Michael Waltrip will sport a special University of Texas football paint scheme on his No., 99 Busch Series car at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend.

The car commemorates the Longhorns’ 2005 National Football Championship.

Waltrip met with media for a photo-op after the final Busch practice before qualifying on Thursday.

Sporting a burnt orange UT cap and a “hook’em horns” hand gesture, the 2001 Daytona 500 winner posed with his car in the garage area.

“Texans love their football and they love their racing,” Waltrip said. “Aaron’s is a great sponsor, they have a large presence here in Texas, and it’s great we could bring racing and football together like this.”

While Waltrip’s Dodge Charger is sporting the logo of a champion, he said his car isn’t where it needs to be yet for Saturday’s 300 mile race.

The team brought a new car to TMS, but they did not get to attempt a practice qualifying run because they were busy adjusting the car.

Waltrip left Dale Earnhardt, Inc. this season to run his own team in partnership with Bill Davis Racing, and his NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series cars have struggled all season long.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on, but I’m not going to give up,” he said. Its life, not everybody gets to drive championship cars all the time.”

In addition to driving the UT car in the Busch series, Waltrip will drive the No. 55 Napa Dodge in Sunday’s Samsung/RadioShack 500, where UT head football coach Mack Brown will wave the opening green flag.