BACE Motorsports

BACE Motorsports
Owner(s)	Bill Baumgardner
Base	Charlotte, North Carolina
Series	Winston Cup, Busch Series
Race drivers	Johnny Benson, Randy LaJoie, Chad Little, Tony Raines, Tim Fedewa
Sponsors	Lipton Tea, Fina, Bayer, Outdoor Channel
Manufacturer	Chevrolet
Opened	1993
Closed	2005
Career
Drivers' Championships	3 (Busch Series)
Race victories	16

BACE Motorsports was a championship-winning NASCAR team. It was owned by entrepreneur Bill Baumgardner, who also founded Staff America. Baumgardner was inspired to start his own team after Staff America was a sponsor in the Busch Series for two years. The team was famous during its tenure for always running its familiar No. 74.

Beginnings (1993)

BACE made its debut in 1993 at the season opening race at Daytona International Speedway. Jack Sprague was the driver, and he finished 44th after the engine expired. After that less-than-stellar debut, Sprague and BACE made a good turn around, and they soon became a consistent top-20 contender, and had three top-10 finishes. After the fall race at Dover International Speedway, BACE and Sprague parted ways, and Winston Cup star Ernie Irvan occupied the car for one race, but another driver took the reins as well, a young short-track driver named Johnny Benson.

Championship years (1994–98)

With Steve "Birdie" Bird as the crew chief, Benson's rookie year with BACE started off slow, as he originally didn't finish higher than 16th. After a long string of finishes 22nd or worse, Benson put together two consecutive top-5 finishes at The Milwaukee Mile and South Boston Speedway, then had three more top-ten finishes before winning his first race at Dover. At the end of 1994, Benson was named the Busch Series Rookie of the Year and was sixth in points. Benson's momentum carried over into the following year. Along with Lipton Tea coming on board as sponsor, Benson won twice early in the season, and finished outside of the top-ten only nine times. The consistency was enough for him to clinch that year's championship. When Benson signed on with Bahari Racing for 1996, veteran Randy LaJoie was tabbed his replacement along with a new sponsor in Fina. LaJoie had no problem adjusting, and he won five times as well as a second straight championship for BACE; then he repeated the performance in 1997. 1997 also saw the appearance of a second BACE car, the No. 33 Kleenex team driven by Tim Fedewa. In two seasons, Fedewa won twice and finished 7th in points in 1998. After a seemingly disappointing 1998 season that saw just one victory and a fourth-place finish in points, LaJoie left for Phoenix Racing while Fedewa signed with Cicci-Welliver Racing, and sponsor Kleenex departed for Progressive Motorsports.

Later years (1998–2005)

BACE had an entirely different look in 1999. Alka-Seltzer and Bayer sponsored the 33 car driven by Jason Jarrett, while the rookie Tony Raines drove the unsponsored No. 74.^[1]^[2] The results were mixed. Raines showed consistency and came out of left field to win Rookie of the Year,^[2] while Jarrett was released after the race at California Speedway,^[3] and was replaced by a series of rotating drivers including Mike Wallace, Hermie Sadler, and Benson returning to the team briefly. For 2000, Raines slid over to the No. 33, while rookie P. J. Jones signed to drive the 74 car.^[4] Raines finished second at South Boston, and finished 15th in points, while the 74 team disappeared briefly due to operating expenses,^[5] before Chad Little became the driver towards the end of the year. Raines (No. 33) and Little (No. 74) returned in 2001, and both drivers finished in the top ten in points (Raines-6th, Little-9th). Raines finished 12th in point for the 2002 season in the No. 33. Little started the season out in the unsponsored No. 74 but after the first couple of races that season, BACE decided to make the move to Winston Cup running a part-time schedule in the No. 74 Monte Carlo. After missing several races, Little left the team. Raines drove the rest of the part-time schedule in 2002 and made the move to full-time Winston Cup in 2003. Raines got a sixth-place finish at North Carolina Speedway, but was left in the dust for the Rookie of the Year running. BACE returned to the Busch Series for 2004, but this time, Raines was not their original driver until later in the year, when he replaced Damon Lusk. BACE was forced to cut back to a part-time schedule because of their decreasing finances, and put Jimmy Spencer in the car with a few races to go in the season. In 2005, BACE announced they would temporarily suspend operations but return as soon as sponsorship was found. Its equipment was sold to Kevin Harvick Incorporated, and the team has not been heard from since.

Motorsports Results

Winston Cup Series

Car No. 73 History

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NWCC	Pts
2002	Tony Raines	73	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	MAR	TAL	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV 31	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	CAR	PHO	HOM	68th	70

Car No. 74 History

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NWCC	Pts
1997	Randy LaJoie	74	Chevy	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	DAR	TEX DNQ	BRI	MAR	SON	TAL	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	CAL	DAY	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	NHA	DOV	MAR	CLT	TAL	CAR	PHO	ATL					N/A	-
2002	Chad Little		Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	MAR	TAL	CAL DNQ	RCH	CLT DNQ	DOV 33	POC	MCH	SON	DAY																				45th	572
	Tony Raines																				CHI DNQ	NHA	POC	IND DNQ		MCH 43	BRI	DAR 35	RCH	NHA	DOV 31	KAN 41	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL 29	CAR DNQ	PHO 43	HOM DNQ
	Joe Varde																								GLN 42
2003	Tony Raines			DAY 33	CAR 37	LVS 24	ATL 24	DAR 41	BRI 42	TEX 42	TAL 16	MAR 33	CAL 31	RCH 14	CLT 37	DOV 31	POC 30	MCH 33	SON 31	DAY DNQ	CHI 22	NHA 33	POC 16	IND 25	GLN 41	MCH 24	BRI 20	DAR 42	RCH 35	NHA 33	DOV 30	TAL 31	KAN 26	CLT 25	MAR 23	ATL 18	PHO 19	CAR 6	HOM 13	35th	2800

Busch Series

Car No. 7 History

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	Owners	Pts
1996	Greg Sacks	7	Chevy	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	NSV	DAR	BRI	HCY	NZH	CLT	DOV	SBO	MYB	GLN	MLW	NHA	TAL	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAR	HOM 31
1997	Bryan Wall	7	Chevy	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	LVS	DAR	HCY	TEX	BRI	NSV	TAL	NHA	NZH 25	CLT	DOV	SBO	GLN	MLW	MYB	GTY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAL	CAR	HOM

Car No. 26 History

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	Owners	Pts
1998	Johnny Benson Jr.	26	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	NSV	DAR	BRI	TEX	HCY	TAL	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	RCH	PPR	GLN	MLW	MYB	CAL	SBO	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT 17	GTY	CAR	ATL	HOM 7		71st	146
1999	Johnny Benson Jr.	26	Chevy	DAY 37	CAR 14	LVS 11	ATL 43	DAR	TEX 15	NSV	BRI	TAL	CAL 38	NHA	RCH	NZH	CLT 35	DOV	SBO	GLN	MLW	MYB	PPR	GTY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAR	MEM	PHO	HOM	57th	562

Car No. 33 History

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	NBSC	Pts
1997	Tim Fedewa	33	Chevy	DAY 34	CAR 10	RCH 18	ATL 7	LVS 15	DAR 14	HCY 3	TEX 38	BRI 7	NSV 3	TAL 5	NHA 39	NZH 11	CLT 35	DOV 15	SBO 19	GLN 32	MLW 10	MYB 12	GTY 6	IRP 4	MCH 25	BRI 27	DAR 15	RCH 9	DOV 14	CLT 27	CAL 33	CAR 19	HOM 10					9th	3398
1998	Tim Fedewa			DAY 20	CAR 18	LVS 19	NSV 8	DAR 34	BRI 34	TEX 13	HCY 3	TAL 27	NHA 11	NZH 1*	CLT 18	DOV 17	RCH 15	PPR 35	GLN 7	MLW 8	MYB 6	CAL 17	SBO 1	IRP 38	MCH 32	BRI 5	DAR 26	RCH 21	DOV 15	CLT 30	GTY 18	CAR 9	ATL 27	HOM 10				8th	3515
1999	Jason Jarrett			DAY 27	CAR 21	LVS 38	ATL 23	DAR 41	TEX DNQ	NSV 24	BRI DNQ	TAL 43	CAL 39																									32nd	2167
	Johnny Benson Jr.													NHA 21	RCH DNQ			DOV 12												DOV 34		CAR 6		PHO 14	HOM 27
	Brad Leighton															NZH 34				GLN 43	MLW 37				IRP 36
	Mike Wallace																CLT DNQ
	Curtis Markham																		SBO DNQ
	Hermie Sadler																					MYB 31	PPR 11	GTY 14		MCH 32	BRI DNQ	DAR DNQ	RCH 24
	Geoff Bodine																														CLT 17		MEM 38
2000	Tony Raines			DAY 21	CAR 24	LVS 16	ATL 12	DAR 21	BRI 22	TEX 15	NSV 36	TAL 33	CAL 20	RCH 15	NHA 15	CLT 25	DOV 16	SBO 2	MYB 17	GLN 14	MLW 26	NZH 12	PPR 43	GTY 28	IRP 40	MCH 35	BRI 11	DAR 39	RCH 41	DOV 24	CLT 19	CAR 26	MEM 12	PHO 18	HOM 33					19th	3061
2001				DAY 36	CAR 38	LVS 4	ATL 10	DAR 22	BRI 8	TEX 20	NSH 16	TAL 14	CAL 8	RCH 2	NHA 12	NZH 6	CLT 24	DOV 10	KEN 3	MLW 10	GLN 27	CHI 11	GTY 23	PPR 19	IRP 12	MCH 3	BRI 17	DAR 10	RCH 21	DOV 7	KAN 7	CLT 14	MEM 31	PHO 16	CAR 22	HOM 14		8th	3975
2002			Pontiac	DAY 34							TAL 20																											13th	3804
2002			Chevy		CAR 9	LVS 36	DAR 7	BRI 11	TEX 20	NSH 30		CAL 25	RCH 37	NHA 24	NZH 10	CLT 21	DOV 27	NSH 22	KEN 3	MLW 5	DAY 13	CHI 18	GTY 5	PPR 35	IRP 9	MCH 16	BRI 8	DAR 9	RCH 4	DOV 11	KAN 5	CLT 11	MEM 15	ATL 19	CAR 23	PHO 28	HOM 36	13th	3804
2003				DAY	CAR	LVS 33	DAR	BRI 2	TEX 36	TAL	NSH	CAL 31	RCH 3	GTY	NZH	CLT 36	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI 8	NHA	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI 8	DAR	RCH 8	DOV 22	KAN 38	CLT	MEM	ATL	PHO 23	CAR		39th	1339
2003	Damon Lusk																																				HOM 18	39th	1339

Car No. 74 History

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	Owners	Pts
1993	Jack Sprague	74	Chevy	DAY 44	CAR 12	RCH 20	DAR 24	BRI 21	HCY 19	ROU 21	MAR 9	NZH 12	CLT 24	DOV 27	MYB 16	GLN 21	MLW 32	TAL 15	IRP 17	MCH 9	NHA 20	BRI 23	DAR 33	RCH 13	DOV 4													19th	2429
	Randy LaJoie																									ROU 4
	Johnny Benson																										CLT 30		CAR DNQ	HCY 19	ATL 18
	Ernie Irvan																											MAR 9
1994	Johnny Benson			DAY 26	CAR 25	RCH 15	ATL 16	MAR 20	DAR 16	HCY 4	BRI 30	ROU 4	NHA 12	NZH 31	CLT 22	DOV 22	MYB 16	GLN 33	MLW 3	SBO 3	TAL 38	HCY 11	IRP 11*	MCH 38	BRI 8	DAR 4	RCH 6	DOV 1	CLT 11	MAR 13	CAR 8							6th	3303
1995	Johnny Benson			DAY 10	CAR 4	RCH 3	ATL 1	NSV 6	DAR 2	BRI 6	HCY 1	NHA 5	NZH 3	CLT 30	DOV 14	MYB 9	GLN 7	MLW 33	TAL 5	SBO 16	IRP 13*	MCH 5	BRI 12*	DAR 2	RCH 3	DOV 9	CLT 26	CAR 3	HOM 9									1st	3688
1996	Randy LaJoie			DAY 7	CAR 7	RCH 6	ATL 28	NSV 21	DAR 12	BRI 6	HCY 3	NZH 1	CLT 5*	DOV 1	SBO 5*	MYB 18	GLN 30	MLW 3	NHA 1*	TAL 3	IRP 1*	MCH 10	BRI 29	DAR 5	RCH 8	DOV 1	CLT 6	CAR 9	HOM 10									1st	3714
1997				DAY 1*	CAR 3	RCH 8	ATL 16	LVS 29	DAR 1*	HCY 2*	TEX 9	BRI 3	NSV 6	TAL 12	NHA 7	NZH 3	CLT 10	DOV 3	SBO 1*	GLN 21	MLW 1	MYB 3	GTY 17	IRP 1*	MCH 17	BRI 4	DAR 18	RCH 2	DOV 2*	CLT 15	CAL 10	CAR 20	HOM 2					1st	4381
1998				DAY 5	CAR 7	LVS 18	NSV 4	DAR 23	BRI 25	TEX 6	HCY 23	TAL 23	NHA 5	NZH 42	CLT 14	DOV 11	RCH 11	PPR 3	GLN 37	MLW 10	MYB 1*	CAL 16	SBO 2	IRP 4	MCH 16	BRI 31	DAR 19	RCH 30	DOV 37	CLT 29	GTY 7	CAR 30	ATL 41	HOM 9				4th	3543
1999	Tony Raines			DAY 28	CAR 20	LVS 28	ATL 21	DAR 21		NSV 11	BRI 39	TAL 24	CAL 17	NHA 13	RCH 17	NZH 11	CLT 18	DOV 17	SBO 9	GLN 13	MLW 21	MYB 19	PPR 25	GTY 21	IRP 10	MCH 30	BRI 30	DAR 25	RCH 36	DOV 4	CLT 25	CAR 12	MEM 28	PHO 20	HOM 28			12th	3142
1999	Steve Grissom								TEX 40																													12th	3142
2000	P. J. Jones			DAY 40	CAR 35	LVS 35	ATL 24	DAR 27	BRI 39	TEX 31	NSV	TAL	CAL	RCH	NHA	CLT	DOV	SBO	MYB	GLN	MLW	NZH	PPR	GTY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV								38th	1262
2000	Chad Little																														CLT DNQ	CAR 32	MEM	PHO	HOM DNQ			38th	1262
2001				DAY 9	CAR 15	LVS 16	ATL 15	DAR 24	BRI 12	TEX 31	NSH 27	TAL 11	CAL 18	RCH 20	NHA 14	NZH 20	CLT 21	DOV 11	KEN 6	MLW 20	GLN 16	CHI 17	GTY 13	PPR 16	IRP 3	MCH 16	BRI 9	DAR 13	RCH 6	DOV 4	KAN 36	CLT 17	MEM 16	PHO 13	CAR 17	HOM 27		9th	3846
2002				DAY 14	CAR 24	LVS 21	DAR	BRI	TEX	NSH	TAL	CAL	RCH	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	GTY	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	ATL	CAR	PHO	HOM	69th	312
2003	Kerry Earnhardt			DAY	CAR	LVS	DAR	BRI	TEX	TAL	NSH	CAL	RCH	GTY	NZH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	NHA	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	ATL	PHO	CAR 23	HOM	119th	0
2004	Damon Lusk			DAY 21	CAR 24	LVS DNQ	DAR 25																															33rd	1553
	Tony Raines							BRI 6	TEX 43	NSH 15	TAL 26	CAL	GTY	RCH 16	NZH	CLT 12	DOV 12	NSH 41	KEN 15	KEN	MLW	CHI 20	NHA	PPR 16		MCH 35	BRI 29	CAL 19	RCH	DOV 36	KAN
	Tyler Walker																								IRP 30
	Jimmy Spencer																															CLT 22	MEM	ATL	PHO 39	DAR	HOM 28

References

^ "BUSCH: BACE Motorsports Signs Jason Jarrett". us.motorsport.com. 1998-11-14. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
^ ^a ^b Paula. "Fast Facts: Tony Raines". Skirts and Scuffs. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
^ "BUSCH: Jason Jarrett; The man behind the name". us.motorsport.com. 2000-03-08. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
^ "BUSCH: P.J. Jones Signs with BACE Motorsports". us.motorsport.com. 2000-01-11. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
^ "BUSCH: BACE closes doors for now". us.motorsport.com. 2000-04-07. Retrieved 2024-02-09.

External links

Official website^{[permanent dead link‍]}
BACE Motorsports owner statistics at Racing-Reference

[1] "BUSCH: BACE Motorsports Signs Jason Jarrett". us.motorsport.com. 1998-11-14. Retrieved 2024-02-09.

[:0-2] Paula. "Fast Facts: Tony Raines". Skirts and Scuffs. Retrieved 2024-02-09.

[3] "BUSCH: Jason Jarrett; The man behind the name". us.motorsport.com. 2000-03-08. Retrieved 2024-02-09.

[4] "BUSCH: P.J. Jones Signs with BACE Motorsports". us.motorsport.com. 2000-01-11. Retrieved 2024-02-09.

[5] "BUSCH: BACE closes doors for now". us.motorsport.com. 2000-04-07. Retrieved 2024-02-09.

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