About Phoenix Racing
Phoenix Racing is a NASCAR team owned by James Finch. It currently fields the #1 Miccosukee Indian Gaming Chevrolet Impala in the Nationwide Series driven by Mike Bliss and the #09 Miccosukee Indian Gaming car in the Sprint Cup Series for several drivers. Phoenix's Cup program is racing in the 2009 season with two different manufacturers, as it fields a Chevrolet for Brad Keselowski and Ron Fellows and a Dodge Charger for Sterling Marlin, Mike Wallace, Ken Schrader, and others. In the past the team has fielded cars for Geoffrey Bodine, Jeremy Mayfield, and Jamie McMurray.
Phoenix Racing began racing in the Cup Series in 1990, when it fielded the #51 Plasti-Kote Chevrolet Lumina for Jeff Purvis. In four races, Purvis failed to finish a race, his best finishing being a 31st at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Phoenix attempted to run a full schedule in 1991, but soon cut back to a part-time schedule, completing six races in total. Due to a lack of funding, the team only ran two races in 1992, with Finch's company Phoenix Construction serving as sponsor. In 1993, the team ran all of the restrictor plate races on the schedule, except for the Daytona 500, for which they failed to qualify. For 1994, they picked up sponsorship from Country Time and had planned to run a limited schedule with Neil Bonnett driving. Bonnett died before the season started however, and Purvis was brought back to drive the car. In six races, his best finish was 21st. Phoenix changed its number to 44 in 1995, and ran six more races with Purvis and Jackaroo Sauce, only finishing one race. MCA Records became the new sponsor for 1996, and the team had two top-ten qualification starts, but could not finish higher than twelfth.
After staying out of Cup for several years, Finch purchased a number of Ford Tauruses from Bill Elliott Racing, and ran all of the 2001 schedule's restrictor plate races with Purvis driving the #51, only finishing one race. In 2002, the team picked up funding from Miccosukee and switched to the #09. Driver Geoffrey Bodine had a third place finish in the Daytona 500, and later had a 2nd-place qualification at the Pepsi 400. Mike Wallace ran a limited schedule for Phoenix in 2003, and had two top-ten finishes. Scott Pruett and Buckshot Jones also ran one race deals for the team that season, during which they switched to Dodge. The team began 2004 with Joe Ruttman and Johnny Benson sharing the ride. Ruttman would later become infamous for a "start and park" at Rockingham, where he appeared at the race without a pit crew and collected $54,000 for a last-place finish. The team later said they would be "legitimate racing" after the incident. Bobby Hamilton, Jr. then drove for six races during the middle of the season, before Wallace and Johnny Sauter returned to run the tail part of the season. Pruett and Tony Raines, also ran in one-off attempts in the car. Sauter drove ten races in the #09 in 2005, and had a ninth-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway. Late in the season, Bobby Hamilton and Reed Sorenson drove the 09 at Martinsville and Homestead, respectively.
Beginning in 2006, Phoenix abbreviated the 09's schedule even further, switching back and forth between Dodge and Ford. Mike Wallace ran just three races and failed to finish higher than seventeenth. Jeremy Mayfield ran the season-ending Ford 400, but did not finish due to an oil leak. Wallace had a fourth place finish in the 2007 Daytona 500, but the team did not qualify for another race until the final two races of the year, when Sterling Marlin drove. For 2008, Marlin will run approximately 10-12 races for Phoenix.
Phoenix Racing announced for 2009 that they would be running two different makes of cars for the upcoming Sprint Cup season. The #09 is to be shared by Marlin, Ken Schrader, Phoenix's Nationwide Series driver Mike Bliss, and Brad Keselowski. The team will field Dodges for the majority of the season, except for when Keselowski is scheduled to drive for the team when the team will field Chevrolets.
After 19 years in the Cup Series Phoenix Racing finally won its first race, taking the Aaron's 499 with Keselowski behind the wheel. Keselowski avoided a last lap wreck by Carl Edwards and drove to the finish to lead his only lap of the day and win the race. The team had already been good performers at Talladega, scoring several top tens with Bliss.