TriStar Motorsports

Owner	Bryan Smith
Base	Mooresville, North Carolina
Series	NASCAR Cup Series
Manufacturer	Chevrolet,Ford
Opened	1989
Closed	2019
Career
Debut	NASCAR Cup Series: 1989Winston 500 (Talladega) Xfinity Series: 2010DRIVE4COPD 300 (Daytona)
Latest race	NASCAR Cup Series: 2018Ford EcoBoost 400 (Homestead) Xfinity Series: 2017Ford EcoBoost 300 (Homestead)
Races competed	Total: 884 NASCAR Cup Series: 197 Xfinity Series: 687
Drivers' Championships	Total: 0 NASCAR Cup Series: 0 Xfinity Series: 0
Race victories	Total: 0 NASCAR Cup Series: 0 Xfinity Series: 0
Pole positions	Total: 3 NASCAR Cup Series: 3 Xfinity Series: 0

TriStar Motorsports was an American professionalstock car racing team that used to compete in theMonster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The team competed in theNASCARWinston Cup Series primarily during the early to mid 1990s, suspending racing operations in 1997 and continuing on as Tri-Star Motors, and laterPro Motor Engines, supplyingengines 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]

TriStar made its debut in1989 atTalladega Superspeedway. DriverRon Esau finished 38th after wrecking the No. 18Pontiac.Brad Teague made the team's second start atCharlotte Motor Speedway withMello Yello but finished 31st after suffering engine failure. Barn Animals sponsoredHut Stricklin's No. 68 entry at the1990 Daytona 500, and fielded the No. 18 for him atAtlanta Motor Speedway, where he finished 33rd and 37th, respectively. TriStar switched back to the No. 68 atTalladega Superspeedway, with sponsorship from,Interstate Batteries, whereStanley Smith would finish 37th after an early wreck. The team finished their first race atMichigan withMike Chase finishing 24th. They ran the No. 68 withCountry Time Lemonade sponsorship andBobby Hamilton driving in two races, with a best finish of 28th.

In1991, TriStar ran full-time with Hamilton andCountry Time again sponsoring theirOldsmobile. Hamilton had four top-ten finishes and finished 22nd in points, winningRookie of the Year honors. They began1992 with no top-ten finishes, and later switched toFord Thunderbirds, allowing Hamilton to get two top-ten finishes and finish 25th in points. After failing to finish higher than 15th eight races into the1993 season, Hamilton was released.Greg Sacks drove for the rest of the season, withDorsey Schroeder filling in at the road course races, andLoy Allen driving atPhoenix International Raceway.

Allen was named the full-time driver for the1994 season, in addition to TriStar switching to the No. 19 and gettingHooters sponsorship. Allen won the pole for theDaytona 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 andHooters left Tri-Star at the end of the year, andPhil Parsons took over the driving duties for the first five races of the1995 season withUltra Custom Wheels sponsorship. After the first five races, the team cut back and did not run any races until theWinston Select 500, when Allen returned to the team withHealthsource 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, withRon Fellows driving the No. 68 atWatkins Glen, and Allen driving the No. 19 during the rest of the season.

Healthsource signed for a full season of sponsorship in1996, but Allen suffered a severe neck injury at the second race of the season atNorth Carolina Speedway, causing him to miss the next ten races.Dick Trickle filled in the interim, placing eighth at theFood 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 the1997 season, Allen was released andGary Bradberry replaced him. After failing to qualify for theMiller 400,Child Support Recovery was dropped by the team due to lack of funding and racing operations were suspended again.

In1999, they leased their shop toSBIII 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. 48FansTeam Ford forStanton Barrett at the2000 Daytona 500, but did not qualify.

TriStar attempted to qualify for the race at Watkins Glen in 2010 with driverTony Ave in the No. 35Chevrolet Impala purchased fromFront 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 formerHP Racing co-owner Randy Humphrey. As Humphrey Smith Racing, the team fielded Jason Leffler, Chris Cook, Jeff Green, andMike Bliss in the No. 19Toyota Camry. The team started fielding the No. 91 forReed Sorenson and Jason Leffler starting atIndianapolis Motor Speedway as well. The team ran a mix ofFord,Toyota, andChevrolet recycled from other teams for the No. 91 team, both cars areStart 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 byJason Leffler in theParty in the Poconos 400, three days before he was killed in a sprint car accident atBridgeport Speedway inNew 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 employedAlex 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 theChase.

In 2014, Humphrey left TriStar and startedhis own Cup operation, the No. 77Ford Fusion driven byDave Blaney.^[3] Smith did not field an entry in the Sprint Cup Series in 2014, and the No. 19 was claimed byJoe Gibbs Racing for its new entry in 2015 forCarl Edwards.

In 2017, TriStar announced that they would field one full-time team, the No. 72Chevrolet SS for Whitt.^[4] The team took lease of the No. 35 charter fromFront 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 forthe 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 sinceHomestead-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 toRick Ware Racing for the No. 52 team, while certain equipment and a hauler were liquidated toTommy Joe Martins' team.^[5]

After a nine-year hiatus from fielding race teams, TriStar acquired the Nationwide team owned byFront Row Motorsports, and fielded three cars in 2010, the former FRM team No. 34Chevrolet Impala forTony Raines, a new team, the No. 35Chevrolet Impala forJason Keller and ran the No. 36Chevrolet Impala on a part-time schedule. The team used their own PME Motors.

In January 2015 the team announced thatBlake Koch would run the full season, in a new No. 8 car with crew chiefBruce 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 toKaulig 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 withTony Ave andJeff Green behind the wheel, running as astart 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. 14Toyota Camry after Eric McClure's injury,Tony Raines andKevin Lepage became the temporary drivers until McClure returned atRoad America.

Green ran the majority of the races in 2013 as astart and park again.Cole Whitt moved over from the No. 44Toyota Camry and ran the full race at Bristol in August, finishing tenth withGold Bond as the sponsor.^[16]Mike Bliss ran the car atHomestead with his usual No. 19 occupied byDakoda Armstrong.

In 2014,David Starr ran the car competitively at Daytona season opener in February.^[17] For the rest of the year,Blake Koch andJeff Green ran the majority of the races, again mostly as astart and park. At Daytona in July, Koch had sponsorship fromCelsius 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. 91Toyota Camry of Benny Gordon missed the race, and the sponsor of the No. 10 moved over toMike Bliss' No. 19. Bliss ran the No. 10 at Bristol in August as a full race effort whileHermie Sadler ran his usual No. 19Toyota Camry.

Jeff Green returned in 2015 atDaytona in February. AfterScott Lagasse Jr. and the No. 19 team failed to qualify, Lagasse Jr. and sponsorAlert 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 andMatt DiBenedetto once again running in a start-and-park capacity.

What is now the No. 14Chevrolet Impala debuted in 2010 as the No. 35Chevrolet Impala. At the time it was a completely new entry, consisting of veteranJason Keller as the driver and formerRusty 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 raceStater 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 atRoad America, the team selectedTony 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.

Antonio Pérez drove the car atGateway International Raceway, finishing 34th.Tony Raines drove the No. 35 atPhoenix International Raceway with sponsorship fromBeAStockCarDriver.com. The No. 35 finished 29th in the 2010 owners points.

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 fromuPillar.com at Darlington,KEL Chemicals at Dover for Kellers 500th career start, andLubePros.com at Chicagoland Speedway.BeAStockCarDriver.com sponsored Keller at Charlotte in October.

Eric McClure'sHefty/Reynolds WrapToyota atRoad America in 2013.

The alternateReynolds Wrap scheme run by McClure atRoad America in 2014.

The team returned to competition in 2011 as the No. 14, withEric McClure and his longtime sponsorHefty coming along with him fromTeam 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 atChicago en route to a 19th-place points finish. McClure and Hefty returned in 2012, along with the team's manufacturer switch toToyota Camry.

McClure started the season in the No. 14Toyota 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.

A fully recovered McClure remained in the No. 14. Though he had an illness before the Mid-Ohio race was replaced byJeff Green.

Eric McClure returned for what was believed to be his final season. He ran at 28 races. Longtime partnersHefty andReynolds 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. 14Toyota Camry hung out, sending him head-on into a tire barrier, relegating him to a 29th-place finish.^[19]

After the season, McClure andHefty/Reynolds Wrap announced their departure forJGL Racing.^[20]Cale Conley drove the No. 14Toyota 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.

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 fromVirginia 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 bySuperior Essex.

On January 26, 2017, it was announced that Yeley returned to TriStar but driving the No. 14 withSuperior 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 newJP 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 fromFront Row Motorsports following the 2009 season. It remained mostly intact, with Scott Eggleston returning as crew chief andTony Raines returning as the driver of theLong John Silver's 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. 34Chevrolet 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 theAaron's 312 atTalladega 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 atPhoenix 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 byPlanet Hollywood Resort and Casino at California,doorstopnation.com at Daytona & Talladega,Continental Fire & Safety at Dover, andBoss Industries/The Walter Payton Foundation at Chicagoland.Front Row Motorsports' owner Bob Jenkins pulled theLong John Silver's sponsorship from the team following the race atBristol Motor Speedway in August, withBeAStockCarDriver.com sponsoring Raines for the final 4 races of the season. Raines was replaced by Nationwide Series veteranMike Bliss.

The team returned in 2011 as the No. 19, andMike 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 ofDerrike Cope'sCFK 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 secondDover race. With limited sponsorship Bliss and the No. 19 team finished the season 12th in points. For 2012, Bliss was replaced byTayler Malsam as he brought sponsorship fromGreen Earth Technologies andG-Oil as well as the team's manufacturer change toToyota Camry. VenezuelanAlex 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.

Mike Bliss took over the No. 19Toyota Camry once again for the full season.G-Oil andTweaker Energy Shot sponsored the car.Dakoda Armstrong ran the car at Homestead with sponsorWinField, 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, withTweaker Energy Shot sponsoring several races.Hermie Sadler ran the No. 19Toyota Camry atBristol in August andRichmond in September, with theVirginia State Lottery sponsoring, while Bliss moved to the No. 10.^[25]

Mike Bliss returned to the No. 19Toyota Camry in 2015.^[9][21]Scott Lagasse Jr. attempted the season opener at Daytona with sponsorAlert 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 byCharles 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.

The No. 19 was used byJoe Gibbs Racing in 2016.^[27]

After initially leaving TriStar for JGL Racing, after nine 2015 racesEric McClure and longtime sponsorHefty/Reynolds Wrap announced their return to TriStar beginning atIowa Speedway in May. The team carried over the No. 24Toyota Camry from JGL,^[28] while assuming the owner points from the No. 19Toyota 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 byJeff Green as aStart and park entry at Daytona.Charles Lewandoski drove the car atPhoenix. Green then drove the car for most of the season as astart and park, but was replaced for 3 races byAngela Cope. For 2012,Mike Bliss drove the car with various sponsorship until Dover when he moved back to the No. 19Toyota Camry and Green took over for the next two races.Hal Martin andJohn Blankenship finished out the season. Though John Blankenship raced for Tommy Baldwin Racing for Chevrolet Impala for Iowa, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead.

In 2013,Hal Martin ran for Rookie of the year withAmerican Custom Yachts as the sponsor, but only ran the first ten races and then two late in the season.Chad Hackenbracht ran seven races withIngersoll Rand andTastee 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 byTakagi Water Heaters andGold Bond.^[16] Whitt left forSwan Racing in theSprint Cup Series at the end of the season.

For 2014, it was announced thatBlake Koch would drive for TriStar full-time, splitting time between the No. 44Toyota Camry and the No. 10Toyota Camry. David Starr ran the majority of races with the team, with a best finish of 9th atTalladega.^[17][21] Various other drivers have run the No. 44, bringing sponsorship with them. These includeHal Martin,Paulie Harraka,Carlos Contreras,ARCA driverWill Kimmel, andMatt Frahm.

Hal Martin returned to TriStar's No. 44Toyota Camry for both races atIowa Speedway in 2014.Stuart, Florida–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]

Forty-four-year-old NASCAR veteranCarlos Contreras has raced all three road courses for TriStar in the No. 44Toyota Camry with sponsors38 Special andVoli and regular TriStar sponsorIngersoll Rand. He posted a strong 15th place atRoad America, a solid 23rd place atWatkins Glen International and finished 21st in his debut at theMid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August.^[30][31]

Twenty-six-year-oldARCA driverWill Kimmel, nephew of ARCA legendFrank Kimmel, will drive five races in the TriStar No. 44Toyota Camry in 2014.Ingersoll Rand will serve as the primary sponsor for all five races.^[32] Kimmel finished 33rd in his debut atPhoenix and 22nd two races later atBristol.^[33] Kimmel returned to the car in the fall races atRichmond,Chicago, andCharlotte.^[30][34]

New Hampshire nativeMatt Frahm was announced as the driver at his hometownNew Hampshire Motor Speedway in July for his tenth start in theNationwide Series.Hudson, New Hampshire–based Gilchrist Metal Fabricating Company funded the car.^[35] Frahm finished a solid 25th, but 5 laps down.^[30]

NASCARDrive for Diversity graduate andNew Jersey nativePaulie Harraka drive the No. 44Toyota Camry at home trackDover International Speedway in May.The Delaware Office of Highway Safety came on board with their "Click it or Ticket" campaign to raise awareness for traffic safety.^[36] Harraka qualified 22nd, and finished a solid 19th after battling back from a pit road incident withBrendan Gaughan.^[37] Notably, Harraka was involved in an incident the prior year at theSonoma Cup race where his No. 52Ford Fusion collided with the TriStar No. 19Toyota Camry on pit road before the race even started.

David Starr signed a three-year contract with TriStar and longtime sponsorZachry Group to run the No. 44Toyota Camry full-time beginning in 2015.^[21] Starr finished a strong 6th place at the season opener atDaytona 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]

Starr returned in 2016, withZachry 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.

The car returned in a part-time basis in 2017.Benny Gordon drove at thePowerShares QQQ 300 atDaytona International Speedway with sponsorship fromFlorida Lottery. He was involved in a single-car crash, and finished 27th.

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.

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 andHefty/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. 91Toyota Camry withBWP 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, withBlake Koch running the car atRichmond.