No matter what Michael Waltrip does, every Sunday is the same. A NASCAR Cup race is held and he’s not driving.

The colorful personality, sponsor-savvy NASCAR driver and rookie owner’s life seems like a song stuck on repeat.

He failed to qualify for the Cup race in Phoenix last week, wanted to quit and then watched teammates David Reutimann, a rookie, and veteran Dale Jarrett drive to 32nd and 29th place finishes, respectively. Waltrip said he felt depressed, went testing, felt more optimistic by Thursday and thought to himself, “I’m bigger than this, it ain’t going to get me.”

But it did, and so he’s caught in this vicious cycle. Waltrip will miss his eighth consecutive race since competing in the season-opening Daytona 500, after Reutimann bumped him out of the 43-car field in qualifying for today’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Another Sunday, another race that will further bury Waltrip in the standings.

“We’ve failed so far,” Waltrip said as he sat outside his No. 55 Toyota hauler Friday. “If you had said we’re eight races in and only made one and, by the way, the one I made I got minus points through a NASCAR penalty, I wouldn’t have dreamed it. We haven’t performed at a level anywhere near what I expected, we haven’t performed at a level anywhere near what our sponsors expected.”

Welcome to Waltrip’s world. He’s a poster boy for Toyota’s struggles. No drivers are in the top 35. Four of seven Toyota drivers did not make today’s race based on their qualifying efforts – a trend that has persisted throughout the season.

Waltrip, who owns a first-year, three-car Toyota Cup operation, expected some growing pains but not this: underwhelming performance, personal and professional embarrassment and no escape.

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