page_title: Phoenix Racing (NASCAR team)
section_title: 2010s: full-time and sale
hierarchical_section_title: Phoenix Racing (NASCAR team) / Sprint Cup Series / Car No. 51 history / 2010s: full-time and sale
caption_attribution_description: Regan Smith during the 2013 STP Gas Booster 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 7, 2013.
context_page_description: Phoenix Racing is a former motorsports team that competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the Nationwide Series. Owned by Florida businessman James Finch, the team fielded entries from 1990 through 2013. The team fielded a wide variety of drivers and often changed manufacturers, though it often maintained a relationship with Hendrick Motorsports. In Sprint Cup, Phoenix Racing was victorious just once in 251 starts over 24 seasons.
  The team was sold to Harry Scott, Jr. in September 2013, later renamed HScott Motorsports.
context_section_description: Former Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver Aric Almirola was hired to drive for the team in 2010. The team's competitiveness was put into question when it lost its longtime sponsor Miccosukee at the beginning of the season. Almirola failed to qualify three of the first seven events, including the Daytona 500, and start and parked in its four starts due to lack of funds. Almirola left the team after the race at Phoenix to focus on his Truck Series efforts, and was replaced by Mike Bliss and a handful of other drivers, including (Xfinity Series driver) Landon Cassill, (Former F1 driver) Jan Magnussen, and (2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion) Bobby Labonte. Phoenix Racing returned in 2011 despite rumors that Finch had been trying to sell the team. Bill Elliott drove the first 4 races before Landon Cassill took over the ride with sponsorship from Security Benefit. In June 2011, prior to the Kansas race, the team changed the car number to No. 51, which Phoenix Racing originally used when it first competed in the then-Winston Cup Series. He would later have a best career finish of 9th at Michigan.
  For 2012, Cassill was replaced by 2004 Cup Champion Kurt Busch, who had been released from the No. 2 car at Penske Racing due to on-track incidents and off-track temperament, including a profanity-laced tirade directed at ESPN reporter Jerry Punch. The team ran most of the season unsponsored, with HendrickCars.com, Monster Energy, and TAG Heuer coming on for single races. At Talladega in May, Busch ran a "ME" scheme from the movie Talladega Nights that Will Ferrell's character (a similarly controversial star driver) ran in a comeback at the track in one of the film's final scene. Busch's best finish with the team was an impressive 3rd-place finish at Sonoma Raceway after racing for the lead with Clint Bowyer with under ten laps to go. Outside of that high point, Busch was involved in many accidents trying to get the most out of his equipment. He was also suspended for the June race at Pocono after expletives aimed at a reporter after a Nationwide Series race at Dover. David Reutimann replaced Busch in that race, and Busch was welcomed back following a vote by team members. Busch would leave the team following the fall Talladega race for Furniture Row Racing, and was supposed to be replaced by Regan Smith (the former driver with Furniture Row) until Dale Earnhardt, Jr. suffered a concussion in the aftermath of the Talladega race and Smith was needed as a sub for the Charlotte and Kansas races in the Chase. A. J. Allmendinger, coincidentally also released from Penske, in the No. 22 car, due to a failed substance test, drove the No. 51 for those two races, with Smith returning later in the year.
  For 2013, the team returned full-time, fielding a number of different drivers. The team signed Guy Roofing, a company from the team's hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina, as the sponsor for the Daytona 500 and two other early season races. Regan Smith drove the car in the 500 to a strong seventh-place finish, and would run five other races that season with a best finish of sixth. Allmendinger ran 9 races, including running the retro Country Time scheme Phoenix had run in the past, with three top 15 finishes all in his first four starts. Austin Dillon ran four races, and Ryan Truex made his series debut at Bristol in the fall. Bobby Labonte, Owen Kelly, Mike Bliss, Jacques Villeneuve, and Brendan Gaughan would all make single starts for the team in 2013.
  In spite of early success (the team was ranked 9th in owners points after the fifth race of the season) and a more affordable car model in the Gen 6 Chevy SS, lack of long-term funding continued to plague the team.  Citing this recurring lack of stable sponsorship, Finch announced in May 2013 that he would close operations after the 2013 Brickyard 400. In late June, Finch announced that he was selling his team. The team found a buyer July 17 and Finch stopped sponsoring the team after Indianapolis. He would continue to own the team through Labor Day weekend, providing assistance in the trans
caption: Regan Smith in 2013.
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