From Read Morton, Tom Beard and Nelson Bowers' Mooresville operation to Bobby Ginn's 2007 rebrand and merger, the team carried M&M's, the Army and Valvoline on its cars.
MB2 Motorsports ran Cup cars in Mooresville under three original owners before Bobby Ginn's 2007 takeover. Ginn renamed the operation Ginn Racing and merged it into Dale Earnhardt Inc. that summer, while General Motors brands and sponsors such as M&M's and the U.S. Army stayed on the cars.
MB2 Motorsports was a NASCAR Cup Series team based in Mooresville, North Carolina, close to the sport's hub in Charlotte. Its original owners, Read Morton, Tom Beard and Nelson Bowers, gave it the name that stuck. In 2007 Bobby Ginn bought the team, renamed it Ginn Racing for that season, and then merged it into Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Who founded MB2 Motorsports and who owned it?
The original trio started the operation. Bowers had the longest tenure of the original owners and was the listed owner of the team's entries when the business changed hands. Resort and real-estate developer Bobby Ginn bought the team in 2007, with his family holding 80 percent and longtime team director Jay Frye keeping the remaining 20 percent.
Valvoline co-owned the No. 10 car, later the No. 14, with the principal owners from 2001 to 2005 as MBV Motorsports. Centrix Financial owner Bob Sutton also co-owned the No. 36 in 2005 as MB Sutton Motorsports. Through every change of name and owner, the organisation ran General Motors brands.
A Mooresville Cup team that carried four sponsors, a rebrand under Bobby Ginn and a merger into DEI in a single 2007 season.
How did the No. 01 car begin?
The No. 01 started life as the No. 36 Pontiac in 1997, with M&M's Skittles sponsorship and driver Derrike Cope. Cope finished 27th in the final points standings. Veteran driver Ernie Irvan took over in 1998, and his season was highlighted by a pole at the Brickyard 400.
M&M's replaced Skittles as sponsor in 1999. Irvan retired from racing in September that year after a crash at Michigan International Speedway. Dick Trickle covered for him briefly, and the seat then went to journeyman Jerry Nadeau for the rest of the period.
Who drove the No. 36 in the early 2000s?
When Nadeau left for a commitment at Hendrick Motorsports, the team brought in four-time winner Ken Schrader for the seat. He spent three seasons in the No. 36, from 2000 to 2002, before moving to BAM Racing.
The team then changed the car's sponsor and number. In 2003 the United States Army replaced M&M's, and the number moved from 36 to 01 to match the Army's slogan, "An Army of One." Nadeau returned as driver, but his first ten races brought only two top-20 finishes, with a fourth at Texas as the high point.
What happened to Jerry Nadeau in 2003?
Practice at Richmond International Raceway on 2 May 2003 ended badly for Nadeau, when the No. 01 got loose while he tried to avoid another car in turn one. He spun and hit the wall driver's side first. He suffered fractures to his skull and several ribs, a collapsed lung and temporary paralysis on his left side, and the effects of the crash forced him to retire at age 33.
Jason Keller replaced Nadeau at Richmond and finished 32nd. Several substitutes followed for the rest of the year. Mike Wallace ran the next four races and then four more, with a best finish of 19th at Dover. Mike Skinner, who had left Morgan McClure, made eleven starts in the car and won a pole at Richmond. Boris Said ran both road course races, with a pole and a sixth-place finish at Sonoma.
How did Joe Nemechek become the team's main driver?
Joe Nemechek had been released from Hendrick Motorsports' No. 25, where he had replaced Nadeau. MB2 signed him as the permanent driver of the No. 01 from the last four races of 2003, and he earned a top ten at Atlanta. In 2004 he finished 19th in points.
That season Nemechek won two consecutive poles, and the second led to victory at the 2004 Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway. He led the final 37 laps to win his fourth and final career Cup race. The weekend was a sweep, since he had also taken the Mr. Goodcents 300 Busch Series race the day before.
Nemechek finished 2004 with three top fives and nine top tens, and he signed a contract extension that kept him with MB2 through 2005.
What were Nemechek's 2005 and 2006 seasons like?
Nemechek started 2005 with a strong run at Auto Club Speedway, where he started fourth and led a race-high 63 laps before his Hendrick-built engine expired on lap 178. It was one of six Hendrick engine failures that year, and one of them belonged to teammate Scott Riggs.
By the 26th race at Richmond the No. 01 was 16th in the standings, 135 points behind the last spot in the Chase. The team's hopes were ended when Travis Kvapil collided with Nemechek under caution, just after he had returned to the lead lap. Nemechek still finished 2005 16th in points, with one pole and nine top tens but no wins.
2006 was harder. The team did not score a top ten until a ninth at Charlotte in October, which came in the 31st race of the season. Nemechek went winless again, with no poles and only two top tens, and he finished 27th in points.
How did Mark Martin's part-time season go in 2007?
Veteran Mark Martin, coming off his final year with Roush Racing, drove the No. 01 in 2007 for 23 races, including the Budweiser Shootout and the Nextel All-Star Challenge. Joe Nemechek moved to the team's new No. 13, and Regan Smith was signed to fill the remaining races. The team also changed its name to Ginn Racing to reflect Bobby Ginn's majority interest.
Martin was leading in the final turn of the season-opening Daytona 500, but the caution was not called and Kevin Harvick passed him on the outside to win by two-hundredths of a second. Martin then had several strong finishes, and after the fourth race at Atlanta he was leading the points. He stepped out of the car as scheduled, ending a run of 621 consecutive starts.
In 24 starts for the team Martin scored five top fives and 11 top tens. He finished 27th in points despite missing 12 races.
How did the DEI merger change the team?
Rookie Regan Smith made his debut at Bristol in March, finishing 25th. He ran six more races in the car, with a best finish of 24th at Talladega. On 17 July it was announced that he would move to the No. 14 car full-time, replacing veteran Sterling Marlin.
Aric Almirola, who had been released by Joe Gibbs Racing, signed on as co-driver of the No. 01. The merger of Ginn and Dale Earnhardt Inc. came soon afterwards, and Smith was left on the sidelines while Almirola ran five races. Almirola's best finish was 26th at Phoenix. Both drivers continued with DEI in 2008, and both later became winners in their Cup careers.
On 25 July 2007 Ginn Racing announced that it had merged with Dale Earnhardt Inc. The No. 01 team joined the DEI stable, while the No. 13 and No. 14 teams of Ginn Racing were disbanded.
What was the story of the No. 36 and No. 13?
On 30 April 2004 MB2 Motorsports announced a partnership with Centrix Financial, which joined the No. 01 and No. 10 as an associate sponsor. The team's original number 36 was revived to field a third car part-time for Boris Said, a road course specialist who had driven the No. 01 for two races in 2003, including a pole at Sonoma.
Said opened the No. 36 effort with a sixth at Sonoma in 2004. The oval races were harder, and he finished one lap down in 30th at Auto Club Speedway. In 2005 Said ran 12 races in the No. 36, with a best finish of 27th at Daytona and Texas. He ran well at Talladega, qualifying 12th and holding a top-15 spot until a large pileup ended his race.
Said's road course form was the highlight. At Watkins Glen in 2005 he started 41st after qualifying was rained out and raced with Tony Stewart and Robby Gordon for the win. He finished third, the best result of his career. He left in 2006 to drive for No Fear Racing.
In early 2006 Bill Elliott, the 1988 Cup champion and a two-time Daytona 500 winner, announced that he would drive the No. 36 Chevrolet in the Daytona 500, with Ginn Resorts sponsoring. Elliott qualified 33rd, avoided several wrecks and finished 19th. The team did not run again in 2006.
In 2007 the team went full-time with the No. 13, and Joe Nemechek moved over from the No. 01. CertainTeed sponsored the car for 18 races, with Ginn Resorts filling the rest. Nemechek opened with a ninth at the 2007 Daytona 500, but he did not have another top ten with the team that year. He was released after the race at Chicagoland, and the No. 13 was shut down after the DEI merger.
How did the No. 10 and No. 14 cars develop?
In 2000 MB2 bought the unsponsored No. 10 team of Tyler Jet at the second Pocono race weekend, with Johnny Benson staying as driver. Aaron's and RCA sponsored the car for the rest of that season, and Valvoline took over in 2001.
Valvoline bought an ownership stake in the car and became the first corporation to own a NASCAR team. The team was renamed MBV Motorsports to reflect that presence, though the overall organisation remained MB2. Benson and Valvoline stayed together through 2002, when he won his first career race at the 2002 Pop Secret 400 at Rockingham.
Benson's time with the team ended at the close of 2003, when the team announced it was parting ways with him.
What was Scott Riggs's time with the team like?
Scott Riggs, a 32-year-old Busch Series driver, signed a multi-year contract to replace Benson for 2004. The team had to switch to Chevrolet when Pontiac left the sport. Riggs finished 29th in points in his rookie season, with two top tens and eight DNFs.
In 2005 Riggs won the pole at Martinsville and finished fourth in the Daytona 500. His best performance came at Michigan, where a fuel mileage gamble took him from 29th to second in the final 51 laps. He finished 34th in the standings that year, and Valvoline ended its sponsorship and sold its stake back to the principal owners. Riggs and the car went to Evernham Motorsports.
How did Sterling Marlin and the No. 14 finish?
In November 2005 it was announced that veteran Sterling Marlin would join MB2 from Chip Ganassi Racing for 2006. Waste Management sponsored 12 races, and Centrix Financial and Ginn Resorts filled the rest. The team took the No. 14 in tribute to Marlin's father, who had died the previous year.
Marlin finished 34th in points in 2006 with one top ten. For 2007 Waste Management returned for 12 races, and a new sponsor, Panasonic, backed 12 more. The 2007 season brought struggles and a best finish of 13th. In July Regan Smith was named to replace Marlin, but before he drove the car the No. 14 team merged into the No. 15 team, and its owner points went to the Paul Menard car.
What did the development programme involve?
From 2006 MB2 partnered with Morgan-Dollar Motorsports in the Truck Series, fielding a full-time truck with development driver Kraig Kinser. Kinser struggled as a rookie and was pulled from the ride late in the season.
For 2007 the programme added motocross racer Ricky Carmichael and Jesus Hernandez to development contracts. The team also started a Busch Series team for Regan Smith and Kinser. That car was numbered 04, but it was shut down after the Kentucky race in June.
What was the legacy of the team?
MB2 Motorsports won races under its own name, most notably Joe Nemechek's 2004 Banquet 400 at Kansas, and its cars carried several drivers through the mid-2000s. Its owners' path from MB2 to Ginn Racing and then to DEI shows how Cup teams of that era were built, sold and merged.
The team's drivers included Ernie Irvan, Ken Schrader, Jerry Nadeau, Joe Nemechek and Mark Martin, and many later moved to other organisations. After the merger the former MB2 cars sat inside Dale Earnhardt Inc., which later combined with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2009 as Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.
