Shepherd Racing Ventures

Shepherd Racing Ventures is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team currently fields the No. 89 Chevrolet Camaro for Morgan Shepherd.

Beginnings

It began in 2001 in the Craftsman Truck Series as No. 6 with Morgan Shepherd as the owner/driver and Red Line Oil sponsoring, running under the moniker Victory in Jesus Racing.

Sprint Cup Series

It moved up to Nextel Cup the next year, fielding the No. 89 Ford Taurus. It debuted at New Hampshire International Speedway and ran four more races that year, each ending in a DNF and Victory in Jesus taking over sponsorship. After 2002, the team ran a part-time schedule for Shepherd.

Xfinity Series

In 2007, they stopped fielding cars in the Sprint Cup Series and moved back to the Nationwide Series and ran some races.

For 2008 the team attempted the full schedule, and Shepherd finished 13th at Talladega Superspeedway. Other good runs were scattered throughout the year.

In 2009, the team switched to Chevrolet. After a slew of DNQs, the team was forced to start and park several races. It was an up and down year for the team.

In 2010, Faith Motorsports started off the year with high hopes, and came back to finish 22nd in the season opener in Daytona after an early race issue with the car. A special "Fans For Faith" donation fund was formed, and any fan could donate $100.00 to have their name put on the car. About mid-season, Faith Motorsports formed an alliance with Richard Childress Racing (RCR). Shepherd split his time between the 89 car and RCR's 21. Johnny Chapman and Brett Rowe took the reins of the 89, and mostly start and parked while Shepherd was in the 21. The alliance with RCR allowed Shepherd to use the 21 car's owner points to guarantee that the 89 would make the first five races of 2011.

For 2011, the team returned full-time with the 89 driven by Shepherd. A second car was formed, the 55 driven by Brett Rowe. This car is mainly used to start and park, which helps fund the primary 89. After DNQs in Daytona and Texas, the 55 decided to skip Talladega. In 2013 the team ran Dodges at the restrictor plate tracks (Daytona and Talladega). The team also ran as many races as possible, using Chevrolet. In 2014, Shepherd qualified for the Nationwide race at Dover, but failed to qualify for the races at Kentucky Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. 2015 saw Shepherd enter Daytona, but withdrew midweek. Shepherd qualified for Atlanta and Las Vegas, but DNQ'd for Phoenix. Shepherd later qualified for Bristol, finishing 38th. Shepherd's team attempted 20 races, and did not finish one race. In 2016, SRV partnered with CM2, a company which helps teams find funding, so that Shepherd can run races to the finish. The number of races Shepherd plans to attempt is unknown, but they are working to put a deal together for Daytona in February. Shepherd and team attempted 30/33 races. Shepherd will be celebrating his 50th year in racing in 2017.

External links

• Official Website of Shepherd Racing Ventures
• Shepherd Racing Ventures Ministry
• Shepherd Racing Ventures owner statistics at Racing-Reference