Phil Parsons Racing
Phil Parsons Racing, formerly named MSRP Motorsports, Prism Motorsports, and later HP Racing, was a NASCAR team that competed in the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series. It was owned by former NASCAR driver Phil Parsons, and most recently fielded the No. 98 Ford for Josh Wise.
The team was formerly owned by Phil's wife Marcia as well as Randy and Stacey Humphrey. For the first few years of its Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup operations, the team was infamous for being a start and park organization, meaning that the team qualified a car for races, but eventually parked it after just a few laps to avoid the costs of running a full race, even though the car is perfectly able to continue on. The bad publicity generated by the practice led Phil Parsons to refuse to answer questions about MSRP in 2008, but subsequently Parsons justified the practice by saying that "we furnished a living for some families, so there was some good that came out of it." In 2009, MSRP continued with two Nationwide Series teams and finally finished a race, while it also added a Sprint Cup team under the Prism Motorsports name that qualified for 30 races but only finished two. After the season, the entire team became known as Prism Motorsports.
In 2010, the team had two Sprint Cup teams, No. 55 and No. 66, led by drivers Michael McDowell and Dave Blaney, which fielded Toyota Camrys under a technical alliance with MWR. Three drivers rotated among the two Nationwide Series cars in 2010: Danny O'Quinn Jr., David Gilliland, and Chase Miller.
Car No. 55 crew chief Zach McGowan tweeted on November 18 that the team would be shutting down after the 2010 season-ending race at Homestead, but this was denied by team owner Randy Humphrey. No information is available regarding PRISM's Nationwide teams. The team returned in 2011 as HP Racing with McDowell behind the wheel of the No. 66 Toyota with Gene Nead as crew chief. Unlike 2009, the team intended to run a limited schedule, running only a few full races but ended up running the full schedule. The team ran with Ford for 2012 and 2013 before switching to Chevrolet for the 2014 season.
The team and driver Josh Wise gained popularity in 2014 after an internet campaign with Dogecoin and Reddit, leading the 98 to be voted into the 2014 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.
Sprint Cup Series
Car No. 55 history
For 2010, Prism Motorsports added a second car provided by MWR, the No. 55, driven by former MWR Sprint Cup driver Michael McDowell. The car number is also owned by MWR and had previously been used by Michael Waltrip from 2007 to 2009. At the start of the season, Prism had no sponsorship for this car. McDowell succeeded in qualifying the No. 55 into the starting field for the 2010 Daytona 500. After qualifying, McDowell said that this was the "biggest race of the season" for Prism, as the guaranteed winnings would enable the team to stay on the track for several weeks. McDowell qualified 29th, picked up sponsorship from South Carolina-based Firefly Vodka, and finished 33rd after a drive shaft issue. Randy Humphrey is listed as the official owner of the No. 55 entry.Michael Waltrip drove the No. 55 at Talladega with Aaron's sponsorship to a poor finish after getting caught up in a wreck, but was running up front and was at one point leading the race. Mike Bliss drove the car after McDowell left the team. Waltrip would later return, with sponsor Aaron's to the No. 55 at the fall Talladega race.
The No. 55 car did not enter the fall Texas race. It is unknown why the car was not entered, but it is speculated to be because of the large number of cars attempting to qualify.
Car No. 98 history
2009–2010: Prism Motorsports
The No. 98 car was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team that debuted in 2009 as the No. 66 under a technical alliance with MWR, which supplied the team's Toyota Camry, engines and technical support. Terry Labonte ran the No. 66 for the 2009 Daytona 500, where he finished 24th. Dave Blaney ran the rest of the season, except for the Aarons 499 at Talladega as he was away with his family. Michael McDowell attempted to qualify for the event but failed to do so. According to Blaney, Prism had anticipated attempting to run all of the laps in "six or eight" Sprint Cup races in which the team was able to secure full sponsorship, which included Window World for the Daytona 500 and Aaron's for the Coca-Cola 600. The Denny Hamlin Foundation was on the car at Lowes Motor Speedway, Talladega and Texas, with Blaney only making the race at Talladega. Ultimately, the team qualified for 31 of the 36 Sprint Cup races in the 2009 season – 30 by Blaney and 1 by Labonte—but only ran two complete races. For the remainder of 2009, the No. 66 car was a start and park team, much like their Nationwide Series counterparts.Blaney returned to the No. 66 in 2010. Again, Prism struggled with sponsorship, as it was unable to find a sponsor for the team for even the 2010 Daytona 500, and Blaney subsequently failed to qualify for it. Blaney made the team's first race of the year in the 2010 Auto Club 500, qualifying fifth, leading four laps before finishing 41st. The 66 was later impounded by NASCAR. The team was able to rebound from the impound, and ran the whole entire race, finishing 29th at the Shelby American. On August 13, Scott Riggs replaced Blaney in the No. 66 at Michigan International Speedway, but failed to qualify for the event. Riggs made his first start at Bristol Motor Speedway where the team qualified 32nd.
While the 66 team frequently start-and-parked, it occasionally showed competitive speed. Blaney qualified 8th, 4th, and 3rd at the 2009 Food City 500, the 2009 Sharpie 500, and the 2010 Food City 500, respectively, as well as a 5th place start spot at the 2009 Auto Club 500, though the team finished 41st or worst in all four races.
2011: HP Racing
For 2011, McDowell returned to the team, now renamed HP Racing. The team missed the 2011 Daytona 500, but started and parked the next three races. HP ran its first full race at Martinsville, where the team finished 32nd after a late wreck. KLOVE sponsored the team at Richmond and Darlington. Todd Bodine drove at both Pocono and Michigan in August, while Josh Wise took over the 66 at Texas while McDowell filled in for Kyle Busch, who was suspended for intentionally wrecking another driver during the Truck Series race.2012–2015: PPR with Mike Curb
For 2012, McDowell returned to the team, renamed Phil Parsons Racing. The team also merged with Whitney Motorsports and partnered with entertainment icon Mike Curb. The team ran Fords with Roush Yates Engines and used the number 98 to honor the memory of Benny Parsons. Phil Parsons Racing planned to run the first 5 races in their entirety with the hope of cracking the top 35. The 98 raced their way into the Daytona 500, with sponsorship from Curb Records and Christian radio station KLOVE. McDowell finished 30th after starting 11th in the 2012 Daytona 500. McDowell ran all but six races during the season, failing to qualify for three of them.The team opened the 2013 season with a ninth-place finish at the Daytona 500, the first top ten finish for the team and for McDowell. Phil Parsons Racing withdrew from Phoenix after the team could not prepare the Generation 6 cars in time. They would later skip the road courses as well. Mike Curb is listed as the owner of the 98. McDowell left after the 2013 season and Josh Wise took over as the team switched to Chevrolet for all but the superspeedway events, where they used Fords. In March 2014, Reddit users started a fundraiser to raise Dogecoin to sponsor the No. 98 at the Aaron's 499. On March 25, Reddit user Reddit_Racing announced that the fundraiser was a success, having met their $50,000 goal by accumulating 67 million Dogecoin. Florida gubernatorial candidate and Democrat Charlie Crist was to sponsor the No. 98 for the July 5 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, the sponsorship provided by former owner James Finch, but was withdrawn by Parsons to respect his business partner Mike Curb, a Republican.
Wise returned to PPR for the 2015 season. Finch would once again provide sponsorship to the team in the Daytona 500, this time through his company Phoenix Construction. However, the car suffered a terminal mechanical failure before the green flag flew on their Budweiser Duel, and PPR ultimately missed the Daytona 500 for the first time since 2011. However, the team has been able to qualify for every race since then. Wise scored a top 10 in the 2015 GEICO 500 at Talladega.
Before the 2015 Coca-Cola 600, Parsons and Curb sold the team's assets and Wise's contract to Premium Motorsports and the team shut down.
Nationwide Series
Car No. 90 history
The No. 90 first raced in the season-opening Daytona 300 in 2008 with former Nationwide Series champion Steve Grissom driving. Grissom did not qualify in on time, but fell back on his Champion's Provisional. At Auto Club Speedway, Scott Lynch drove the No. 90. At Las Vegas, 2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion Todd Bodine drove. Finally, at Atlanta the team found a full-time driver in Johnny Chapman. Chapman has run every race since Atlanta aside from the road courses, where both driving school instructor Chris Cook and NASCAR Canadian Tire Series driver Don Thomson, Jr. have been in the seat. The team's best finish was 36th, with a best qualifying effort of 29th by Chris Cook at Watkins Glen. At Lowe's Motor Speedway the team failed to qualify when Chapman crashed during qualifying. Chapman again started and parked the No. 90 for most of the races in 2009. In 2010, MSRP has teamed up with D'Hondt Motorsports with Danny O'Quinn Jr. as the driver, however they ran the race at Road America with Patrick Long racing. Long led two laps and finished 14th.The team has since suspended operations.