two sentences together. Needless to say, I am glad Bristol is over with. I bet there are others saying the same thing.

It was a very fun race to watch. And for a change, I got to watch it, too!