Total: 3 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series: 3 Xfinity Series: 0
TriStar Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that used to compete in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The team competed in the NASCARWinston Cup Series primarily during the early to mid 1990s, suspending racing operations in 1997 and continuing on as Tri-Star Motors, and later Pro Motor Engines, supplying engines to many NASCAR teams prior to returning to competition in 2010.
On July 22, 2017, Mark Smith died after a battle with cancer. His son Bryan took over ownership of TriStar Motorsports.[1]
In 1991, TriStar ran full-time with Hamilton and Country Time again sponsoring their Oldsmobile. Hamilton had four top-ten finishes and finished 22nd in points, winning Rookie of the Year honors. They began 1992 with no top-ten finishes, and later switched to Ford Thunderbirds, allowing Hamilton to get two top-ten finishes and finish 25th in points. After failing to finish higher than 15th eight races into the 1993 season, Hamilton was released. Greg Sacks drove for the rest of the season, with Dorsey Schroeder filling in at the road course races, and Loy Allen driving at Phoenix International Raceway.
Allen was named the full-time driver for the 1994 season, in addition to TriStar switching to the No. 19 and getting Hooters sponsorship. Allen won the pole for the Daytona 500, becoming the first rookie driver to do so. He also qualified on the pole at Atlanta and Michigan, but failed to qualify for twelve races that season and finished 39th in points. Allen and Hooters left Tri-Star at the end of the year, and Phil Parsons took over the driving duties for the first five races of the 1995 season with Ultra Custom Wheels sponsorship. After the first five races, the team cut back and did not run any races until the Winston Select 500, when Allen returned to the team with Healthsource sponsoring the car. In their first race back together, Allen and TriStar qualified second and finished tenth, Allen's career-best finish. TriStar ran a limited schedule for the rest of 1995, with Ron Fellows driving the No. 68 at Watkins Glen, and Allen driving the No. 19 during the rest of the season.
Healthsource signed for a full season of sponsorship in 1996, but Allen suffered a severe neck injury at the second race of the season at North Carolina Speedway, causing him to miss the next ten races. Dick Trickle filled in the interim, placing eighth at the Food City 500. Upon Allen's return, Tri-Star again moved to a part-time schedule, getting a best finish of 21st. Healthsource left the team at the end of the season, and Child Support Recovery took its place. After two races into the 1997 season, Allen was released and Gary Bradberry replaced him. After failing to qualify for the Miller 400, Child Support Recovery was dropped by the team due to lack of funding and racing operations were suspended again.
In 1999, they leased their shop to SBIII Motorsports and built engines for them. Following the team's closure near the end of the season, TriStar reacquired its equipment and fielded the No. 48 FansTeam Ford for Stanton Barrett at the 2000 Daytona 500, but did not qualify.
TriStar attempted to qualify for the race at Watkins Glen in 2010 with driver Tony Ave in the No. 35 Chevrolet Impala purchased from Front Row Motorsports, however, after showing signs of mechanical issues during qualifying, which included smoke and fluid trailing from behind the car, the team did not qualify. It was the only Cup race Tri-Star attempted that year.
Mark Smith returned to the Cup Series in 2012 by partnering with former HP Racing co-owner Randy Humphrey. As Humphrey Smith Racing, the team fielded Jason Leffler, Chris Cook, Jeff Green, and Mike Bliss in the No. 19 Toyota Camry. The team started fielding the No. 91 for Reed Sorenson and Jason Leffler starting at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as well. The team ran a mix of Ford, Toyota, and Chevrolet recycled from other teams for the No. 91 team, both cars are Start and parks. The No. 19 team and Bliss had returned for the 2013 season, running a Toyota. They attempted the full Daytona 500 with G-Oil as the sponsor, but failed to make the race. The car was driven by Jason Leffler in the Party in the Poconos 400, three days before he was killed in a sprint car accident at Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey.[2] Following his death, the team, like others in the racing community, ran "LEFTURN" logos above the driver doors in honor of Leffler.
The team also employed Alex Kennedy for the road courses. Kennedy crashed at Sonoma, parked at Pocono, but finished 29th at Watkins Glen. Scott Riggs attempted Michigan with them but didn’t qualify. Smith shut the team down before the Chase.
In 2017, TriStar announced that they would field one full-time team, the No. 72 Chevrolet SS for Whitt.[4] The team took lease of the No. 35 charter from Front Row Motorsports to secure a spot every race.[5] Whitt ended up finishing the 2017 season with a best of 12th, and brought the car home 33rd in driver & owner standings.
For 2018, TriStar again took lease of a charter from Front Row Motorsports. Whitt requested a limited schedule of only ten races in order to focus on family. Corey LaJoie drove the No. 72 in the 26 races in which Whitt did not run in 2018, finishing 34th in driver standings with a best finish of 16th. Whitt later retired from stock car competition and LaJoie departed for the No. 32 team, leaving TriStar without a driver for 2019. The team was unable to acquire a charter for 2019 and has not attempted a race since Homestead-Miami.
In a September 2019 interview, former TriStar crew chief Frank Kerr confirmed the team has since shut down.[6] The charter leased to the team was returned to Front Row, and sold to Rick Ware Racing for the No. 52 team, while certain equipment and a hauler were liquidated to Tommy Joe Martins' team.[5]
In January 2015 the team announced that Blake Koch would run the full season, in a new No. 8 car with crew chief Bruce Cook.[9][10]LeafFilter Gutter Protection was the primary sponsor.[11] Koch opened the season with a 20th-place finish at Daytona.[12] After announcing in June that he would return to TriStar for 2016,[13] he and LeafFilter would move to Kaulig Racing for 2016, taking the No. 8 team's owner points, for the 2016 season, leaving the No. 8 team to be shut down.[13][14][15]
The No. 10 began as the No. 36, which was a third car in 2010 with Tony Ave and Jeff Green behind the wheel, running as a start and park operation. The team used the prize money used to fund the No. 34 and No. 35 teams. For 2012 the team returned and changed number to 10, and Green drove the car as a start and park. However, when Green moved to the No. 14 Toyota Camry after Eric McClure's injury, Tony Raines and Kevin Lepage became the temporary drivers until McClure returned at Road America.
In 2014, David Starr ran the car competitively at Daytona season opener in February.[17] For the rest of the year, Blake Koch and Jeff Green ran the majority of the races, again mostly as a start and park. At Daytona in July, Koch had sponsorship from Celsius Negative Calorie Cola, with TriStar bringing five cars to run the full race. During the first round of qualifying, all five TriStar cars were running in a pack when a sudden downpour of rain caused the entire pack to spin out, causing most of the cars including four from TriStar to wreck. Koch, along with the No. 91 Toyota Camry of Benny Gordon missed the race, and the sponsor of the No. 10 moved over to Mike Bliss' No. 19. Bliss ran the No. 10 at Bristol in August as a full race effort while Hermie Sadler ran his usual No. 19 Toyota Camry.
Jeff Green returned in 2015 at Daytona in February. After Scott Lagasse Jr. and the No. 19 team failed to qualify, Lagasse Jr. and sponsor Alert Today Florida moved over to the No. 10 car for the race, finishing 37th after a crash.[12] The No. 10 team has been renumbered as the No. 19, carrying the owner points from the No. 10. The change came after the return of Eric McClure.
The No. 10 was revived for 2016 beginning at Atlanta, with Green and Matt DiBenedetto once again running in a start-and-park capacity.
What is now the No. 14 Chevrolet Impala debuted in 2010 as the No. 35 Chevrolet Impala. At the time it was a completely new entry, consisting of veteran Jason Keller as the driver and former Rusty Wallace Racing crew chief Bryan Berry atop the pit box. During their first attempt at Daytona, the No. 35 missed the race due to not having a top-35 points position and being unable to qualify on time. The team would go on to miss the races at Daytona, Las Vegas, and Texas, while successfully making the race Stater Brothers 300 in California, starting 21st and finishing 20th during the team's first race. The team would eventually make the top-35, a notable accomplishment for a team that missed 3 races during the season. The No. 35 and Keller got their first top 10 finish in the form of a top 5, finishing 4th at Talladega. At the inaugural event at Road America, the team selected Tony Ave to drive the No. 35, Ave being a road course ace with much success at the track. He qualified the car in 10th place, and was running 5th when he was spun on the last lap of the race, finishing 20th. Ave returned to the seat at the 2010 NAPA 200 in Montreal, leading 1 lap but finishing 36th. He drove at the Watkins Glen too, finishing 15th.
The team managed to put together some one race sponsorship deals for various races during the season. The No. 35 and Keller managed to get sponsorship from uPillar.com at Darlington, KEL Chemicals at Dover for Kellers 500th career start, and LubePros.com at Chicagoland Speedway. BeAStockCarDriver.com sponsored Keller at Charlotte in October.
The team returned to competition in 2011 as the No. 14, with Eric McClure and his longtime sponsor Hefty coming along with him from Team Rensi Motorsports. Mike Bliss drove the No. 14 unsponsored at Dover when the car fell out of the top-30 in owners points. McClure made all 34 races that year, scoring a best finish of 18th at Chicago en route to a 19th-place points finish. McClure and Hefty returned in 2012, along with the team's manufacturer switch to Toyota Camry.
2012
McClure started the season in the No. 14 Toyota Camry. He ran at the end of the first seven races before a crash at Talladega took him out of action. Jeff Green moved from the start-and-park No. 10 to the No. 14 while McClure recovered. McClure returned at Road America, moving Green back to the No. 10.
2013
A fully recovered McClure remained in the No. 14. Though he had an illness before the Mid-Ohio race was replaced by Jeff Green.
2014
Eric McClure returned for what was believed to be his final season. He ran at 28 races. Longtime partners Hefty and Reynolds Wrap once again sponsored the car. Teammate Jeff Green piloted the No. 14 in 5 races: Dover in May, Michigan in June, Mid-Ohio in August, Richmond in September, and Dover again in September.[18] At Mid-Ohio, Green was running second with 20 laps to go when the throttle of the No. 14 Toyota Camry hung out, sending him head-on into a tire barrier, relegating him to a 29th-place finish.[19]
2015
After the season, McClure and Hefty/Reynolds Wrap announced their departure for JGL Racing.[20]Cale Conley drove the No. 14 Toyota Camry for the full 2015 season, running for Rookie of the Year with crew chief Eddie Pardue.[9][21][22] However, Conley was released with three races to go due to lack of sponsorship. Mike Bliss returned to TriStar at Texas, parking the No. 14 after 40 laps.
2016
Benny Gordon and VSI Racing ran the No. 14 at Daytona.[23]J. J. Yeley drove the car for six races beginning at Atlanta.[17][24] Jeff Green took over the car when Yeley replaced David Starr in the No. 44. Hermie Sadler would drive at Bristol and Richmond with sponsorship from Virginia Lottery. The No. 14 would serve as a start and park along with the No. 10 unless Gordon, Sadler and DiBenedetto were in the car. DiBenedetto drove 2 races in the No. 14 car at Kansas and Texas with an 11th place finish and a 36th place finish sponsored by Superior Essex.
On January 26, 2017, it was announced that Yeley returned to TriStar but driving the No. 14 with Superior Essex sponsoring 13 races. Yeley would have a quiet, but a consistent year, only finishing outside the top 20 11 times - 5 were DNFs - with also a strong outing at the 2nd Iowa race, finishing 6th, plus the 11th place finishes he got at the spring Bristol and Talladega races. He finished 14th in points.
The team sold its cars and equipment to the new JP Motorsports team in 2018.
What is now the No. 19 team was previously the No. 34 team from the 2010 season. TriStar acquired the team from Front Row Motorsports following the 2009 season. It remained mostly intact, with Scott Eggleston returning as crew chief and Tony Raines returning as the driver of the Long John Silvers entry, and with the previous years owners points transferring over which locked the team into the first 5 races of the season. During the first race for the new team at Daytona, Raines and the No. 34 Chevrolet Impala lead 3 laps and finished 14th despite being involved in 2 incidents. Alongside his teammate, Raines and the crew scored the seasons first top-10 in the Aaron's 312 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, finishing 7th after running in the top-5 for various parts of the race. Raines got his second top 10 of the season at Gateway, finishing tenth. Charles Lewandoski started and parked the No. 34 at Phoenix International Raceway in November, with Raines in the No. 35 for that race. Dave Fuge became crew chief of the team in the second half of the season. The No. 34 finished 23rd in final owners points, with Raines finishing 17th in driver standings in 2010.
The team managed to put together some one race sponsorship deals for various races for during the season. The No. 34 and Raines was funded by Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino at California, doorstopnation.com at Daytona & Talladega, Continental Fire & Safety at Dover, and Boss Industries/The Walter Payton Foundation at Chicagoland. Front Row Motorsports' owner Bob Jenkins pulled the Long John Silver's sponsorship from the team following the race at Bristol Motor Speedway in August, with BeAStockCarDriver.com sponsoring Raines for the final 4 races of the season. Raines was replaced by Nationwide Series veteran Mike Bliss.
The team returned in 2011 as the No. 19, and Mike Bliss signed on to drive the car for the 2011 season. Crew Chief Dave Fuge remained with the team but was replaced early in the season by Wes Ward. Fuge now is part owner of Derrike Cope's CFK Motorsports. Ward also left the team early on and was replaced by TRG interim crew chief Paul Clapprood. The team scored 19 top-20 finishes with a best finish of 9th at the second Dover race. With limited sponsorship Bliss and the No. 19 team finished the season 12th in points. For 2012, Bliss was replaced by Tayler Malsam as he brought sponsorship from Green Earth Technologies and G-Oil as well as the team's manufacturer change to Toyota Camry. Venezuelan Alex Popow drove the car at Watkins Glen. Malsam was 13th in points when he and TriStar parted ways after Kentucky, leaving Bliss to return to the No. 19. Also, Hal Martin competed in three races in 2012.
2013
Mike Bliss took over the No. 19 Toyota Camry once again for the full season. G-Oil and Tweaker Energy Shot sponsored the car. Dakoda Armstrong ran the car at Homestead with sponsor WinField, while Bliss ran the No. 10. Bliss would just miss the top 10 in points.
Mike Bliss was once again in the car full-time, with Tweaker Energy Shot sponsoring several races. Hermie Sadler ran the No. 19 Toyota Camry at Bristol in August and Richmond in September, with the Virginia State Lottery sponsoring, while Bliss moved to the No. 10.[25]
2015
Mike Bliss returned to the No. 19 Toyota Camry in 2015.[9][21]Scott Lagasse Jr. attempted the season opener at Daytona with sponsor Alert Today Florida,[26] but failed to qualify and moved over to the No. 10 car for the race. Bliss then drove the car through Talladega, before being released by Charles Lewandoski for Iowa, where the No. 19 car had assumed the Start and Park role of the former No. 10 after the addition of McClure. For Charlotte, Jeff Green was tabbed as the driver for the No. 19 car, and remained there for the remainder of the season.
After initially leaving TriStar for JGL Racing, after nine 2015 races Eric McClure and longtime sponsor Hefty/Reynolds Wrap announced their return to TriStar beginning at Iowa Speedway in May. The team carried over the No. 24 Toyota Camry from JGL,[28] while assuming the owner points from the No. 19 Toyota Camry. McClure was released again after changes with his Hefty/Reynolds Wrap sponsorship, with the number returning to JGL and the team going inactive.
The No. 44 car was first run in 2011 by Jeff Green as a Start and park entry at Daytona. Charles Lewandoski drove the car at Phoenix. Green then drove the car for most of the season as a start and park, but was replaced for 3 races by Angela Cope. For 2012, Mike Bliss drove the car with various sponsorship until Dover when he moved back to the No. 19 Toyota Camry and Green took over for the next two races. Hal Martin and John Blankenship finished out the season. Though John Blankenship raced for Tommy Baldwin Racing for Chevrolet Impala for Iowa, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead.
2013
In 2013, Hal Martin ran for Rookie of the year with American Custom Yachts as the sponsor, but only ran the first ten races and then two late in the season. Chad Hackenbracht ran seven races with Ingersoll Rand and Tastee Apples sponsoring.[16]Cole Whitt ran the most races for the team,[16] with several strong runs including four top tens and only one finish outside the top twenty. Whitt was sponsored by Takagi Water Heaters and Gold Bond.[16] Whitt left for Swan Racing in the Sprint Cup Series at the end of the season.
Hal Martin returned to TriStar's No. 44 Toyota Camry for both races at Iowa Speedway in 2014. Stuart, FL based American Custom Yachts returned as a sponsor for the team (not appearing on the hood), as they did in Martin's first 10 races of 2013.[29] Martin finished 26th and 28th in his two races respectively.[30]
David Starr signed a three-year contract with TriStar and longtime sponsor Zachry Group to run the No. 44 Toyota Camry full-time beginning in 2015.[21] Starr finished a strong 6th place at the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, after avoiding 2 big crashes in the late stages of the race.[12] Starr had a decent season, finishing 16th in points.[17]
2016
Starr returned in 2016, with Zachry continuing sponsor him. He finished 18th at the season opener at Daytona, and at Atlanta he finished 39th after blowing an engine in a few laps of the race. At Richmond in April, J. J. Yeley replaced Starr due to illness, finishing 12th. Following Richmond, Yeley officially replaced Starr in the No. 44.[17] Yeley collected three top tens for TriStar, with an 8th place finish at fall Dover race.
TriStar occasionally ran a fifth car, usually for the restrictor plate races or as a start and park when the team's usual four cars have full sponsorship, or to help fund the No. 10 team.
2014
Jeff Green ran the car at Daytona in February and Auto Club in March, finishing last in both. He finished 39th at Darlington in April and 38th at Talladega in May. SupportMilitary.org and Hefty/Reynolds Wrap appeared on the car at various points, though not changing the team's start-and-park status. At Daytona in July, Benny Gordon attempted to qualify in the No. 91 Toyota Camry with BWP bats sponsoring, but did not post a fast enough speed before being taken out in a crash at the end of the first round. Green ran a total of seven races in the car, with Blake Koch running the car at Richmond.
In addition to his racing operations, owner Bryan Smith operates Pro Motor Engines (PME Engines), an independent engine builder in NASCAR as well as ARCA and SCCA. Building and leasing primarily Chevrolet engines as well as the Toyota engines used by TriStar and others, PME-powered teams have won three Camping World Truck Series championships (2002, 2003, and 2009). Engine builders Dennis Borem and Darrell Hoffman also earned three consecutive MAHLE Clevite Engine Builder of the Year awards from 2007 to 2009, beating engine builders from Team Penske, DEI, Hendrick Motorsports, Toyota Racing Development, Roush-Yates, and other top-tier teams.[38][39][40]
