Car No. 91 history in 1997 Virginia businessman
Joe Falk entered NASCAR team ownership in the
Winston Cup Series in 1997, fielding the No. 91 Chevrolet in a partnership with
Ron Neal under the LJ Racing banner. When the team began,
Mike Wallace was the driver and
Spam was the sponsor. Neal had been running the team as the No. 81 in the
Busch Series as ProTech Motorsports. That year, Wallace posted the team's best finish in any series, in the only
Winston West Series race they ever entered, the 1997 Auto Club 200 at
California Speedway. Having failed to qualify for the weekend's Winston Cup Series event, they posted a late entry to the West Series race, and Mike Wallace drove from the back of the field to finish second. In the Winston Cup Series, the team struggled to make races, and Wallace was released midway through the season. Spam left the team shortly thereafter, and several other drivers drove the car later in the year, with little success. Towards the end of the year,
Kevin Lepage joined the team. Lepage would drive the No. 91 through the first half of 1998 before leaving to join
Roush Racing. He was replaced by
Morgan Shepherd, and then
Todd Bodine, who would score the team's best finish in the Cup Series, fifth, in the final race of the 1998 season, at
Atlanta Motor Speedway. LJ Racing began the 1999 season with driver
Steve Grissom, but after Grissom failed to qualify for two of the first four races, he was replaced by
Dick Trickle. For the rest of the season, the team attempted the majority of the races, but only made it into eight: seven with Trickle, and the
Winston 500 at
Talladega Superspeedway with
Andy Hillenburg. In 2000, the team would qualify for two races (at
Atlanta and
Richmond) with Todd Bodine driving, before closing down. Later that same year, the team's shop was used by
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates to house their three
NASCAR Busch Series teams. The two teams also entered a No. 91 Chevrolet for
Blaise Alexander in two races near the end of the season, but Alexander failed to qualify for both of them.
Drivers Car No. 91 results ==Busch Series==