Bill Davis Racing

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bill Davis Racing
owner Bill and Gail Davis
Racing series Sprint Cup
Craftsman Truck Series
Championships 0 Sprint Cup
1 Craftsman Truck Series
Start number (s) # 22, # 23, # 27, # 36 (Sprint Cup)
# 5, # 23, # 27 (Craftsman Truck Series)
driver Dave Blaney (# 22 - Sprint)
Jeremy Mayfield (# 36 - Sprint)
Mike Skinner (# 5 - Craftsman)
Johnny Benson (# 23 - Craftsman)
Jacques Villeneuve (# 27 - Sprint & Craftsman)
Manufacturer Toyota
Place of the workshop High Point , North Carolina
Homepage www.billdavisracing.com

Bill Davis Racing is an American motorsport team that competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and the Craftsman Truck Series . In the Nextel Cup for Bill Davis Racing, Dave Blaney with starting number 22, Jeremy Mayfield with starting number 36 and Jacques Villeneuve with starting number 27 in the Toyota Camry . In the Craftsman Truck Series, Mike Skinner in the number 5 truck, Ryan Mathes in the number 22, Johnny Benson in the number 23 and Jacques Villeneuve in the number 27 all drive Toyota Tundras .

The team was founded by Bill Davis , a former motocross driver and owner of a truck rental company, to help Mark Martin , son of a business partner, with his racing career.

Sprint Cup

Car # 22

Blaney's Toyota Camry # 22

The number 22 car was originally intended for Jeff Gordon in the 1993 season, after he competed for Bill Davis Racing in the 1991 and 1992 Busch Series . After winning the title of Rookie of the Year in the Busch Series in 1991 and eleven pole positions in 1992, Gordon and his crew chief Ray Evernham were to be promoted to the Winston Cup for the following season, but were lured away by Rick Hendrick to Hendrick Motorsports . Davis switched to the Winston Cup with the team and hired Bobby Labonte to drive Maxwell House-sponsored Ford , who finished second behind Gordon in the Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. After the 1994 season, Labonte moved to Joe Gibbs Racing and MBNA became the new main sponsor. There was also an exchange of engines and chassis with Penske Racing and Bill Davis Racing switched to Pontiac as the manufacturer. Rookie Randy LaJoie initially took over the wheel as driver , but was fired towards the middle of the season. For the remainder of the 1995 season, various drivers drove the car, including Wally Dallenbach , who finished second at Watkins Glen . Towards the end of the season, Ward Burton was hired to complete the remaining races. He won the last race of the season at North Carolina Motor Speedway .

The team remained victorious until the 2000 season, when Burton won the spring race at Darlington Raceway with the Mall.com 400 . Two years later, he won the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway . After a disappointing 2003 season, Burton switched to Haas CNC Racing a few races before the end of the season and was replaced by Busch driver Scott Wimmer . Wimmer drove the entire 2004 season and was third at the season opener in Daytona. Towards the end of the 2005 season, Bill Davis Racing announced that they would part ways with Wimmer at the end of the season. Instead, Dave Blaney , driver of starting number 93, would be in the car with starting number 22 from 2006. He scored two top 10 results and finished 26th in the championship. After switching manufacturers to Toyota, Blaney achieved first pole position at the Lenox Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway and third place at the UAW Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the best result for the manufacturer to date.

Car # 27

The car with starting number 27 made its debut at the 2000 season finale, the NAPA 500 , with Scott Wimmer at the wheel of the AT&T- sponsored Pontiac under the starting number 23. The team's second appearance came a year later, also with the NAPA 500, but this time with a hat Sticklin at the wheel of the Hills Brothers-sponsored Dodge .

For the 2002 season, the team's starting number was changed from 23 to 27 and it served as a test and development team. In 2003 it returned to the Winston Cup, but with equipment from Chevrolet and not Dodge, like the other teams from Bill Davis Racing. In the 2006 season it was downgraded again as a test and development team and switched back to starting number 23. With Bill Lester , for the first time since Willy T. Ribbs at Golden Corral 500, an African-American took part in a NASCAR cup race. In the 2007 season, Mike Skinner tried to qualify for the Daytona 500 , but did not succeed. In the course of the season, the start number was changed again to 27 after Jacques Villeneuve was signed as a driver. He drove his first race in the Nextel Cup at the UAW Ford 500 in Talladega and will contest the entire 2008 season in this car.

Car # 36

The number 36 Toyota originally debuted as the number 93 Pontiac with Dave Blaney as driver and Amoco as main sponsor in the 2000 Winston Cup season. Although he missed the qualification for the spring race in Rockingham, he still made it to third place in the rookie standings. Although Blaney was close to victory several times in the 2001 season, Amoco decided not to renew the sponsorship deal and Blaney switched to Jasper Motorsports .

In the 2002 season Hut Stricklin joined the team and brought along his sponsor Hills Brothers. Sticklin missed qualifying for the Daytona 500 and didn't achieve a single top 10 result. He was fired after the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway . Kenny Wallace drove to the end of the season with support from Geoff Bodine , Scott Wimmer and Tom Hubert . Wallace also drove the car with Stacker 2 as a sponsor in the 2003 season before moving to the Busch Series.

In the 2004 and 2005 seasons, the car was used by different drivers in selected races, mostly without the support of a main sponsor. Shane Hmiel , Tony Raines and Dave Blaney drove the car in the 2004 season and Mike Skinner drove six races in the 2005 season.

In the fall of 2005 it was announced that the team would return for the full 2006 season, but under the starting number 55 as part of a partnership between Bill Davis Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing . This partnership allowed Bill Davis to use his second team again for a full season, while Michael Waltrip and his sponsor NAPA Auto Parts had a working car while building Michael Waltrip Racing.

In the 2007 season, took over Jeremy Mayfield control. In the course of this, the starting number for the new sponsor 360 OTC was changed to 36. After four unsuccessful attempts to qualify the car, Mayfield made his first start at the Food City 500 in Bristol. Mayfield drove all races with the exception of the Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway when Butch Leitzinger drove the car, which was briefly renamed as starting number 23. Mayfield will no longer drive the car after the 2007 season.

Nationwide Series

In addition to the current number 22 in the Sprint Cup, which emerged from a Nationwide team, Bill Davis Racing also competed with other cars in the Nationwide Series. Ward Burton scored three top 10 results in eight races in the Busch Series, now known as the Nationwide Series, with the MBNA Pontiac # 22 in the 1996 season. After that, Bill Davis Racing did not return until the 1998 season with Amoco-sponsored Pontiac with the starting number 93 and Dave Blaney as a driver in the Busch Series. Blaney only drove selected races and finished three of them in sixth place. The following season he achieved five pole positions and finished eighth in the championship. In the same year, Bill Davis Racing started with a second car. Ward Burton finished in the top 10 in every race in the number 02 sponsored by Siemens and won pole position at Darlington Raceway .

In the 2000 season, Bill Davis Racing provided another car with the starting number 20 and AT&T as sponsor, with rookie Mike Borkowski as driver, who was dismissed after the Busch 200 . Then Dave Blaney and Tom Hubert took over before Scott Wimmer finished the last races of the season. The Burton team moved to number 22 that season with Polaris as a sponsor and scored two top five finishes before being disbanded at the end of the season.

Scott Wimmer took over the starting number 20, which was then changed to 23, for the 2001 season. Jani-King became the main sponsor. Wimmer scored eight top 10 results and finished the championship in eleventh place. In the 2002 season, Siemens sponsored a number of races, but there was still the risk of having to close the team due to a lack of sponsor support. In the second half of the season, Wimmer won four races and finished the season third in the championship. In 2003 Stacker 2 became a new sponsor and Wimmer won at the Pikes Peak International Raceway . After the end of the season, Wimmer moved to the Nextel Cup and Kenny Wallace took over the helm. He achieved ten top 10 results and ninth place in the championship in the 2004 season. After Wallace and Stacker 2 switched to ppc Racing , Bill Davis Racing sold the equipment to Keith Coleman Racing . The team remains active in the Busch Series by supplying engines to MacDonald Motorsports .

Craftsman Truck Series

Truck # 5

The truck with the starting number 5.

The truck with start number 5 made its debut at Bang! Racing as starting number 42 with Mike Skinner as driver. He started the season with two top five results before his performance deteriorated and the team was sold to Bill Davis Racing. The Las Vegas 350 competed for the first time under the new start number 5 . Skinner took two pole positions and a sixth place in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway . In 2005 Skinner achieved seven pole positions and won two races, one in Bristol and one in Richmond . He finished the season in fifth place in the championship. That season he won the Smith's Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and got 13 top 10 finishes. Skinner is under contract with Bill Davis Racing until the end of 2009.

Truck # 23

The number 23 truck was first used in the 2004 season after Bill Davis Racing bought the equipment for it from Phil Bonifield . The first driver was Shelby Howard , who was replaced by Johnny Benson after eight races . Although Benson only drove selected races, he finished 25th in the championship. From the 2005 season, Benson drove the full season and with six top 5 results he reached tenth place in the championship. With Exide Batteries as a new sponsor, Benson won five races in 2006 and finished second in the championship behind Todd Bodine . 360 OTC is also sponsoring ten races in the 2007 season.

Truck # 24

The truck with the starting number 24 was first used in the 2005 season as a test and development car with the starting number 67. Steve Park drove it for a handful of races towards the end of the season after being sacked with Orleans Racing . His best result was a 16th place on Texas Motor Speedway . In the 2006 season, AJ Allmendinger took over the truck, the start number of which was changed to 24. He drove three races and finished fifth on the Talladega Superspeedway .

Truck # 27

The number 27 truck was the truck that Bill Davis Racing originally debuted in the Craftsman Truck Series in the 2004 season. The first start was under the starting number 22 at the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 with Bill Lester as driver, who achieved a 16th place. That season he scored just one top 10 result and finished 22nd in the championship. In the following season he achieved pole position in each of the consecutive races at Kansas Speedway and Kentucky Speedway . With a fifth place as the best result, Lester improved to 17th place in the championship. In the 2006 season he did not achieve a single result in the top 10 and deteriorated to 20th place. For the 2007 season , the starting number was changed to 36 after 360 OTC became a new sponsor. Tyler Walker became the new driver before being replaced by rookie Ryan Mathews after eight races after it became known that Walker had been suspended from NASCAR for substance abuse. Although 360 OTC dropped out as a sponsor because of it, Mathews achieved two top 10 and one top 5 results as well as a pole position at Kentucky Speedway. After Jacques Villeneuve switched to NASCAR, he took over the starting number 27 from the Smith's Las Vegas 350 on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway .

Web links