Car No. 01 history ;Derrike Cope (1997) in the original MB2 car in 1997. The No. 01 car started out as the No. 36
Pontiac in 1997 with sponsorship from
M&M-Mars through its
Skittles candy brand, and driver
Derrike Cope. Cope finished 27th in the final point standings. ;Ernie Irvan (1998–1999) Veteran driver
Ernie Irvan took over from Cope in 1998. The season was highlighted by Irvan's pole win at the
Brickyard 400.
M&M's replaced Skittles as the team's sponsor in 1999. Irvan retired from racing in September following a crash at
Michigan International Speedway.
Dick Trickle temporarily replaced Irvan before the driving chores were permanently turned over to journeyman
Jerry Nadeau. ;Ken Schrader (2000–2002) Nadeau left MB2 due to a prior commitment to drive for
Hendrick Motorsports, and MB2 signed four-time winner
Ken Schrader to fill the seat. Schrader drove the No. 36 for three seasons before leaving for
BAM Racing. ;Jerry Nadeau (2003) In 2003, the
United States Army replaced M&M's as the team's sponsor. The car number was switched from 36 to 01 to support the Army's slogan, "An Army of One." Nadeau returned to MB2 as the driver of the No. 01 car, and in his first 10 races with the team he had only two top-20 finishes, with a fourth-place finish at
Texas. On May 2, 2003, during practice at
Richmond International Raceway, Nadeau lost control of the No. 01 while trying to avoid another car in turn one, spun and slammed driver-side first into the concrete wall. He suffered fractures to his skull and several ribs along with a collapsed lung and temporary paralysis on his left side, and the cumulative effects forced him into retirement at age 33.
Busch Series veteran
Jason Keller replaced Nadeau at the Richmond race and finished 32nd. The team went through several substitutes for the rest of the year.
Mike Wallace ran the next four races, then four more races afterwards (skipping Sonoma) with a best finish of 19th at
Dover.
Mike Skinner, released from
Morgan McClure Motorsports, made eleven starts in the #01, earning a pole at
Richmond.
Boris Said ran both road course races, with both a pole and sixth-place finish at
Sonoma. Said and Skinner earned spots in the 2004
Budweiser Shootout for their respective pole runs, with Said in the #01 finishing 10th, and Skinner finishing 15th in the #10
Valvoline car. ;Joe Nemechek (2003–2006)
Joe Nemechek, who had been released from
Hendrick Motorsports' No. 25 car (where he had replaced Nadeau), was signed by MB2 as the new permanent driver of the No. 01 car starting with the last four races of 2003, and earned a Top 10 finish at
Atlanta. Nemechek finished 19th in points in
2004, but won two consecutive poles with the second leading to victory at the
2004 Banquet 400, in which he led the final 37 laps to win his fourth and final career Nextel Cup race and giving him a weekend sweep at
Kansas Speedway, after having won the
Mr. Goodcents 300 Busch Series race the day before. Nemechek finished with three Top 5 finishes and nine Top 10s, and signed a contract extension that kept him with MB2 through 2005. Nemechek started off 2005 with a strong run at the second race of the season at
Auto Club Speedway. Coming off a solid 13th-place finish at
Daytona, Joe started 4th and led leading a race-high 63 laps before his
Hendrick Motorsports-built engine expired on lap 178. This was one of six Hendrick engine failures, which included that of teammate
Scott Riggs. By race 26 at
Richmond, the No. 01 team found itself as a longshot of making the Chase, sitting 16th in the standings 135 points out of 10th place as the last mathematical contender for a spot in the 10-race playoff. The team's chase hunt was ultimately foiled when
Travis Kvapil collided with Nemechek under caution right after he had gotten back on the lead lap, relegating them to a 26th-place finish. Overall, Nemechek improved on the previous years points performance, ranking 16th with one pole and nine Top 10s but no wins and only two Top 5s. 2006 was a struggle for Nemechek and the No. 01 team, with the team not scoring a Top 10 until finishing 9th at
Charlotte in October, the 31st race of the season. Nemechek went winless again, with no pole starts, only two Top 10s, and a dismal 27th-place points finish. ;Part-time Mark Martin (2007) Veteran
Mark Martin, coming off his final year with
Roush Racing, was signed drive the car for 23 races (21 points races plus the Budweiser Shootout and Nextel All-Star Challenge) in 2007, with
Joe Nemechek moving over to the team's new No. 13 team.
Regan Smith was pinned to fill the remaining 16 races of the season, while driving in the
Busch Series for the team as well. The team also changed its name to Ginn Racing to reflect
Bobby Ginn's new majority interest in the team. Martin was leading in the final turn of the season-opening
Daytona 500, after lining up on the final restart with former Roush teammates
Greg Biffle and
Matt Kenseth behind him. Coming down the front stretch, and with the field wrecking behind him, Martin looked to have finally come through at Daytona. But the caution was not called, and
Kevin Harvick caught Martin on his outside, beating him to the line by two-hundredths of a second. Martin put together more strong finishes, and after the fourth race at
Atlanta was leading the points standings in what was supposed to be his first season of semi-retirement. Resisting the chance to capture his first championship, Martin did step out of the car as scheduled, breaking a streak of 621 consecutive starts. In 24 starts for the team, Martin scored five Top 5s and 11 Top 10s, and finished 27th in points despite missing 12 races. ;DEI Merger and Beyond (2007) Rookie
Regan Smith meanwhile made his debut at
Bristol Motor Speedway in March, finishing 25th. Smith would run six more races in the car, with a best finish of 24th at
Talladega Superspeedway. On July 17, it was announced that Smith would move to the No. 14 car on a full-time basis, replacing veteran
Sterling Marlin. Meanwhile, 23-year-old
Aric Almirola, who was granted his release from
Joe Gibbs Racing after being pulled out of a car he qualified on the pole during a
Busch Series race in favor of
Denny Hamlin, signed on to be the new co-driver of the No. 01. With the merger of Ginn and
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. not long afterwards, Smith was left on the sidelines while Almirola ran five races. Aric's results were not much better than Regan's, with a best finish of 26th at
Phoenix. Both drivers would continue with DEI in 2008 running for ROTY, and both would become winners later in their Cup careers.
Car No. 01 and 36 results Car No. 13 history ;Part time No. 36 (2004-2006) (far right) at
Sonoma in 2005. On April 30, 2004, MB2 Motorsports announced a partnership with CENTRIX Financial, LLC, coming on as an associate sponsor for the No. 01 car and No. 10 car. In addition, the team's original number 36 would be resurrected to field a third team part-time for
Road course ringer Boris Said, who had driven the No. 01 for two races in 2003 which included a pole at
Sonoma. Centrix was scheduled to sponsor two races, debuting with a 6th-place finish at Sonoma. Centrix sponsored Said again at the oval track
Auto Club Speedway, where he finished one lap down in 30th.
USG Sheetrock (an associate on the No. 01) came on to sponsor two more races for Said, DNQing at
Watkins Glen and finishing 28th in the season finale at
Homestead after a transmission failure late in the race. The No. 36 team returned for 2005, expanding Said's schedule to a minimum of 10 races beginning with the
Daytona 500. Like the 10 team which was co-owned by Valvoline executive James Rocco, sponsor Centrix's owner and racing enthusiast Bob Sutton came on as an equity partner for the No.36 car, changing the team name to
MB Sutton Motorsports. Said had stated that he would have liked to drive the car on a full-time basis if sponsorship was found. Veteran crew chief
Frankie Stoddard would lead the No. 36 team. Said ultimately attempted 12 races, struggling on oval tracks, with a best finish of 27th at Daytona and Texas and three DNQs. He did run well at
Talladega in May, qualifying 12th and running in the Top 15 before a 25-car pileup ended his day with 35 laps remaining. Boris was, however, strong as always in his road course element. At Sonoma in June, Said was running well when he entered the pits while they were closed after a caution was thrown with 40 laps to go. Sent back to 32nd place, he made it up to 13th place with 10 laps to go, but was relegated to a 17th-place finish after a caution with seven laps to go. Said shined later in the year at
Watkins Glen, starting 41st after qualifying was rained out, and racing with
NASCAR Road Course aces
Tony Stewart and
Robby Gordon for the win. Said would score a career-best 3rd-place finish. Said left the team to drive for
No Fear Racing in the No. 60
Ford in 2006. drove the team's No. 01 car from 2003 to 2006, then the No. 13 for 2007. Early in 2006, 1988 Cup Champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner
Bill Elliott announced that he would pilot the No. 36 Chevrolet in the 2006
Daytona 500, with
Ginn Resorts coming on to sponsor the effort. Elliott qualified 33rd, but avoided several wrecks to finish 19th in the Great American Race. The team would not run again in 2006. ;Joe Nemechek (2007) The team went full-time in 2007, switching to No. 13 with Joe Nemechek moving over from the No. 01 and Peter Sospenzo taking on crew chief duties.
Bobby Ginn's Ginn Resorts filled out the remaining races. Nemechek opened the year with a 9th-place finish at the
Daytona 500, but missed the fifth race of the season at
Bristol and did not have another Top 10 with the team for the rest of the year. After sitting 33rd in points following the race at
Chicagoland, Nemechek was released from the No. 13 car as well as teammate
Sterling Marlin from his No. 14 ride, with the team's status "being evaluated because of lack of sponsorship." Ultimately, the No. 13 team was shut down after the merger with DEI, and Nemechek would move to
Furniture Row Racing for the remainder of the season beginning at
Fontana. Riggs was set to compete against a strong rookie class that included his former
Busch Series competitors
Brian Vickers,
Kasey Kahne,
Scott Wimmer, and
Johnny Sauter as well as Truck Series driver
Brendan Gaughan. With
Pontiac leaving the sport, the team was forced to switch to
Chevrolet.
Mike Skinner ran the exhibition
Budweiser Shootout in the No. 10 after winning a pole at Richmond driving the No. 01 in 2003 subbing for
Jerry Nadeau. Riggs missed the fall race at
Atlanta, and scored only two Top 10 finishes and had eight DNFs en route to a 29th-place finish in the points standings in his rookie season. In 2005, Riggs won the pole at
Martinsville and finished 4th in the
Daytona 500. Riggs had a career best performance at
Michigan, using a fuel mileage gamble to drive from 29th to 2nd place in the final 51 laps. Riggs statistics improved slightly (four Top 10 finishes), but he had seven DNFs and finished 34th in the season standings. Valvoline announced that it was to sell its ownership stake back to MB2's principal owners and ended sponsorship of the car, taking Riggs and the No. 10 to
Evernham Motorsports. ;Sterling Marlin (2006-2007) (14) racing
Michael Waltrip at Bristol in 2006. In November 2005, it was announced that veteran driver
Sterling Marlin would come over from
Chip Ganassi Racing to drive for MB2 in 2006. The team would be sponsored by
Waste Management in 12 races, with Centrix Financial returning and
Ginn Resorts coming on to fill the remainder of the schedule. In tribute to Marlin's father
Coo Coo who had died the previous year, the team took on the No. 14. Midway through the season, the team replaced crew chief Doug Randolph with Scott Eggleston, who worked with Marlin at
Team SABCO. The team had only one Top 10 finish and ranked 34th in points at the end of the year. For 2007, Marlin returned as did
Waste Management for 12 races, while new sponsor
Panasonic signed on for 12 races as well, but no reason when the team stopped sponsoring or terminated with
Panasonic at the Darlington race and veteran crew chief Slugger Labbe handled the team. After a 2007 season filled with struggles and a best finish of 13th, in July Marlin was to be replaced by
Regan Smith, who had previously been co-piloting the No. 01, for the remainder of the year. However, upon the merger of Ginn Racing and
DEI at Indy, and before Smith even got the chance to drive the No. 14, the No. 14 team was merged with the No. 15 team, and its owner points were carried to the
Paul Menard-piloted
Menards car. Smith would pilot the No. 01 full-time in 2008 with DEI.
Car No. 14 results Johnny Benson raced races 1-18 of the
2000 season with
Tyler Jet Motorsports before the team (and its Owners Points) were purchased by MB2.
Car No. 39 history In addition to his 16-race schedule in the No. 01 shared with
Mark Martin,
Regan Smith was set to make his Nextel Cup debut at the
2007 Daytona 500 in a fourth Ginn Racing car, with
Ginn Resorts sponsoring. The car was numbered 39 due to the No. 36 being taken by
Bill Davis Racing and
Jeremy Mayfield. In his debut, Smith qualified 26th, which earned him a 12th starting position in the 2nd Gatorade 150 duel race. He finished 19th of 30 cars, and 7th out of the 13 drivers who needed to race their way into the 500, which was not enough to get him into the race. The No. 39 was on the
Fontana entry list the next week, but was withdrawn. Smith would make his Cup debut in the No. 01 at
Bristol Motor Speedway.
Winston/Nextel Cup Series drivers as the driver of MB2's No. 36 Pontiac. •
Derrike Cope (1997) •
Ernie Irvan (1998-1999; retired after injury) •
Ricky Craven (1998 injury replacement for Irvan) •
Dick Trickle (1999 injury replacement for Irvan) •
Jerry Nadeau (injury replacement for Irvan in 1999; Benson in 2002; regular driver in 2003) •
Ken Schrader (2000–2002) •
Johnny Benson (2001–2003) •
Joe Nemechek (2002 injury replacement for Benson; 2003–2007) •
Mike Wallace (injury replacement for Benson in 2002; Nadeau in 2003) •
Jason Keller (2003 injury replacement for Nadeau) •
Boris Said (2003–2006; road courses & limited ovals) •
Mike Skinner (2003) •
Scott Riggs (2004–2005) •
Sterling Marlin (2006–2007) •
Bill Elliott (2006; limited schedule) •
Mark Martin (2007; limited schedule) •
Regan Smith (2007; limited schedule) ==Driver development==