Hattori Racing Enterprises

Owner	Shigeaki Hattori
Base	Mooresville, North Carolina
Series	NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ARCA Menards Series ARCA Menards Series West
Manufacturer	Toyota
Opened	2008
Closed	2025
Career
Debut	Xfinity Series: 2014DRIVE4COPD 300 (Daytona) Truck Series: 2013Michigan National Guard 200 (Michigan) ARCA Menards Series: 2008Drive Smart! Buckle-Up Kentucky 150 (Kentucky) ARCA Menards Series East: 2010South Boston 150 (South Boston) ARCA Menards Series West: 2023General Tire 200 (Sonoma)
Latest race	Xfinity Series: 2021Andy's Frozen Custard 335 (Texas) Truck Series: 2024Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 (Martinsville) ARCA Menards Series: 2024General Tire 150 (Phoenix) ARCA Menards Series East: 2020Bush's Beans 200 (Bristol) ARCA Menards Series West: 2024General Tire 150 (Phoenix)
Races competed	Total: 318 Xfinity Series: 25 Truck Series: 181 ARCA Menards Series: 22 ARCA Menards Series East: 88 ARCA Menards Series West: 2
Drivers' Championships	Total: 1 Xfinity Series: 0 Truck Series: 1 2018 ARCA Menards Series: 0 ARCA Menards Series East: 0 ARCA Menards Series West: 0
Race victories	Total: 20 Xfinity Series: 0 Truck Series: 14 ARCA Menards Series: 1 ARCA Menards Series East: 5 ARCA Menards Series West: 0
Pole positions	Total: 16 Xfinity Series: 0 Truck Series: 6 ARCA Menards Series: 1 ARCA Menards Series East: 9 ARCA Menards Series West: 0

Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE) was a Japanese-American professionalstock car racing team that competed in theNASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Owned by former NASCAR and open-wheel driverShigeaki Hattori, the team last competed part-time in theNASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with the No. 16Toyota Tundra driven by multiple drivers, and part-time in theARCA Menards Series andARCA Menards Series West withSean Hingorani driving the No. 61Toyota Camry. The team previously competed in theNASCAR Xfinity Series andARCA Menards Series East.

On May 30, 2019, it was reported that HRE would field the No. 61 Toyota at theJuly Daytona race, marking the team's first Xfinity race since 2015.^[1] On June 16, 2019, it was announced that the car would driven byAustin Hill, who was to make his Xfinity Series debut;^[2] however, a drive line failure prevented Hill from setting a qualifying time and he missed the race.^[3]

In August, HRE partnered withMBM Motorsports to renumber the latter's No. 42 to the No. 61 for theFood City 300 at Bristol.Timmy Hill drove the No. 61 to a career-best seventh.^[4]

The No. 61 AISIN Group Toyota attempted the race at Indianapolis withAustin Hill and scored a top ten in his first-ever Xfinity start as he finished ninth.

Hattori made hisNASCAR Xfinity Series debut withJohnny Sauter drove the No. 80 Toyota at the 2014DRIVE4COPD 300 atDaytona. Sauter qualified ninth and finished twenty-eighth, one lap down.^[5] After that race, Hattori was quoted as saying "we have decided that we need to focus more on our Nationwide Series program”.^[6] Sauter would pilot Hattori's No. 80 Toyota for two more races, finishing 16th atCharlotte Motor Speedway and 15th at theSubway Firecracker 250 at Daytona. Starting atMichigan,Ross Chastain piloted the car for four races, turning in a best finish of tenth atKentucky Speedway.^[7]Alex Bowman ran one race for Hattori, atDover International Speedway.^[8]

One weekend after making his Truck debut for HRE,Ross Kenseth made his second Xfinity start and the only Xfinity start of 2015 for HRE.^[9] Kenseth started 29th, but he suffered from the limited resources at HRE and finished 33rd, 51 laps down.^[10][11]

The team did not attempt any Xfinity races from 2016, 2017, and 2018, as the team focused on strengthening their Truck Series program and fielding an entry in that series full-time.

Part Time (2013)

Hattori made his major-series NASCAR debut at Michigan in 2013 withBrett Moffitt as the driver of the No. 16 Toyota. Moffitt started fourteenth and finished seventeenth, one lap off the pace. It would be HRE's only Truck start of the year.^[12][13]

Ryan Truex (2017)

In 2017, The team would bring the No. 16 full-time withRyan Truex as the driver.^[14] Truex missed the playoffs in a tiebreaker withBen Rhodes,^[14] but grabbed his first two career poles during the first round of the playoffs.

Brett Moffitt (2018)

The team would return full-time in 2018, withBrett Moffitt. In Atlanta (2018), Moffitt was able to get the team's first win in the Truck Series.^[15] Moffitt proceeded to win a total of six races on the season, including at Chicagoland where the team nearly wasn't able to race due to lack of sponsorship, to secure Hattori's first-ever NASCAR championship. With Moffitt's win atPhoenix in November, HRE's fifth ever in the truck series, and Moffitt's fifth on the season, the team became locked into the Championship 4 Round atHomestead-Miami Speedway. The next weekend, Moffitt held offNoah Gragson to win the team's first-ever championship.

Austin Hill (2019–2021)

On December 6, 2018, it was announced that Moffitt was released from the No. 16 team due to financial issues. The team plans to replace Moffitt with a driver who has sponsorship backing. On January 8, 2019, HRE announced thatAustin Hill will drive the No. 16 in the2019 season.^[16][17] Hill scored his record first win at the season-openingDaytona race.^[18] Following 2021,Austin Hill would move to theNASCAR Xfinity Series to drive the No. 21 forRichard Childress Racing.

Tyler Ankrum (2022–2023)

Tyler Ankrum drove the No. 16 truck in 2022, getting only 8 Top 10s, 0 Top 5s and finished 12th in overall points with no wins. It was announced on January 13, 2023, that he would return to the team for the 2023 season.^[19] On December 7, 2023, it was announced that Ankrum would be leaving forMcAnally-Hilgemann Racing for the 2024 season.^[20]

Part-time (2024)

In January 2024, The No. 16 truck owner points were bought byReaume Brothers Racing.^[21] In February 2024, the team announced it would be scaling back to a part-time schedule.^[22] Hattori would make its first start of the season atNorth Wilkesboro, with the No. 16 being driven byAric Almirola.^[23]

Part-time (2015)

The team raced in theXfinity Series for 2014 before returning to the trucks in 2015 with No. 18 Toyota.Ross Chastain, who raced for Hattori in 2014, returned to HRE to attempt to qualify at Michigan, but failed to qualify.Ross Kenseth, son of NASCARSprint Cup Series championMatt Kenseth, made his first Truck series start with Hattori atMartinsville Speedway. Kenseth qualified 25th and finished 17th in theAisin AW Toyota. Kenseth failed to qualify for the Truck series finale atHomestead-Miami Speedway.^[24]

Beginnings (2021)

For 2021,Max McLaughlin decided to put more focus on his dirt racing efforts and would therefore not run another full season in the East Series.^[25] However, he would remain with Hattori as he would return to the Truck Series to run a part-time schedule in a new second truck for the team, marking the first time Hattori has fielded a second team in the Truck Series. Ultimately, he never raced for Hattori.^[26]

Chase Purdy (2022)

On November 30, 2021, it was announced thatChase Purdy would drive this brand new No. 61 for 2022.^[27] On October 18, 2022, it was announced that Purdy will not return to the team for the 2023 season.^[28]

Part Time (2023)

On March 17, 2023, it was announced thatChristopher Bell would drive the No. 61 at North Wilkesboro.^[29] Bell would return for the Pocono race as well.^[30]Jake Drew would run five races in the No. 61. His first race with them was atIRP and his best finish in the No. 61 was 10th atKansas.^[31] On August 18, 2023, it was announced thatSean Hingorani would run the No. 61 at theMilwaukee Mile, finishing 23rd.^[32]

Ryan Truex (2016)

In early 2016, it was announced thatMayetta, New Jersey'sRyan Truex would drive the No. 81 Toyota for the full season, contingent on sponsorship, according to Truex.^[33] Truex turned in a stellar run at the season-openingNextEra Energy Resources 250, finishing second. Truex may have won the race if not for NASCAR's "freeze-the-field" rule, which freezes the field when a caution comes out. Truex had lost support fromParker Kligerman, which allowedJohnny Sauter to win in his first race forGMS Racing. Truex did lead fourteen laps in the race.^[34] Truex would follow that up with a 20th atAtlanta Motor Speedway and a 12th at Martinsville.^[35] Funding fizzled out mid-season, and the team was forced to skip some races in the middle of the season.^[36] The team also switched crew chiefs, bringing inWauters Motorsports owner Richie Wauters midseason.^[14] The No. 81 became the No. 16 at the end of 2016.

HRE ran four drivers in the No. 01 in 2008, withSean Caisse making five starts,Justin Marks making two, andChrissy Wallace and Brent Glastetter making one start each. Caisse recorded two top-fives, a second and a fifth, and Marks recorded two top-tens, a seventh and an eighth.^[13][37][38]Michael Annett made HRE's only start in 2009, a 41st at Daytona after a crash.^[39]

Max McLaughlin returned to the renamed ARCA Menards East Series in 2020 in Hattori's No. 1 car, but with the series having combination races with the East Series, McLaughlin and Hattori also competed in races in this series.

For 2021, McLaughlin decided to put more focus on his dirt racing efforts and would therefore not run another full season in the East Series.^[25]

In 2011, HRE fielded the No. 14 forMatt Dibenedetto at Salem and Toledo, where he finished 6th and 12th respectively.

In 2010, HRE fielded the No. 17 forMiguel Paludo atKansas.

In 2023, HRE fielded the No. 61 forTyler Ankrum atMid-Ohio, where he won the race.

In 2012, HRE fielded the No. 01 forMatt Dibenedetto atIowa Speedway. He finished 20th.

In 2017, the No. 01 returned part-time.Jesse Little drove the car at Iowa. He finished 10th.Ryan Truex drove the car at Watkins Glen. He won the pole and finished 19th.

In 2014, HRE fielded the No. 1 part-time for David Garbo Jr.,Ross Chastain, andTrey Hutchens.

In 2015, HRE fielded the No. 1 part-time forSergio Peña,Mason Mitchell,Jesse Little, andBrandon McReynolds.

In 2016, the No. 1 run full-time withAustin Theriault andSpencer Davis as the drivers.

In 2018, the No. 1 returned for part-time competition.Kyle Benjamin drove the car at Iowa. He finished 10th.Brett Moffitt drove the car atWatkins Glen International, where he won.

In 2019, dirt track racerMax McLaughlin signed with HRE to drive the No. 1 Camry with sponsorship fromTextron Off Road andMohawk Northeast Inc.^[40] McLaughlin would win at Watkins Glen in the same car Moffitt won with a year earlier.

For 2021, McLaughlin decided to put more focus on his dirt racing efforts and would therefore not run another full season in the East Series.^[25]

After competing in East Series for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2010 and Michael Waltrip in 2011, Brett Moffitt joined Hattori Racing in the No. 11 car and competed in the East Series in 2012 with two wins coming in that season. A crash on the final lap of the 2012 season at Rockingham knocked Brett out of the points lead surrendering the championship to Kyle Larson.Moffitt drove the full East Series Schedule again in 2013 without a win, but with a runner-up points finish.

In 2017, the No. 11 car returned part-time forRyan Truex at Bristol. He finished 25th.

In 2010, Hattori Racing fielded the No. 77 forMiguel Paludo. He finished fifteenth in the series standings that year, with a best finish of fourth.

In 2023, HRE fielded the No. 81Toyota Camry forSammy Smith atSonoma. He finished 2nd.^[41]

• Hattori Racing Enterprises owner statistics at Racing-Reference

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