When fans tour Raceworld USA, a converted Cornelius movie theater, they are ushered into, yes, a movie theater. The 20-minute film tells the story of a week in the life of a NASCAR race team. At one point, the narrator intones, "Everyone knows you can't get in the show if you don't qualify."

Especially everyone at Raceworld USA.

After investing $15 million to develop the 140,000-square-foot, fan-friendly complex, Michael Waltrip has seen the operation struggle on every level -- except as a tourist attraction.

Waltrip missed 10 of the first 11 races heading into this weekend's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He's been in the middle of a cheating scandal, seen his high-profile partnership with Toyota Motor Corp. produce meager results and was even cited for reckless driving, generating his biggest headlines of the year.

For Waltrip, a veteran NASCAR driver with a winning personality and a losing race team, the stakes are incredibly high. "My whole life has been a little different than most," Waltrip says. "I lost 462 races in a row once, but when I started the 463rd one, I believed that I was going to win it. And I did. So I internalize a lot. If you have issues, you work them out and keep on getting it."

The difference now, of course, is Waltrip is paying the bills for his racing habit as well as those of teammates Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann.

All are under the umbrella of Michael Waltrip Racing, a new three-car Nextel Cup series operation that debuted this season. Reutimann has qualified for eight of 11 races. Jarrett qualified for nine but had to use six champion's provisional entries.

In a sport fueled primarily by sponsor dollars, having a car stuck in the garage on race weekend -- repeatedly -- is as dangerous a proposition as navigating turns three and four at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

In short: Losing TV time means stripping away a valuable promotional vehicle for sponsors who spend up to $20 million a year. For example, NAPA, the Atlanta-based auto-parts company that is the primary sponsor of Waltrip's Nextel Cup car, suffered a 25% drop, worth more than $6 million, in NASCAR-related exposure through the first 10 races this year, according to sponsorship-evaluation firm Joyce Julius & Associates.

"There wouldn't be one of my clients who wouldn't be jumping up and down asking for something -- money back or more races," says Zak Brown, founder and chief executive at Just Marketing, an Indianapolis-based motorsports consulting firm. "Unfortunately for Michael, he's not only had on-track problems, he's had a cheating scandal and off-track issues. It's been a disaster."

NAPA ranked eighth among all sponsors in 2006 through the first 10 races, reaping $24.6 million in exposure from its NASCAR sponsorship of Waltrip's car as well as paid on-air race segments such as on-screen leader boards during TV broadcasts. This year, NAPA ranks 15th, with $18 million worth of exposure...