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| Owner(s) | Greg Pollex |
|---|---|
| Base | Mooresville, North Carolina |
| Series | Nextel Cup Series,Busch Series,Craftsman Truck Series |
| Race drivers | Jeff Green,Jason Keller,Kenny Wallace,Terry Cook,John Andretti |
| Sponsors | AutoZone,Nesquik,Albertsons,Excedrin,Miller High Life |
| Manufacturer | Ford,Chevrolet |
| Opened | 1993 |
| Closed | 2007 |
| Career | |
| Drivers' Championships | 1 (Busch Series) |
| Race victories | 34 (Total): 33 (Busch Series) and 1 (Craftsman Truck Series) |
ppc Racing is a formerNASCAR team based inMooresville, North Carolina. The team was owned byGreg Pollex. ppc Racing came about from a merger of Pollex'sBusch Series team with a car owned bySteve DeSouza andTed Campbell in 1999. The team won the 2000 Busch Series championship with driver Jeff Green and they finished second in the standings four times.[1] The team shut down during the2007 NASCAR Busch Series season due to a lack of funding. Pollex later joinedCJM Racing as a shop foreman before departing late in the season.
ppc made its Winston Cup Series racing debut in1993 at theMello Yello 500.Chad Little was the driver of the No. 19Kleenex Ford, and finished 33rd. They would also run the1994Daytona 500 in the No. 97 Ford with sponsorship fromTracy Lawrence, where they finished 29th. In1995, they had their best finish atTalladega Superspeedway, their second of two races. After making five1996 races in theSterling CowboyPontiac Grand Prix, ppc moved to the Cup Series full-time with Little in theJohn Deere car. Despite an eighth-place finish atBristol Motor Speedway, the team had trouble qualifying for races, and Pollex would sell the operation toJack Roush in the final weeks of the season. (The team would eventually becomeKurt Busch's 2004 Nextel Cup winning team, only to be sold toLatitude 43 Motorsports six years later and then folded.)
In 2004, ppc Racing return to the Cup series withJohn Andretti driving the No. 14 Ford to attempt five of the last six races with sponsorship from Victory Brand Tobacco and APlus at Sunoco with Dave Charpentier as the crew chief. The 14 team made its debut in that year's UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, after qualifying 20th, they finished 22nd, four laps down.
After taking the next race off at Martinsville, the team returned to run the final four races, but missed the field at Darlington. The team's best finish was a 20th in the finale at Homestead.
Andretti, Charpentier, Victory Brand and APlus returned to the 14 team in 2005 with the plan that they will run the full season. The team made the first three races at Daytona, Fontana, and Las Vegas, with their best finishing being a 28th-place effort in the 2005 UAW Daimler-Chrysler 400 at Las Vegas, but they missed the field at Atlanta. Then VB Brand shut down, culminating in the team being forced to dissolve, as there was no other sponsorship to be found.
ppc debuted atDarlington Speedway in1993. It was No. 23Ford sponsored byIf Its Paper and driven by Chad Little. At the time, Pollex co-owned the team withNFL quarterbackMark Rypien. Little competed in 12 races with the team that season, posting three top-ten finishes. Going full-time withBayer Select sponsoring in1994, Little finished third in the Busch Series points, finishing in the top-ten in half of the races run that season. The next season was even better, as Little collected six victories and a runner-up finish in the points. When Pollex moved Little and the team up to the Cup Series in 1997, the team did not run the Busch Series.
Pollex returned in1999 with a new operation. This time it was the No. 32 KleenexChevy driven byJeff Green. Despite failing to qualify for the springRockingham race, Green won three races and finished second in the points in what was a comeback season for both Green and the team. For 2000, the team underwent some changes, as it bought the No. 57 car driven byJason Keller, and Green's car was now No. 10 and sponsored byNesQuik. Green won six races and the championship by a then-record 616 points over Keller. After yet another successful2001 season where Green visited Victory Lane four times and wound up second in the points in the team's new Fords, he departed forRichard Childress Racing'sWinston Cup team. His replacement wasScott Riggs, an up-and-coming driver from theNASCARCraftsman Truck Series. Riggs won twice and finished 10th on his way to winning theBusch Series Rookie of the Year standings. After two more wins and a sixth-place finish in points, Riggs left forMB2/MBV Motorsports, and the team disappeared briefly, before coming back in 2005. Rookie driverMichel Jourdain Jr. was tabbed the car's pilot, and he posted one-top ten finish before being replaced byBrent Sherman with sponsorSerta Mattresses midway through the season.
In 2006, Sherman left ppc and went to the Nextel Cup Series withBAM Racing, being replaced byJohn Andretti. Andretti had limited success in his rookie season and came into the season finale tied withDanny O'Quinn in rookie points. Although Andretti finished 16th and O'Quinn 36th, O'Quinn still edged Andretti by 1 point to win Rookie of the Year.
For the 2007 season, ppc Racing announced an alliance withBiagi Brothers Racing andBraun Racing. The No. 10 would become part of the Braun stable keeping the No. 10's owner points and running equipment from the recently shut down Biagi Brothers team, switching from Ford to Toyota. The sponsorship, number, and driver were to remain the same however Andretti would leave the team following the first race of the 2007 season When funding for the team became questionable.Dave Blaney's No. 32 team for Braun would switch to the number No. 10 that following week at Fontana.
The No. 22 car debuted in 1991 as the No. 14 atLanier Speedway as the No. 54Air Products and ChemicalsBuick owned by driverJason Keller and his father. Keller started eighth but finished 29th after a crash. The next year, Keller ran five races, but only finished one. In 1993, the team switched to No. 57 and ran 12 races. Despite the abbreviated schedule, Keller had one top-ten finish and finished 33rd in points. In 1994, Keller and his team signedBudget Gourmet to sponsor hisChevrolets, and posted three poles and had a seventeenth-place finish in the points. In 1995, Keller won his first race at theKroger 200 and finished fourth in points. Despite not visiting victory lane again in 1996, Keller drove hisSlim Jim-sponsored Chevy into a sixth-place points finish. Keller struggled the next two seasons, as he did not finish in the top-ten in points, and was forced to run 1998 without major sponsorship. After that year, owner Steve DeSouza bought his operation, and signedIGA as sponsor. It was the right combination, as Keller won atBristol andIRP, and climbed to eighth in points.
In 2000, the team merged with ppc and got new sponsorship fromExcedrin. While Keller's teammate Jeff Green dominated the Busch Series that year, Keller quietly had a strong season, winning one race and finishing a career-best second in points.Albertsons was the next sponsor to climb on board, and Keller won another race and finished third in points while switching to Fords, before winning four more races and returning to second in points in 2002. After a respectable 2003 season, the team switched to No. 22 and broughtMiller High Life on board to sponsor. Keller went winless for the first time since 1998, and departed forTeam Rensi Motorsports at the end of the year. He was replaced byKenny Wallace and sponsor Stacker 2. Wallace had five top-fives and finished seventh in points. He continued to run with ppc withAutoZone backing the car in 2006, but AutoZone departed at the end of the season and Wallace took a full-time Cup ride withFurniture Row Racing. After a number switch withFitz Motorsports, the team was merged withCarl A. Haas Motorsports in order to runKyle Krisiloff in the No. 14Clabber Girl car.
The No. 10 FordPower Stroke Diesel by International truck is driven byTerry Cook in theCraftsman Truck Series. Cook joined the team in 2003 leavingK Automotive Racing with 4 wins, 9 top 5s, 17 top 10s, and an 8th-place points finish. During the first 3 years with ppc, Cook would go on a winless slump, like the one he suffered from 1998 to 2002. Between the 2003 and 2005 seasons, Cook would amass a total of 3 poles, 4 top 5s, and 28 top 10s. Although the 10 team's first year together was slightly successful, 2004 and 2005 would be complete disasters for the team, with 2 consecutive years finishing outside the top 10 in points.
In 2006, Cook would receive his first victory in 4 years atKansas Speedway and finish 8th in the points. He would leave forHT Motorsports at season's end. The following year, ppc's truck equipment was purchased byCircle Bar Racing with International's Maxx Diesel sponsoringDavid Starr in the No. 10 truck.