Joseph W. Bessey (born June 25, 1961) is an American formerNASCAR owner/driver. He won one careerBusch Series race before heading back to the Busch Grand National North Series in 2001, where he continues to field teams. In his driving career in that series in the mid-1990s, he won 21 races and two championships. Bessey is also a businessman, having started his own trucking companies in his 20s.

Bessey made hisBusch Series debut in 1988 at the Pennsylvania 300 atNazareth Speedway in the No. 9Pontiac. Despite an eighth place starting spot, he finished last after a crash on the opening lap. He made five other races in 1988, his best finish being nineteenth atDover. He also finished his remaining five races.

Bessey made six more starts in 1989 and finished in the top-twenty in four of the six races, with fourteenth at Dover, a seventeenth at Nazareth and had a pair of twentieths. He also had a top-ten start at Richmond. However, he did not finish his other two starts, but finished 45th in points. The next season, he only started four races, finishing just one of them.

Bessey made eight starts in 1991. Driving his No. 9 Pontiacs and the No. 64 Pontiacs, Bessey finished six of his eight starts, and managed his career best finish with a fourteenth place atDaytona International Speedway. He also had three top-10 starts, the best being at Nazareth.

Bessey made nine starts in 1992. Bessey garnered an eleventh place run at Rockingham and then his first top-ten at Richmond. He also closed the year with three straight top-21 finishes. He was 42nd in the points, his highest showing to that date.

Bessey planned to run the full season in 1993. He made all but three races en route to a 17th-place points finish. Bessey had a best finish of third at Rockingham and added on a fourth atRougement. He also had an eighth and a pair of tenths. Bessey also earned his best career start of fourth at the inaugural race atTalladega.

With his success in 1993, Bessey focused more on the Busch North Series, but did manage to make eleven Busch Starts in1994, three of which resulted in top-tens. Driving his No. 97Bellsouth Chevy, Bessey finished sixth atAtlanta and 10th at Dover andCharlotte. He also had three top-ten starts.

Bessey returned for 1995. He had two top-tens: a ninth at Rockingham and a tenth at Nazareth. (driving forJimmy Spencer) However, Bessey continued to struggle in finishing races, only running at the end of half of his starts.

In 1996, he drove the No. 9Delco Remy America Chevy in twelve races. For the first time since 1992, Bessey did not finish in the top-ten in any race, but did have five top-nineteen finishes. At Rockingham, Bessey made his debut forPower Team; a sponsorship deal resulted in a two-year deal to go Busch Racing full-time.

Bessey returned full-time 1997, driving the No. 6 Power Team Chevy. Bessey picked up his first win at theMBNA 200, despite being ill that day. He also had four other top-ten finishes, the best being a sixth at South Boston. He also earned his first career pole in the inaugural event atGateway, and finished eighteenth in points, the best run of his career.

Bessey did not win a race in 1998, but had four top-tens, the best being a fifth at Nazareth. He had a solid weekend at New Hampshire, where he won the pole and led 107 laps. However, in a late race fight for the lead withBuckshot Jones, Bessey crashed while Jones won the race. Bessey had four top-ten finishes to finish eighteenth in standings.

With Bessey going full-time Cup racing in 1999, he only made a few starts that season. His best run was a seventeenth at Nazareth driving forGeoffrey Bodine and an eighteenth at Dover (back in his No. 6). He did not finish his other three starts.

Bessey and the No. 6 only returned for one race in 2000. He started 26th at New Hampshire, but crashed on the first lap and finished 43rd.

Bessey made three starts in 2001, with a seventeenth at Daytona, 43rd at Talladega and a 22nd at New Hampshire (where he started in the eighth position).

Bessey made his last two starts: a 25th at New Hampshire and an eighteenth at Nazareth. Afterward, Bessey moved back full-time to Busch North Series as an owner, where he continues to this day.

Bessey moved his operation up toWinston Cup in 1999, fielding the No. 60Power TeamChevy driven by Geoffrey Bodine. Bodine was eighth in the second race of the year atRockingham. Bodine also earned a third-place finish late in the year atMartinsville Speedway. Also, Bodine was able to qualify in every race in 1999, earning the team a 27th place finish.

Bodine, however, was injured in the season openingCraftsman Truck Series race of 2000, and Bessey was sent scrambling for a driver. The team missed theDaytona 500, but Bessey's new driver,Ted Musgrave made the next five races. After a best finish of sixteenth, Musgrave left and Bessey moved ontoDick Trickle, who made three starts for Bessey, before Bodine returned to the team atRichmond. Bodine had a solid run of thirteenth in his return, but the team continued to struggle to qualify. Bodine only made ten of the next fourteen races. Even with a best finish of twelfth, Bessey released Bodine after a 41st at Richmond.

Bessey then made his Cup debut the next week atNHIS. He barely made it in with a 42nd place starting position at his home track. He finished 27th.

Bessey then used drivers Trickle andRich Bickle to finish out the year. However, the team began to struggle to qualifying with Bessey's team only making a handful of the final eight races.

After a failed attempt to getHermie Sadler to drive his car withThe Rock sponsoring in 2001,^[1] Bessey closed down his Cup team, and ran selected Busch races after that.

Bessey has also made four career starts in the Truck Series. His best run came in his debut atPhoenix in 1995, where he started fifth and finished fourth in the No. 30Taylor Togs Dodge. His other start in 1995 resulted in a 38th at Phoenix.

AtNHIS in 1996, Bessey's lone run resulted in a fourth place start. Once again, he ran a solid race at his home track and drove the No. 9 Chevy to a sixth place finish.

His sole race in 1997 came at Phoenix, driving forA. J. Foyt. There he started 19th, but struggled home to 35th place after his engine blew.

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

• Joe Bessey driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Joe Bessey owner statistics at Racing-Reference

• 1961 births
• Living people
• NASCAR drivers
• NASCAR team owners
• People from Scarborough, Maine
• Racing drivers from Maine
• ARCA Menards Series drivers
• A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Short description is different from Wikidata