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Hillman-Circle Sport

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Circle Sport Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series . The team was formed in 2011 as LTD PowerSports, fielding the No. 50 for T. J. Bell , and later in 2012, the team fielded the No. 40 and the No. 33 part-time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, while fielding the No. 27 in the Camping World Truck Series. In 2014, the team pulled out of the truck series and began fielding the No. 40 Cup car full-time, alongside the part-time No. 33.

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112-453: Throughout most of its existence, the team was legally known as Hillman-Circle Sport LLC , with the No. 33 and No. 40 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series entries branded as Circle Sport LLC and Hillman Racing respectively. During this time, Circle Sport (which purchased the No. 33 from Richard Childress Racing seven races into 2012) rented the No. 33 points to RCR for several races per season. After

224-546: A start-and-park role. Leicht would win Rookie of the Year honors despite competing in just 15 races, finishing with a team-best 26th at Watkins Glen. For 2013, Circle Sport maintained its alliance with Richard Childress Racing . Former BK Racing driver Landon Cassill took over the No. 33 for the majority of the season with Dillon and Brian Scott in the 33 as an RCR entry. For the road courses, road course ringer Ron Fellows ran

336-439: A Circle Sport car with Thunder Coal sponsoring its third race. The 33 team created another controversy when Shepherd wrecked Joey Logano , who was running second at the time. Shepherd was, as Logano pointed out, the slowest car on the racetrack. NASCAR defended Shepherd, saying he maintained a minimum running speed in relation to the leaders. Shepherd finished as the last car running in 39th place, 27 laps down. Stremme returned to

448-471: A Cup Series ride due to lack of sponsorship, shared the No. 29 with Holiday Inn sponsoring. Burton won five times including the finale at Homestead and Wimmer put together several strong finishes in his time in the car, and Childress had his second Busch Series owners' championship in which no full-time driver raced for the team. Holiday Inn signed a multi-year extension near the end of 2007, with Scott Wimmer signing on for 23 races, and Burton filling out

560-537: A best finish of 4th at Nashville In 2003, the team set out to win the Busch Series Owner's Championship with a sponsorship from The Hershey Company 's PayDay brand. Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick was tabbed to drive 15 of the 34 races, with development driver Johnny Sauter filling out the rest of the schedule. Harvick ended up competing 19 races, with three wins and Top 10s in all but one race, and RCR became

672-649: A career-best fourth place in the championship standings, losing a numerical tiebreaker for third with former RCR driver Elliott Sadler . For 2015, Scott returned to the No. 2 Camaro, with Mike Hillman Jr. replacing Phil Gould as crew chief. Scott left the team for Richard Petty Motorsports in Cup Series at the end of the season. In 2016, the No. 2 began fielding variety of drivers driving including Austin Dillon and Paul Menard , with sponsorship from Rheem and Menards . Dillon and Menard would run 27 races combined, with

784-490: A harsh tone "Good grief." , and then called it a "rookie mistake" for Hill (who had run for rookie of the year in 2013), though he slightly recanted his harsh tone later in the broadcast. After Scott drove the 33 at Auto Club as an RCR entry, David Stremme took over the Circle Sport entry at Martinsville, Darlington and Richmond, while failing to qualify at Texas. Scott and RCR ran the car again at Talladega (where Scott won

896-467: A last-lap crash. Hill would fail to qualify in his first Cup attempt at Phoenix . However, he did qualify for the following race at Las Vegas , making his series debut there. However, he would crash and finish 42nd. After a poor start to the season and only qualifying for one race (Las Vegas) in his first four races, Hill decided to return to the Nationwide Series with RWR full-time for the rest of

1008-498: A paint scheme resembling the one used by his late father when he first drove for RCR. Earnhardt would go on to win the race, his first victory in 87 Nationwide Series starts, and the first victory in a Nationwide Car of Tomorrow . Prior to the start, Earnhardt Jr. claimed that it would most likely be the last time he would drive the No. 3 car. In 2012, the team moved to full-time status with Childress's grandson Austin Dillon driving, led by crew chief Danny Stockman. The team had

1120-546: A race that year, with the No. 2 car having a best finish of 2nd in the Lilly Diabetes 250 with Menard behind the wheel. On October 5, 2017, it was announced that Matt Tifft will be the driver of the No. 2 car in 2018 and compete for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship. Defending Xfinity Series champion, Tyler Reddick was signed to the team for 2019. He ended up winning his second championship and

1232-550: A race, he stayed consistent enough to make the playoffs. On September 12, crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz was suspended for the Bristol playoff race and fined US$ 10,000 after the car was found to have two loose lug nuts following the Kansas race . On October 11, Creed announced he will not return to RCR in 2024. On October 25, 2023, it was revealed that Jesse Love would drive the No. 2 car full-time in 2024 , replacing Creed. Love started

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1344-438: A race-winning Jeremy Clements . During the 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series season, Hill formed Hill Motorsports , fielding the No. 56 Silverado part-time for himself and brother Tyler Hill ; the number was used by their father Jerry during his career. The team used trucks acquired from MDM Motorsports over the 2018–2019 offseason. The team debuted in the 2019 TruNorth Global 250 at Martinsville Speedway . In

1456-602: A second No. 25 truck in several races, with 6 DNFs. Brandon Knupp , C. E. Falk , B. J. McLeod , Travis Miller , Stephen Leicht , and Ryan Lynch would all run races for the team. Cole Whitt would drive the 27 to a solid 13th-place finish at Talladega . Twenty-year-old Ryan Truex was then signed to drive the 27 (the team's tenth driver of the season) beginning at Martinsville in October. Ryan finished 17th in his truck series debut, then returned two races later at Phoenix , finishing 11th. Veteran driver Jason Leffler would wheel

1568-561: A seventh-place finish at Bristol in August in a car that was fielded in collaboration with Hattori Racing Enterprises . Hill made the starting lineup of the 2020 Daytona 500 after finishing 16th in Duel 2 of the 2020 Bluegreen Vacations Duels . That same weekend, Hill's Xfinity team was assessed a $ 50,000 and 75-point penalty in pre-race inspection due to extra body fillers; without his now-suspended crew chief Sebastian LaForge, Hill finished third in

1680-439: A sponsor or with limited sponsorship from Zaxby's and other companies for the other seven races. Following the season, Shepherd returned full-time to his Faith Motorsports operation with RCR transferring the No. 21 owners points to Shepherd, while RCR shut the 21 team down. In 2011, RCR briefly restarted its Nationwide program, running a few races with development driver Tim George Jr. and sponsorship from Applebee's . In 2012,

1792-409: A sponsorship from AdvoCare for 20 races, and Bass Pro Shops and American Ethanol for the others. Dillon stayed in the championship hunt throughout the season, sweeping both Kentucky races and easily claiming Rookie of the Year. Dillon would finish third in points behind teammate Elliott Sadler and champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Dillon returned in 2013, with a sponsorship from AdvoCare covering

1904-484: A teammate to his sons Jay and Johnny and against his other son Tim . The car appeared again in 2003 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with Johnny Sauter driving and the PayDay sponsorship, as a thank you from Richard Childress for Sauter's help in winning the 2003 owners' championship for the 21 team. In 2004 several drivers including Bobby Labonte , Tony Stewart , Ricky Craven , Brandon Miller and Kevin Harvick ran in

2016-559: Is known for the longstanding use of the number 3 on its primary race car. In addition to its in-house Cup Series teams, RCR has several technical alliances and partnerships with other teams. In the Cup Series, it is allied with Kaulig Racing , while Big Machine Racing and Jordan Anderson Racing have a technical alliance with the team in the Xfinity Series. Beyond this, RCR also has collaborative agreements with Beard Motorsports , although these are not technical alliances. RCR has won

2128-457: The 2012 Daytona 500 for Michael Waltrip , and at Bristol for Tony Raines , failing to qualify at Daytona and withdrawing from Bristol prior to practice. Before the April race at Texas, Falk announced that he was purchasing the No. 33 Sprint Cup Series team from Richard Childress Racing . The team, one Childress had planned to run for only the first five races of the season due to lack of sponsorship,

2240-480: The 2012 Daytona 500 , where Mike Wallace , an experienced and successful plate driver, would drive the No. 37 instead of the rookie Hill to have a better chance of getting the team in the race (which they still did not). Hill would instead be given the chance to drive at Daytona that weekend in the Nationwide race for Ware in their No. 41 car, where he would go on to score his career-best finish of seventh after avoiding

2352-648: The Concord Speedway Winter Championship. He also finished third in the World Karting Association National Championship. Once the 2005 season concluded, he began racing Bandoleros . In 2006, he scored ten wins. One year later, Hill began racing Legend cars and in the Allison Legacy Series . During the season, Hill failed to win a race. However, in 2008, he managed to win four Legend car races and two in

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2464-675: The K&;N Pro Series East while continuing racing Legend cars. In Legend cars, he won seven races, while recording two top-ten finishes in the K&;N Pro Series and one in the ARCA Racing Series. In 2011 , Hill began racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Phoenix International Raceway , having been too young to compete in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway , not yet having passed his eighteenth birthday. During

2576-516: The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series , running the No. 50 for LTD Powersports with driver T. J. Bell on a limited basis starting with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway . Bell competed for Rookie of the Year during the season, but only qualified for five races, four of them with Falk's team, which failed to qualify for nine additional races. The team entered the No. 40 as Hillman Racing at

2688-637: The Nabisco brands Oreo and Nilla . Earnhardt won the Daytona race but finished 36th at the Carquest Auto Parts 300 at Charlotte after being involved in a crash. The No. 3 car returned for one race in 2010 at the Subway Jalapeño 250 at Daytona with a sponsorship from Wrangler , in a joint venture between RCR, JR Motorsports , and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. The car was once again driven by Earnhardt Jr. with

2800-603: The Phil Parsons Racing team. He made his first Xfinity Series (previously Nationwide) start of the season at Texas in the No. 13 for Carl Long 's MBM Motorsports team. Hill would make 6 more starts with Long, but his best finish would come in his first of three starts with JGL Racing , where he finished 11th in the No. 26 Toyota at Daytona in July. In the Truck Series, Hill would run a total of 12 races for Premium Motorsports in

2912-610: The Yellawood 500 where due to a lot of front runners being involved in crashes, Hill ran in the Top 10 towards the end of the race, but Hill ran out of fuel and placed 15th, making it his third Cup series Top 20. For 2021, MBM owner Carl Long announced in a Facebook post on December 19, 2020, that Hill would return to the team in 2021 to again run in the Cup and Xfinity Series, although he would run for Xfinity points this season. He did not end up running

3024-402: The 2008 season. The 2009 season saw a change in the driver lineup for the No. 29 team. Longtime driver Jeff Burton was joined by Cup teammate and 2008 Nationwide Series Champion Clint Bowyer , as well as up and comer Stephen Leicht . Bowyer's championship crew chief Dan Deeringhoff also moved from the No. 2 team over to the 29 for all three drivers. After seeing Burton's name on the window of

3136-460: The 2012 season, also competing for the team in the 24 Hours of Daytona . Just before the start of the season, it was announced that Hill would move up to the Sprint Cup Series , driving the No. 37 Ford for Max Q Motorsports with an alliance with Rick Ware's team, and also competing for Rookie of the Year . Hill had originally been announced to compete in all Cup races that year except for

3248-483: The 2015 season, the team shut down, with parts of the team sold to RCR and Premium Motorsports . Circle Sport owner Joe Falk later became an investor of the Leavine Family Racing team, merging Circle Sport to form Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing . The team returned in 2017 as Circle Sport, merging with The Motorsports Group . In 2011 Joe Falk , former owner of LJ Racing , returned to team ownership in

3360-431: The 27 truck in the season finale at Homestead , with Travis Miller returning in 25 Truck. Leffler would finish 19th, while Miller finished 26th. Jeb Burton and crew chief Mike Hillman, Jr. would move to the 4 truck of Turner Scott Motorsports for 2013. For 2013, Hillman Racing merged its efforts with Team 7 Motosports , who fielded the 70 truck in 2012. Team 7's driver, 47-year-old Pro Cup Series Champion Jeff Agnew

3472-564: The 29. The 29 car returned in 2005 at Bristol Motor Speedway as part of a promotion for Reese's Chocolate and Peanut Butter Lovers Cups. The promotion involved the 29 painted as the Chocolate Lovers car and the 21 painted as the Peanut Butter Lovers car. The plan was for Jeff Burton to drive the 29 while Kevin Harvick would drive the 21. Qualifying was rained out, so the entries were switched to assure that both cars would make

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3584-405: The 33 for Circle Sport with sponsorship from Canadian Tire . Following the introduction of the No. 40 entry at Indianapolis, Tony Raines and Landon Cassill would rotate seats in these cars when Circle Sport fielded both the 33 and 40 entries. The 33 was run as an RCR entry for the first two races of 2014 with Brian Scott and family sponsors Shore Lodge and Whitetail Club. Timmy Hill drove

3696-645: The Allison Legacy Series. In the Allison Legacy Series, he finished fifth in the point standings. During the 2009 season, Hill won ten Allison Legacy Series races and finished first in the point standings. In Legend cars, he won two races in the Winter Heat Series and won the Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway . In the following year, he began racing in the ARCA Racing Series and

3808-555: The Cup Series starting at the Daytona 500 , but failed to qualify. Starting at Dover, Hill would drive for MBM Motorsports in the No. 66 as well at Kentucky and possibly more races. At the Brickyard 400 , Hill avoided numerous incidents to record his and MBM's best finish, a 14th. In 2018, Hill continued to drive for MBM at multiple levels, scoring his and MBM's first Top 10, a seventh at Daytona in July. He continued with MBM in 2019, earning

3920-481: The Cup Series, the team currently fields three Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 teams: the No. 3 full-time for Austin Dillon , the No. 8 full-time for Kyle Busch . In the Xfinity Series, the team currently fields three Chevrolet Camaro teams: the No. 2 full-time for Jesse Love , the No. 21 full-time for Austin Hill . RCR has had at least one car successfully qualify for every Cup race since 1972 , the longest such active streak, and

4032-448: The Dover race as well, but ran 37th, one spot short of qualifying on speed, and once again missed the race. Falk and Hillman partnered to field a No. 40 Aaron's Toyota for Michael Waltrip at the 2012 Daytona 500, using equipment from Michael Waltrip Racing . However the team failed to qualify. The No. 40 team also entered Bristol with Tony Raines , but withdrew. Hillman and Falk then bought

4144-561: The Idaho-based Shore Lodge and Whitetail Club , owned by his father. The No. 2 team also switched back to RCR-style angled number logos from KHI-style logos. Scott had markedly improved consistency from his crash-marred seasons with Gibbs, with three Top 5s and 13 Top 10s en route to a seventh-place points finish. Scott's best run by far was at Richmond in September, where he led won the pole and led 229 laps. before being passed on

4256-468: The NASCAR Cup Series championship six times, all with driver Dale Earnhardt , as well as the Daytona 500 three times; Earnhardt in 1998 , Kevin Harvick in 2007 , and Austin Dillon in 2018 . The team has also fielded cars for notables such as Jeff Burton , Mike Skinner , Ricky Rudd , Neil Bonnett , Ryan Newman , and Clint Bowyer . RCR has fielded this entry in the Nationwide Series since

4368-492: The Nationwide Series, where he won Rookie of the Year honors . He is the son of former NASCAR driver Jerry Hill and brother of current NASCAR driver Tyler Hill , who shared driving duties in 2023 and co-owns the No. 56 truck with Timmy. Hill began his racing career in 2005 by karting at the age of 12. During his first season, he recorded more than 80 victories, as well as winning two World Karting Association championships, two King George Speedway championships, and

4480-471: The No. 2. Kenny Wallace drove for the team in a one-race deal at Gateway International Raceway , with a sponsorship from sandwich chain Jimmy John's . In 2008, Bowyer returned full-time, scoring 18 Top 10s in the first 21 races including a win at Bristol . Bowyer would go on to win the 2008 Nationwide Series title. In 2009, the No. 2 team ran a partial schedule with Sean Caisse and Austin Dillon sharing

4592-465: The No. 21 car after a practice crash at Phoenix, which had proceeded an arrest for possession of alcohol as a minor. RCR said the move was for precautionary reasons, but Townley never returned to the team and would return to his former team RAB Racing . Clint Bowyer took over driving duties at Phoenix, and Scott Riggs drove at Nashville and Kentucky in June. Zaxby's, meanwhile, scaled back to sponsoring 21 of

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4704-456: The No. 21 ran at Charlotte and Homestead with Joey Coulter . The car returned in 2013 with Dakoda Armstrong , Brendan Gaughan , and Kevin Harvick driving, taking a best finish of fifth at Indianapolis. The No. 21 was revived for Daniel Hemric who drove full-time in 2017 and 2018. Despite being a consistent front runner, Hemric never won a race before moving up to the Cup series for the 2019 season. RCR cut back to one full-time team with

4816-490: The No. 21 running a limited schedule with Kaz Grala and Joe Graf Jr. In 2020, the No. 21 was returned to full-time competition after inheriting the No. 2 owner points. This car was shared by Myatt Snider , Anthony Alfredo , Kaz Grala , and Earl Bamber . On October 29, 2021, it was announced that RCR would field two full-time cars again in 2022, with their second car driven by Austin Hill . On January 21, 2022, RCR revealed on their website that Hill's car number would be

4928-469: The No. 21. Hill began the season with a win at Daytona . He also won at Atlanta on his way to the playoffs. Hill was eliminated following the Round of 8 after finishing ninth at Martinsville as a result of a collision with Snider. Following the race, Hill punched Snider in the face on pit road. At the end of the season, he finished sixth in the points standings and won the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of

5040-403: The No. 3 car part time in 2023 with sponsorship coming from Ferris. The No. 21 debuted in 2000, with Rockwell Automation as the sponsor and Childress' son-in-law Mike Dillon as the driver. Dillon posted two Top 10 finishes and finished 23rd in points that year. Six races into 2001, Dillon was injured at Bristol Motor Speedway and it was announced at the time he would be out for the rest of

5152-428: The No. 3 for 2014 with sponsorships from Yuengling , Bass Pro Shops , and WESCO . Dillon earned a pole in the third race of the season at Las Vegas , and scored his first career victory at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway after leading 24 laps, one of only three rookies to win a race in 2014. Dillon earned three poles, seven Top 5 finishes, and 24 Top 10 en route to a fifth-place points finish, losing Rookie of

5264-472: The No. 3 in 2018. The No. 3 car returned for one race in 2022. The car was driven by Jeffrey Earnhardt . It was the first time that Earnhardt drove the No. 3, the number made famous by his grandfather Dale when he drove for RCR in the Cup Series, in NASCAR and the first time he drove for RCR in NASCAR. He finished the race in a career-best second place. On January 25, 2023, RCR announced Ty Dillon will drive

5376-513: The No. 33 at Indianapolis with Thunder Coal, but failed to qualify. After Kennedy's previously announced starts at Pocono and Watkins Glen, the team fielded him for a fifth time at Michigan. Stremme then ran Bristol. Ty Dillon drove an RCR entry at Atlanta in August. Dillon had tested a car numbered 33 for Furniture Row Racing at Texas in March. At Richmond, the No. 33 was renumbered No. 90 to honor Junie Donlavey , with Stremme driving. The one-off

5488-425: The No. 33 at the first three races of the season, with Ty Dillon at Daytona and Brian Scott at Atlanta and Las Vegas. However Scott, scheduled to run at Atlanta for Circle Sport, would give up his ride to HScott Motorsports after Michael Annett failed to qualify his normal HScott ride (under NASCAR rules, Joe Falk was credited with the owner's points). Road racer Alex Kennedy returned to the team at Phoenix, became

5600-494: The No. 33 its first top ten finish (sixth, tying a career-best mark for Kvapil as well) under the Circle Sport banner on the same day Cassill piloted the No. 40 to the overall team's first top five. Kvapil would run Martinsville as well, with Hill returning again for Texas, in the final race of 2014 for the No. 33 under the Circle Sport banner. RCR returned for the final two races of the season with Ty Dillon at Phoenix and Brian Scott at Homestead. RCR drivers were scheduled to be in

5712-449: The No. 40 in 2015. On February 12, businessman Gordon Smith joined the team as co-owner, and the No. 40 team was rebranded as Hillman Smith Motorsports. The team got off to a bad start, becoming the first team to finish last in the first two races after back-to-back engine failures. Cassill best finish was 13th at Daytona. Cassill left the team for Front Row Motorsports following the season. In January 2016, Premium Motorsports purchased

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5824-512: The No. 40 team, taking engines, cars, and most of the employees from the No. 40 car, including Mike Hillman. Falk and Hillman, meanwhile, ended their partnership. Though the No. 40 did not receive a charter for the 2016 season, the team attempted the Daytona 500 with Reed Sorenson , failing to qualify. After the DNQ, the team shut down later that week and auctioned their equipment to Premium Motorsports . Before closing their doors in July 2016, Hillman and

5936-424: The No. 49 Chevy Silverado. Nine races resulted in top 20 finishes with a best finish of 15th at Dover and Kentucky. Hill's 2015 Cup debut came in the July race at Loudon. His best finish came at Pocono, where he finished 36th. Hill would go on to run 11 more races for Premium Motorsports. Hill's 2016 season started in the season-opening Truck race at Daytona, driving the No. 49 for Premium. After running up front in

6048-472: The Rookie of the Year standings, behind full-time drivers Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Danica Patrick . Hill would drive the No. 33 Chevy part-time for Circle Sport in 2014 after starting the year without a ride after he was replaced in the No. 32 by Travis Kvapil that year. He was involved in a controversy at Bristol when, while running in last place, Hill failed to slow his car under caution and crashed into

6160-565: The Texas race being his 674th. Hill made the most NASCAR national series (Cup, Xfinity, and Truck) starts of any driver in 2020 , with a total of 75 races (all 36 in Cup, 29 of 33 in Xfinity, and 10 of 23 in Truck), ranking third all-time behind Kyle Busch (who accomplished this four years) and 2018 and 2019 holder Ross Chastain . Hill got two Top 20's in 2020 (19th at Bristol). The second one came at

6272-400: The Top 10 for most of the race, Hill was spun out while running in the Top 5 on the last lap, relegating him to 14th. As of September, Hill had run 11 Xfinity races with a best finish of 22nd at Loudon in the No. 13 for MBM. Hill announced in August that he would be running the remainder of the 2016 Xfinity Series season for MBM. In 2017, Hill returned to Rick Ware Racing to drive the No. 51 in

6384-428: The Year honors. Hill began the 2023 season by winning his second straight season opener at Daytona . He also scored wins at Las Vegas , Atlanta , and Pocono . In 2024 , Hill made history by winning his third straight season opener at Daytona . In the next round at Atlanta , his team used fuel strategy to help him take his second win in a row. At Charlotte , Hill and Cole Custer were trading paint on

6496-470: The Year honors to champion Chase Elliott . He followed it up with a career-best 3rd place in points for 2015 and 5th place in 2016 despite not winning a race either year. In 2017, Ty Dillon would run 27 of the 33 races alongside his rookie Cup Series campaign. Scott Lagasse Jr. and Brian Scott would round out the No. 3's schedule. In 2018, Ty would share the No. 3 with his brother Austin along with Jeb Burton and Shane Lee . Brendan Gaughan also drove

6608-578: The broadcast. He also practiced and qualified Landon Cassill 's No. 40 Circle Sport car at Sonoma when Cassill was in Road America for the Nationwide race that day. Hill would also drive in two races each for the Identity Ventures Racing and Xxxtreme Motorsports teams. IVR was a team with a limited alliance with Michael Waltrip Racing . At Pocono in June, he drove the No. 66 Toyota and would finish 36th. At New Hampshire in July, he drove

6720-424: The car during a photoshoot (Burton being the longest-tenured in the 29), the three drivers entered into a competition between each other: whoever could score the most wins in the 17 races between February and July would have their name placed on the car for the remainder of the season, including the other drivers' appearances. Burton was set to drive 7 events in the first half of the season, Bowyer in 6 events including

6832-418: The car full-time, winning one race and posting a third-place finish in points. He followed up that performance with another win and a drop to fourth in points the following year. Hornaday was not re-signed for 2005. In 2005, Clint Bowyer took the wheel, in a program headed up by veteran crew chief Gil Martin , winning at Nashville Speedway and Memphis Motorsports Park to finish second in points. Bowyer

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6944-463: The car over the remainder of the season, including Raines, Jeff Green , Stephen Leicht , Austin Dillon , Hermie and Elliott Sadler , and C. E. Falk . However, in late May it was announced that Leicht would be competing for the team for the majority of the remainder of the season, attempting to win Rookie of the Year honors, except for the June race at Michigan , where Childress ran the No. 33 for Austin Dillon . Cole Whitt also ran some races in

7056-552: The car with MENARDS sponsorship. Timmy Hill Timothy Grant Hill (born February 25, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series , driving the No. 56 Toyota Tundra for his team, Hill Motorsports , and part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series , driving the No. 66 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for MBM Motorsports . Hill

7168-474: The entire Busch Series schedule in three different cars. Burton won at Atlanta, and Harvick won three more races, pulling out to an over 700-point lead in the points standings with five races to go in the 2006 season. AutoZone replaced the sponsorship with Coast Guard in 2007, and Harvick drove along with development driver Timothy Peters , until Peters was replaced by multiple dirt late model series champion Tim McCreadie . Beginning in 2008, Bobby Labonte

7280-407: The entire season. Despite not going to victory lane, the No. 3 team scored five consecutive poles midway through the season and seven total on the year. Dillon managed to stay consistent enough to beat Sam Hornish Jr. for the championship, becoming the first team to win a championship without a victory. Austin would move up to the Cup Series in 2014. For 2014, younger brother Ty Dillon took over

7392-748: The fall North Carolina Speedway race in 1999, moving the entire team from the Craftsman Truck Series. Kevin Harvick was the first driver of the No. 2 AC Delco -sponsored Chevy, winning three races and winning Rookie of the Year along with a third-place points finish, despite missing the spring race at North Carolina Speedway . He went on to win the championship in the Busch Series in 2001 while running full-time in Winston Cup as well. In 2002, rookie driver Johnny Sauter won at Chicagoland and finished 14th in points. The next year, Ron Hornaday Jr. drove

7504-491: The field (Harvick was a past champion and the No. 29 was not locked in). Burton drove the 21 while Harvick drove the 29. Harvick won the race in this car with Burton finishing second in the 21. Later in the season, Mayflower Transit came on to sponsor Burton after a seven-year relationship with him. On March 17, 2006, Holiday Inn announced its sponsorship of the 29 for ten races with Burton returning as its driver. The new car made its 2006 debut at Richmond. Burton finished in

7616-470: The first team to win an owner's points title with two different drivers. Harvick would serve as the team's anchor driver there afterwards, with Clint Bowyer doing the co-driving honors in 2004 and Brandon Miller in 2005 and sponsorships from Reese's Peanut Butter Cups . Jeff Burton drove the car at Bristol in 2005. In 2006, Harvick and Burton split the driving duties in the car with sponsorship from United States Coast Guard , as Harvick attempted to run

7728-418: The former winning at Auto Club and the fall Bristol race. Sam Hornish Jr. , Ben Kennedy , Michael McDowell , and Regan Smith would also round out the No. 2 lineup. Hornish would win the spring Iowa race, while McDowell would take his first NASCAR victory at Road America. The 2 team would finish 6th in owners points. For 2017, Dillon and Menard continued to run the No. 2 Camaro. Neither Dillon nor Menard won

7840-416: The frontstretch for fifth place when contact blew a right front tire on Hill's car. He crashed in turn 1 and collected Custer. Hill, showing his displeasure for how he was raced, locked bumpers with Custer's car and left-reared Custer’s damaged car on the backstretch, which sent him into the inside wall. As a result, Hill was fined US$ 25,000 and docked 25 points. Later in the year, Hill won his third race of

7952-520: The full Cup schedule, only attempting 14 of the 36 races. His Cup schedule included the 2021 Daytona 500 in the No. 66, which was a Ford in that race for the second straight year. He did not end up making the 500 in 2021 or 2022. On August 28, 2022, during the Wawa 250 , Hill achieved his and MBM's best finish in an Xfinity race by finishing second in that race driving the No. 13 Chevrolet with sponsorship from Coble Enterprises and VSI Racing, finishing behind

8064-406: The next two races for Circle Sport. Hill was involved in a controversial wreck at Bristol immediately following an accident. Hill was running in last place, when Matt Kenseth (in second place at the time), checked up for a wreck in front of him. Hill did not see the caution lights and did not cut his speed, smashing into Kenseth's back bumper at high speed. Fox analyst Darrell Waltrip first stated in

8176-538: The only driver to win in the No. 33, winning at Richmond and Texas. The No. 33 car returned in 2013 mainly driven by Harvick and Ty Dillon . Tony Stewart would take the No. 33 team to victory lane at the season opener at Daytona, which was marred by a last lap incident. The No. 33 team would take its second and last win of the season with Harvick at Atlanta. Dakoda Armstrong ran Fontana with sponsorship from WinField . Paul Menard , Max Papis , Truck series driver Matt Crafton , and Ryan Gifford all took turns driving

8288-520: The opener at Daytona International Speedway , and Leicht at four standalone events. The drivers did not have as much success as anticipated; Bowyer scored the team's only two wins (the 2nd races at both Daytona and Dover), Burton had 10 top 10s but only two top 5s, and Leicht had 6 top 10s in nine total starts with a best finish of 6th (twice). Burton also made his 300th career Nationwide Series start at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. After 2009, RCR shut down

8400-400: The partners of Hillman Racing sued Joe Falk and Circle Sport for control of the #33's charter and all profits & benefits gained from the charter. The suit was settled on June 30 according to reporter Bob Pockrass on Twitter. Hillman Racing closed their doors in July 2016, with Mike Hillman Sr. taking a role as crew chief for the #46 team . The No. 33 operated until the end of 2017. It

8512-417: The points of RCR's No. 33 car before the Texas race, and used that number instead, fielding Chevrolets. The No. 40 was not seen again until July 2013 at Indianapolis, Circle Sport, when the team began fielding the No. 40 as a second car. This move allowed Landon Cassill and Circle Sport to compete in races in which RCR drivers Austin Dillon and Brian Scott were scheduled to run the No. 33 with RCR . Later,

8624-582: The pole award) and Charlotte, with Hill returning to Circle Sport in between at Kansas. Stremme ran at Dover, Michigan and Kentucky, while Alex Kennedy ran at both Pocono races and the road courses, with more races possible. Bobby Labonte ran an RCR car under the Circle Sport banner at Daytona in July, the same one that sat on the Talladega pole with Scott. At the Camping World RV Sales 301 at Loudon in July, 72-year-old veteran Morgan Shepherd ran

8736-399: The primary driver of the No. 33 when under Circle Sport control and declaring for Rookie of the Year. However, Derek White drove the July race at New Hampshire, bringing sponsorship from Braille Battery and Grafoid. After Watkins Glen in August, Kennedy was replaced as Circle Sport's primary No. 33 driver with a series of drivers, including Mike Bliss and B. J. McLeod . Kennedy returned to

8848-504: The race, his highest career finish. When a portion of the 2020 season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic , NASCAR drivers, including Hill, competed in the eNASCAR Pro Invitational Series on iRacing . At the second race that was held, the O'Reilly Auto Parts 125 on March 29, Hill scored a win in his virtual No. 66 MBM car at the virtual Texas Motor Speedway . A veteran iRacer, Hill had competed in 1,677 events and won 673 of them, with

8960-530: The race. The No. 39 made its next attempt at the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway , also with Kvapil behind the wheel. Again, the team withdrew by Wednesday before the race. The week after at the Coca-Cola 600 , the No. 39 was put on the initial entry list, and attempted the race. However, they posted the 42nd-fastest speed and, with no owner points to fall back on, failed to qualify. The team attempted

9072-402: The rear of the stopped car of Matt Kenseth , who was running in second place at the time. Hill would later state that his spotter did not tell him the caution flag was out, and he did not see the safety lights around the track turn on. NASCAR on Fox analyst Darrell Waltrip famously called out Hill for a "rookie mistake" at the moment of the incident, though he recanted his harsh tone late in

9184-399: The rest. The new deal also brought on branding from Holiday Inn Express, which included commercials featuring Burton. Burton had two poles, but also had two DNFs and went winless in 13 starts. Wimmer, meanwhile had a pole at Bristol and 13 top 10s. This included a win at Nashville , where he went by teammate Clint Bowyer with 21 laps to go to take the victory. Wimmer left the team following

9296-455: The restart by Brad Keselowski with 11 laps to go, finishing second. Scott's team protested the restart-in-question, and after the race stated "We deserved to win that race." In the spring Richmond race, Scott and Nelson Piquet Jr. got into altercations on the cool-down lap and on pit road following several on-track incidents that carried over from prior races. During the physical altercation, which got both teams' crew members involved, Piquet

9408-571: The ride. The team shut down after 2009. In late 2011, Kevin Harvick sold off his KHI organization , with the Nationwide Series team and equipment going to Childress' stable. KHI's 2 car, driver Elliott Sadler , and sponsor OneMain Financial moved over to RCR. Sadler continued on the success from KHI, finishing second in the 2012 drivers championship for the second year in a row to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Even though Sadler scored four wins, it

9520-552: The season at Atlanta . During the playoffs, he won at Homestead to make the Championship 4. The 29 car first appeared in 2002, with Kevin Harvick (driver of the 29 Cup Series car) running four races with sponsorship from GM Goodwrench, Action Racing Collectibles, Sonic , and Sylvania . Jim Sauter also made his final career start at the Milwaukee Mile with Rockwell Automation and Nilfisk-Advance sponsorship, racing as

9632-513: The season with a 12th-place finish at the Daytona 500 . He then failed to qualify for the next two races, but made every race after for the rest of the year, which included his and the team's first top five (and top ten) finish, a fourth at the GEICO 500 at Talladega . In that same race, teammate Kvapil finished 6th in the 33. Carsforsale.com, Newtown Building Supplies , and CRC Brakleen sponsored several races. Cassill returned for his third season in

9744-572: The season with a 20th place finish at Daytona . On April 20, he scored his first career win at Talladega . The No. 3 car was initially run in the then- Busch Series by Dale Earnhardt, Inc. beginning in 1989, winning two back-to-back championships with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 1998 and 1999. The No. 3 made its debut as part of the RCR stable in 2002 at the EAS/GNC Live Well 300 at Daytona , driven twice that year by Earnhardt Jr. with sponsorships from

9856-557: The season's 35 races. After the July Daytona race, Morgan Shepherd stepped behind the wheel for several weeks, taking a break for Bristol to handle his car for Faith Motorsports , which didn't make the field. RCR and Shepherd formed Shepherd Racing Ventures on August 31 to keep the No. 21 running the rest of the year. Bowyer drove with the Zaxby's sponsorship at Atlanta , Richmond , Charlotte , and Texas while Shepherd drove either without

9968-448: The season, he had a best finish of 11th at Road America and finished 17th in the point standings, winning the Rookie of the Year award . After a close battle with Blake Koch and Ryan Truex , Hill edged Koch by a single point at Homestead-Miami Speedway to take Rookie of the Year honors. He competed in 33 of the 34 events scheduled for the season, and scored Top 20 finishes in five. Hill returned to Rick Ware Racing in NASCAR for

10080-529: The season. Hill would still compete in a few Cup races later in the season, with three starts in the FAS Lane Racing No. 32 and one start at Talladega in the NEMCO Motorsports No. 97. For 2013, Hill returned to the No. 32 team for a part-time schedule of 19 races with OXY Water and U. S. Chrome sponsorship, and declared for Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year honors (again) He would finish third in

10192-433: The season. Since then, he has taken on other roles with the team. His replacement was Mike Skinner but after his injury, Jeff Purvis briefly took over, winning at Pikes Peak, before Skinner returned. After Skinner's release, Robby Gordon had the driving duties for the balance of the season. The next year, Jeff Green and Jay Sauter drove the car. With Green winning twice at Bristol and Charlotte and Sauter having

10304-654: The second Martinsville race of the year, the NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 , Hill escaped multiple wrecks to finish fifth. Hill became married in January 2018. His younger brother Tyler races part-time in the ARCA Racing Series , Xfinity, and Truck Series. He has two children named Hudson and Hoover. ( key ) ( Bold  – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics  – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ) Season still in progress Ineligible for series points Hill started

10416-591: The team after Holiday Inn pulled its sponsorship. In 2012, the No. 33 car was transferred to RCR to run for the owner's championship. 2011 champion Tony Stewart drove the No. 33 with sponsorship from Nabisco's Oreo and Ritz brands at the season opener in Daytona . Kevin Harvick ran 13 races with South Point, Pinnacle Foods , Hunt Brothers Pizza and AdvancePierre Foods sponsoring, Brendan Gaughan drove for 10 races with South Point sponsoring, Menard ran for 7 races, and Max Papis drove at Road America , both with sponsorship from Menards and Rheem . Harvick would be

10528-457: The team at Dover. After the season, Falk joined Leavine Family Racing 's ownership group after splitting with Hillman, retaining control of the charter granted for the #33 and using it on Leavine's #95 for the season. In 2017, Circle Sport returned after merging with The Motorsports Group, with Jeffrey Earnhardt driving the No. 33. In 2018, the team planned to run a limited schedule with Joey Gase after Falk partnered with Go FAS Racing , but

10640-434: The team began entering the No. 40 during races when it also entered the No. 33. Tony Raines and Cassill rotated seats in each entry. Cassill's best finish of the year was 22nd at the spring Talladega race, while the best finish for Raines was 29th at the fall Kansas race. For 2014, Cassill was named the primary driver of the team's number 40 car, which entered full-time competition as the team's primary entry. Cassill began

10752-577: The team did not make any attempts in the season. There were talks of Austin Theriault running for this team in at least Loudon in 2019 in partnership with GFR, but plans ultimately fell through. The No. 39 was placed on the entry list at Texas in April 2015, with Travis Kvapil driving. The car is part of the Hillman Racing -Gordon Smith stable. However, the team opted to withdraw on the Wednesday before

10864-569: The team in ARCA. Richard Childress Racing Xfinity Series : 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race ( Phoenix ) Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series . The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina , and is owned and operated by Richard Childress . In

10976-618: The team shut down because Ranier/Hillman and Miller part ways. Miller renamed the team to MDM Motorsports . Austin Dillon , Landon Cassill , Ryan Preece , Kyle Benjamin , Travis Miller , Brian Wong , Corey LaJoie and Spencer Davis all drove for the team in K&N. The team also fielded two part-time entries (the No. 8 and No. 28) in ARCA Racing Series ' 2016 season, the team had 1 win with Brandon Jones at Michigan. The team also had 1 pole-position with Kyle Benjamin at Iowa. Alongside Jones and Benjamin, Harrison Burton , Travis Miller , Matt Tifft and Michael Self also drove for

11088-505: The team's other car, the No. 87, to a 41st-place finish. In his two races in Xxxtreme's No. 44, Hill finished 43rd (at Dover) and 42nd (at Martinsville in October). In 2015, Hill returned to Identity Ventures, now renamed Premium Motorsports , where he would drive part-time in both the No. 62 in the Cup Series and the No. 94 in the Truck Series and later the No. 98 in Cup as well after they bought

11200-420: The top ten seven out of the ten times the car raced in 2006, including a win at Dover in June. Burton started 36th after qualifying was rained out, and passed Kurt Busch with 18 laps to go. In 2007 , the No. 29 went full-time and, like the No. 21 several years before, Childress set out to win the owners' championship for a second time without a full-time driver. Burton and Scott Wimmer , who had just lost

11312-434: The truck for select races beginning with his series debut at Martinsville Speedway in March. The new team would use the equipment from Richard Childress Racing that took Austin Dillon to a series championship in 2011. Ward drove the truck to an 8th-place finish in his only start. Jeb would then run the next 5 races, finishing 13th in his debut, 11th at Rockingham , and a strong 8th at Charlotte . The team also would enter

11424-534: Was announced in January 2012 that former Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton would run the Daytona Camping World Truck Series race for Hillman Racing's No. 27 Chevrolet Silverado , after being out of competition for 5 years. Burton would be joined by State Water Heaters, which had sponsored him in the Sprint Cup Series with Morgan-McClure Motorsports . Ward's 19-year-old son Jeb Burton (not approved to run at Superspeedways) would then take over

11536-403: Was announced in September that he turned down an extension offered by Childress to continue in the second tier series; he and sponsor OneMain Financial moved to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2013, which included a start in the Cup Series. For 2013, former JGR driver Brian Scott took the wheel of the No. 2 under a multi-year contract (essentially swapping rides with Sadler). He brought sponsorship from

11648-437: Was back in the No. 2 car in 2006 with crew chief Dan Deeringhoff, while Martin moved up to run the No. 07 Jack Daniels-sponsored Cup car for Bowyer's rookie season. Bowyer would finish 3rd in points with a win a Dover . 2006 was the final year for longtime sponsor AC Delco (sister company GM Goodwrench also withdrew from the Cup Series after 2006); for 2007, BB&T signed on as the sponsor, with Bowyer running 21 races in

11760-522: Was born in Port Tobacco, Maryland , and began racing go-karts at the age of 12. In karting, he won two World Karting Association championships, two King George Speedway track championships, and the Concord Speedway Winter Championship. Afterward, Hill raced in Legend cars , the Allison Legacy Series , the K&N Pro Series East , and the ARCA Racing Series . In 2011, Hill moved to Rick Ware Racing in

11872-464: Was painted in the style of Donlavey's Truxmore-sponsored cars and the decklid contained the names of the 67 drivers who raced for Donlavey . Stremme was originally on the entry list at Chicagoland, but was replaced at the last minute by Travis Kvapil . Stremme ran New Hampshire and Dover, after which Hill returned for the second Kansas race and Charlotte. Stremme was again placed on the entry list at Talladega before being replaced by Kvapil, who delivered

11984-579: Was shown kicking Scott in the groin, which Scott called "just a chicken move." Scott finished 20th in the race. Scott returned RCR in 2014, which included several starts in the No. 33 Cup car. Scott's performance continued to improve, winning another Richmond pole (in the Spring race), poles at both Chicagoland races, and was in contention to win several races. Scott ended the year with career bests in Top 5 finishes (six), Top 10s (23), and average start and finish (6.5 and 9.5 respectively). He would come away with

12096-649: Was signed to drive for the team beginning at Daytona in February. In May, the team announced a partnership with the West Virginia Coal Association and Friends of Coal beginning at Charlotte . The team entered 17 races (withdrawing from two) and scored 11 top 25 finishes, with a best finish of 15th at Kentucky . In 2015, Hillman Racing partner with Ranier Racing with MDM to field two cars (No. 40 and No. 41) in both K&N Pro Series East and K&N Pro Series West . The team returned for 2016. In 2017,

12208-469: Was suspended for four races after the car lost a ballast during the 2022 Call 811 Before You Dig 250 at Martinsville Speedway . At the September Darlington race , Creed scored a career-best second place after engaging in a three-car battle with race winner Noah Gragson and Kyle Larson on the closing laps. Creed started the 2023 season with a 34th place DNF at Daytona . Despite not winning

12320-456: Was tapped to drive the 21 car for 15 races of the season. In May 2008, the team shut down due to financial problems but returned at the Emerson Radio 250 to debut Austin Dillon , son of former driver Mike Dillon and grandson to Richard Childress. In 2010, RCR hired John Wes Townley as the driver of car No. 21, with family-owned Zaxby's as the sponsor. On April 9, Townley was pulled from

12432-568: Was the first championship that was won back-to-back while driving for different teams (2018 was in JR Motorsports). On December 10, 2020, it was announced that Myatt Snider will drive the No. 2 car full-time. Snider picked up his first career win in the Contender Boats 250 . On September 14, 2021, it was announced that Sheldon Creed will drive the No. 2 car full-time in 2022 replacing Snider. On April 12, 2022, crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz

12544-410: Was transferred to Falk's ownership after the sixth race at Martinsville Speedway . Falk and Mike Hillman formed Circle Sport to field the 33 team. The 33 team ran Martinsville with Hermie Sadler as a collaboration between Circle Sport and RCR. The team's first race under full Circle Sport control was at Texas, where Tony Raines drove an unsponsored Chevrolet. Falk planned to run a number of drivers in

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