Two-time Daytona 500 winning driver Michael Waltrip will join the celebrity cast of the upcoming season of ABC’s hit reality show, “Dancing With the Stars,” the network announced Thursday morning. The new season of the celebrity competition begins Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Waltrip, co-owner and namesake of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Michael Waltrip Racing operation and a popular race broadcaster on FOX Sports 1 since retiring from full-time competition, joins three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves as the second professional race car driver to compete on the show. Castroneves won the “Mirror Ball Trophy” in 2007 with partner Julianne Hough and was also invited to participate in the All-Star version of the show.
“(Castroneves) texted me last night,” Waltrip said. “He said, ‘You’ve got this, Mike. I know you can do it. You need to do two things. Make fun of yourself and hit on your dancer.’
“I said, ‘Check, Check!’ I’m going to win I think. I’ve got this.”
Waltrip, an Owensboro, Kentucky, native, will have plenty of high-profile competition when the season begins Monday with a two-hour premiere.
Sadie Robertson, of the television show “Duck Dynasty” will join the cast along with Olympic track and field and bobsled star Lolo Jones; actor and Calvin Klein model Antonio Sabato Jr.; star of the television series “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” Alfonso Ribiero; MMA champion Randy Couture, YouTube star Bethany Mota, “Mean Girls” actor Jonathan Bennett, national radio personality and TV talk show host Tavis Smiley, ABC Family stars Janel Parrish and Lea Thompson, designer Betsey Johnson and Tommy Chong of the famed “Cheech and Chong.”
Ribiero brings his “Carlton Dance” to the show, and Waltrip said he was envious.
“Man, he’s got his own move, Carlton does. I’m a race car driver. We thought about a move for me. What do you think? Maybe ‘Skid Marks.'”
Waltrip, 51, will be paired with professional dancer Emma Slater, who appeared in the movie “Mamma Mia” and sang on its Grammy-nominated soundtrack. She performed in the Tony-nominated Broadway play, “Burn the Floor.” In her most recent work on “Dancing with the Stars,” she advanced to the finals with partner Bill Engvall.
“It’s been very intense training so far,” Waltrip said as Slater rubbed his shoulders. “but I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
