| Owner(s) | Phil & Marcia Parsons Randy Humphery Stacy Humphery |
|---|---|
| Base | Mooresville, North Carolina |
| Series | Sprint Cup Series |
| Race drivers | 66. Michael McDowell |
| Sponsors | K-Love |
| Manufacturer | Toyota |
| Career | |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
HP Racing, formerly named MSRP Motorsports and later Prism Motorsports, is a NASCAR team competing in the Sprint Cup Series and the Nationwide Series. It is owned by former NASCAR driver Phil Parsons and Randy Humphrey, along with their wives Stacey and Marcia (hence the original name MSRP: Marcia, Stacey, Randy, Phil). The team is infamous for being a start and park organization, meaning that the team qualifies a car for races, but it eventually parks the car after just a few laps to avoid the costs of running a full race, even though the car is perfectly able to continue on.[1] The bad publicity generated by the practice led Phil Parsons to refuse to answer questions about MSRP in 2008,[1] 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."[2] 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 name that qualified for 30 races but only finished two. After the season, the entire team became known as Prism.
In 2010, the team has two Sprint Cup teams, #55 and #66, led by drivers Michael McDowell and Dave Blaney, which drive Toyota Camrys provided under a technical alliance with MWR. Three drivers are currently circulating among the two Nationwide Series cars (90 & 91) in 2010: Danny O'Quinn Jr., David Gilliland, and Chase Miller.
Car #55 crew chief Zach McGowan tweeted on November 18 that the team would be shutting down after the 2010 season ending race at Homestead,[3] but this was denied by team owner Randy Humphrey.[4] No information is available regarding PRISM's Nationwide teams. The team will return in 2011 as HP Racing with McDowell behind the wheel of the #66 Toyota with Gene Nead as crew chief. Unlike 2009, the team will run a limited schedule starting with the 2011 Daytona 500. The races will include Bristol and the two road races at Sonoma and Watkins Glen. It is unknown if the team will continue to start and park.
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Car #55 crew chief Zach McGowan tweeted that the team would be shutting down after the 2010 season ending race at Homestead:
| “ | Our team will be shutting down after this week. I hate it for our guys. I have enjoyed working everyone. We all made the best out of bad situation. Good luck to everyone. | ” |
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—Zach McGowan, on Prism Motorsports shutting down after 2010[3] |
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This was, however, denied by team owner Randy Humphrey, saying that the team is working on their 2011 plans.[4]
No information is available regarding PRISM's Nationwide teams.
For 2010, Prism added a second car provided by MWR, the #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. As of the start of the season, Prism had no sponsorship for this car.[5] McDowell succeeded in qualifying the #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.[6] 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 #55 entry.
Michael Waltrip drove the #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.[7] Mike Bliss drove the car after McDowell left the team. Waltrip will return, with sponsor Aaron's to the #55 at the fall Talladega race.
The #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.
The #66 car is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team that debuted in 2009 under a technical alliance with MWR, which supplies the team's Toyota Camry, engines and technical support.[8] Terry Labonte ran the #66 for the 2009 Daytona 500, where he finished 24th. Dave Blaney has run the rest of the season, except for the Aarons 499 at Talladega, where Michael McDowell drove while Blaney was away with his family. 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 sponsorships, 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 and Talladega. But they failed to qualify for the former. Ultimately, the team qualified for 30 of the 34 Sprint Cup races in the 2009 season – 29 by Blaney and 1 by Labonte—but only ran two complete races (the Daytona 500 and the Coca-Cola 600). For the remainder of 2009, the #66 Prism car was a start and park team, much like their Nationwide Series counterparts.[9]
Blaney returned to the #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.[5] Blaney made the team's first race of the year in the 2010 Auto Club 500, qualifying fifth,[10] 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 #66 at Michigan International Speedway. The team failed to qualify for the event. Riggs made his first start at Bristol Motor Speedway where the team qualified 32nd.
For 2011, McDowell returned to the team, now renamed HP Racing, for a partial season. 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. K-Love was the sponsor for Richmond and Darlington. Phil Parsons is listed as the official owner of the #66 entry.
The #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 of Southern California, Scott Lynch drove the #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 Johnny Chapman crashed during qualifying. Johnny Chapman again started and parked the #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 (they are still start and park), 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.
The #91 team of MSRP Motorsports had its share of drivers since its debut at Daytona in 2008. Larry Gunselman failed to qualify at Daytona, but made the next nine races with a best finish of 38th at Las Vegas. He was released after destroying the teams only Superspeedway car in a wreck that broke IRL champion Dario Franchitti's ankle. After Gunselman's departure, Kenny Hendrick drove the car at Richmond and Lowe's. Truck Series veteran Terry Cook took over running four races beginning with Darlington and ending with Indianapolis. Cook's best finish was 41st on three occasions, but his best qualifying effort was 16th at the famed Milwaukee Mile. He was replaced by Justin Hobgood, who ran six races with a best finish of 38th and failed to qualify three times, including at Loudon, where he wrecked the car. On the two road courses, veterans Scott Steckly and Michael McDowell drove the car. In 2009, Terry Cook was the main driver for the #91, which was occasionally sponsored by Cajun Industries, LLC. Although the team under Cook had been leading practices and qualifying in the top 15 many times, its lack of funding meant that it had to continue to start and park. At Watkins Glen, Dave Blaney qualified for the race in 20th place and finished the race in the 13th position with sponsorship from SFP (the sponsor for Peyton Sellers' #77 Chevy), marking the first time MSRP finished a race in the Nationwide Series. Now MSRP has teamed up with D'Hondt Motorsports (who ran a race in 2008 with Kyle Busch as the driver) and Stephen Leicht is the driver. The team has since suspended operations.
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