HScott Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, the K&N Pro Series East and the ARCA Racing Series. The organization was owned by North Carolina businessman Harry Scott Jr., a former owner of the defunct Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series team Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM). Scott was the owner of team sponsor AccuDoc Solutions.
The Sprint Cup Series team was founded in 1990 as Phoenix Racing by Florida businessman James Finch, and named for his business Phoenix Construction. The organization as currently constituted was formed when Harry Scott purchased Finch's Cup Series team in late 2013, and then took over the Xfinity and K&N Pro Series operations of TSM following the 2014 season. In the Sprint Cup Series, the team last fielded the No. 15 5-Hour Energy/Aaron's/Visine/PEAK Chevrolet SS full-time for Clint Bowyer and the No. 46 Pilot Flying J SS full-time for Michael Annett. Scott also fielded several teams in the K&N Pro Series East in a partnership with driver Justin Marks, winning the 2015 & 2016 Championships. The Xfinity Series program has since been moved to Chip Ganassi Racing.
The team sold their charter in December 2016 and eventually shut down the Cup and K&N teams for 2017. Months later, on August 2, 2017, Harry Scott, Jr. died.
Sprint Cup Series
Car No. 15 history
Following sponsorship struggles, longtime Phoenix Racing owner James Finch sold his Spartanburg, South Carolina-based operation to Harry Scott, Jr. in mid-2013, with Finch's last race as an owner at the Atlanta Labor Day Event in September. Scott continued to use the number 51, Finch's longtime car number.
Ryan Truex (who had driven for Phoenix at Bristol earlier in the year) drove Scott's first race as owner at Richmond, finishing 35th (With sponsor SeaWatch Intl.). Although the team used the old Phoenix Racing number font for the first race, for his second race Scott's ownership was displayed by changing the paint scheme and number style of the car to match those used by Turner Scott Motorsports (Scott's Xfinity series team at the time). In addition, on February 5, 2014, Scott announced that Phoenix Racing would be renamed to HScott Motorsports.
Scott’s Nationwide Series driver Justin Allgaier drove the car with BRANDT Agricultural sponsorship at Chicagoland, Kansas, Talladega and Phoenix.
Kyle Larson, Allgaier's teammate at Turner Scott who was set to take over the No. 42 car the next year at Chip Ganassi Racing, drove the car at Charlotte, Martinsville and Homestead with an inverted white and red Target scheme. He also drove at Texas with VisitDallas.com on the car.
Larson started 21st at Charlotte, but a late engine failure relegated him to a 37th-place finish. Michael McDowell would run the car at New Hampshire (Finished 30th with sponsor SEM Products), and Truex made his third start for the team at his home track Dover (Finished 32nd with sponsor Shooters Sporting Center). Allgaier would have a best finish of 24th at Talladega, while Larson would have the team's best finish a 15th at Homestead, while also leading the team's first lap.
The team announced following the season that Allgaier would drive the No. 51 and compete for Rookie of the Year honors in 2014 with crew chief Steve Addington. Allgaier finished third in the ROTY standings behind Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon and 29th in the standings. His best finish was 15th at Charlotte and Homestead. The team failed to qualify for a single race, the GEICO 500 at Talladega in the fall, due to an unusual qualifying session that also saw another full-time driver also miss the race. The team had Brandt as the primary sponsor for 22 races with Scott's Accu-Doc Solutions being the sponsor for 5 races. The team had sponsors Auto-Owners Insurance, Sherwin-Williams, SEM Products, HendrickCars.com, Carcoon Airflow, Collision Cure Body Werks and VisitDallas.com filling in the rest of the schedule.
Allgaier returned to the team in 2015, with Brandt continuing to sponsor the team. He successfully qualified for the first two races of the season. Allgaier crashed during the 2015 Daytona 500 but rebounded a few weeks later at Phoenix. He was lapped on lap 56 during the 2015 Camping World.com 500 at Phoenix. Despite this, thanks to a strategy call by crew chief Addington, Allgaier got back onto the lead lap and raced his way into the top ten by the time there were 35 laps to go. After contact with Tony Stewart, Allgaier faded in the final 5 laps, finishing 18th. The next week at Fontana, he repeated his Phoenix performance, running as high as 8th and finishing 12th-his best finish at the time. A few weeks later, at Bristol, Allgaier ran well all race, even up in the top 5 at one point. Allgaier ended up finishing 8th, his first Cup top 10, and the first for HScott Motorsports as well. The team's good performance started to fade during the summer and Allgaier finished 30th in points. Also sponsoring the 51 that season was Auto-Owners Insurance, FOE.com, Switch Hitch, Accu-Doc Solutions, SEM products, TradeMark Nitrogen, Flipping Ships, and Texas Lottery.
Parting ways with HScott Motorsports after the 2015 season, Allgaier took Brandt and returned to the Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports in 2016. Clint Bowyer was tabbed as Allgaier's replacement as Bowyer was a free agent due to his team Michael Waltrip Racing shutting doors after the 2015 season. Bowyer brought sponsorship from 5-Hour Energy, Visine, Aaron's and PEAK with him as well as the number 15. Scott's own Accu-Doc Solutions was on the car for 4 races. This was a temporary one-season move for Bowyer, as a holdout before moving to Stewart-Haas Racing for 2017. The team struggled early in the season when the expected help from SHR never materialized.
Despite having a rough start to the season, Bowyer turned things around in April when he finished 8th at Bristol. He then finished 7th at Talladega, the best finish for HSM and later followed that with a 9th at Daytona. Even with the terrible start to the season Bowyer would finish 27th in points (The 15 was 28th in Owner points).
After the season ended, Clint Bowyer announced that he would be suing HScott Motorsports for 2.2 million dollars in prize money and commission. Both parties would settle the dispute a week later. On December 5, with no viable sponsor/driver options for 2017, Harry Scott announced that he had sold the No. 15 charter to Premium Motorsports and closed his operation. One of HScott's cars from the #15 team was later bought by MBM Motorsports in the off-season, in which MBM would use it to participate as a part-time team in the 2017 season.
Car No. 46 history
It was announced prior to the 2014 season that former Phoenix Racing owner James Finch would return to field a part-time entry numbered 52 with HScott for Bobby Labonte, beginning with the Daytona 500. Labonte ran the second HScott car during preseason Daytona testing using Scott's TSM number style, then used Finch's traditional Phoenix Racing number style and paint scheme during the Daytona 500. The team picked up sponsorship from the Florida Lottery, and Labonte finished a solid 15th. The team did not run the rest of the season.
In late January 2015 Michael Annett brought his longtime primary sponsor Pilot Flying J, as well as sponsors Cypress Associates, Allstate Peterbuilt, Northland Oil & Lubricants, Switch Hitch, Sherwin-Williams, TMC Transportation, Multiprens USA and EFS (Electronic Funds Source), to drive a second HSM car full-time after running his rookie season with Tommy Baldwin Racing. The car number was later revealed to be No. 46 and Jay Guy was announced as crew chief. Annett finished 13th at the season-opening Daytona 500. He failed to qualify for next race at Atlanta, one of 13 drivers to not pass inspection and set a time during qualifying. Shortly after, HScott was given a second chance after Xfinity Series regular Brian Scott gave up his seat in the No. 33 Circle Sport Racing Chevrolet. The car was wrapped in Pilot Flying J colors, and Circle Sport owner Joe Falk was credited with owner's points under NASCAR rules. During the 2015 season, Annett had a rough season and he also missed the fall Talladega race. Other than Daytona, Annett's best finish was 23rd at Bristol, Kansas and Martinsville. Annett finished 36th in points with the 46 finishing 38th in Owner points.
Annett returned for 2016, with primary sponsorship from Pilot Flying J and sponsorship from Allstate Peterbuilt, Northland Oil & Lubricants, Multiprens USA and EFS (Electronic Funds Source). At Watkins Glen, the 46 featured the St. Jude Iowa Tournament of Hope. HScott entering into an agreement for a short-term lease of Premium Motorsports' charter, guaranteeing a starting spot for the team and Annett in every race. In July, HSM in a attempt to improve performance hired Mike Hillman Jr. as the 46's crew chief. Annett missed the August Bristol race due to flu-like symptoms and was replaced by Justin Allgaier, who finished 40th after a crash. Annett and HSM struggled all season with a best finish of 20th in July at Daytona and they finished 36th in points. On November 5, Annett and his sponsors announced that they were leaving HSM for JR Motorsports in 2017. HScott Motorsports would shut down in December.
Xfinity Series
HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi
Car No. 42 history
Following financial issues with co-owner Steve Turner that led to the dissolution of Turner Scott Motorsports, Scott found a new partner in the team, Chip Ganassi (whose drivers Kyle Larson and Dylan Kwasniewski drove for TSM), to field a single Xfinity Series entry under the name HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi. The team (led by crew chief Mike Shiplett) ran out of the Chip Ganassi Racing shop, with Larson, Brennan Poole, and Justin Marks sharing the ride. Kwasniewski did not return to the team due to lack of sponsorship. Larson began with an eighth-place finish at the season opener at Daytona. Poole made his Xfinity Series debut at Las Vegas, finishing 9th. The team had some struggles during this season, but Larson managed to win the season finale at Homestead, after leading 118 laps and passing Austin Dillon with four laps to go. Larson had sponsorship during the season from Eneos (8 races), ParkerStore (2 races), Crest (2 races), Accu-Doc Solutions and Dixie Chopper/Big Machine Records. Larson would also finish the season with 4 Top 5's and 9 Top 10's while leading 175 laps. Poole would run 17 races with DC Solar sponsorship and he had Top 10's at Las Vegas (9th) and Loudon (10th). Marks would run the road course races at Mid-Ohio (Linksys sponsored, finished 15th) and Road America (Ganassi Sound Garage sponsored, finished 7th). The 42 would finish 15th in Owners points.
The team became fully operated by Ganassi for 2016.
K&N Pro Series
For 2015, Harry Scott, Jr. took control of the K&N Pro Series East operation of the now-defunct Turner Scott Motorsports. Scott partnered with Justin Marks to field five Chevrolet teams under the name HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks with returning driver Scott Heckert (#34 Project Lifesaver) and rookies William Byron (#9 Liberty University), J. J. Haley (#5 Braun Auto), and Dalton Sargeant (#51 Galt). Following his win at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, 22-year-old Rico Abreu was signed to drive the team's 98 car (Accu-Doc Solutions/GoPro Motorplex) in January 2015. Byron scored four wins and three poles en route to the 2015 series championship. Heckert (2 wins/2 poles) finished 2nd in points, Sargeant finished 4th in points, Abreu (1 win/3 poles) finished 5th in points and Haley finished 6th in points.
2015 featured HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks sending three Chevrolet teams (#52 Galt- Dalton Sargeant, #91 Liberty University- William Byron, #05 Braun Auto Group- J.J. Haley) to compete in the K&N Pro Series West at Sonoma and Phoenix. Respectively Sargeant would finish 2nd/4th, Byron would finish 5th/2nd and Haley would finish 3rd/21st along with winning the pole at Phoenix.
In 2016, the East program added Harrison Burton, the son of NASCAR on NBC commentator and former driver Jeff Burton, who began driving the No. 12 DEX Imaging/Konica Minolta Chevrolet for the team.
The team added Tyler Dippel (#38 East West Marine/TyCar) and Hunter Baize (#13 Bicycle Playing Cards/Pine Mountain Firelogs), who competed for Rookie of the Year alongside Burton. Haley (#5 Braun Auto Group) returned in 2016 and ended the year as the 2016 series champion after winning 2 races, 2 poles with 13 Top 5's and finishing in the top ten in all 14 races, the only driver to do so in series history. Dippel (1 win) finished 3rd in points, Baize finished 4th in points and Burton (1 pole) finished 7th in points.
On December 5, 2016, HScott Motorsports announced that with no viable driver/sponsor options for 2017 that it was closing its Cup operation. In conjunction with that the K&N operation also shut down.
ARCA Racing Series
In 2015, HSM would field J.J. Haley in a limited schedule in the No. 74 Braun Auto Group/BraunAbility Chevrolet in the ARCA Racing Series. He would run at IRP and twice at Salem Speedway. The team's best start was a 2nd at Salem with a best finish of 4th happening at Salem and IRP.
References
External links
- Official website
- James Finch owner statistics at Racing-Reference
- Harry Scott, Jr. owner statistics at Racing-Reference
