Founded by Bill Venturini Sr. in 1982, the Concord team produced champions, racked up 86 ARCA wins and became the longest-running ARCA operation in the US.
Venturini Motorsports was a family-run ARCA team based in Concord, North Carolina, founded in 1982 by Bill Venturini Sr. It raced for more than four decades, produced several NASCAR regulars, and passed to Nitro Motorsports in 2025 after a long development record.
Venturini Motorsports was an American stock car team based in Concord, North Carolina. It raced in the ARCA Menards Series and its East and West counterparts, and it made occasional starts in NASCAR's top series. Founded in 1982, it was the longest continually operated ARCA team in the United States before its ownership passed to Nitro Motorsports in 2025.
How did Bill Venturini Sr. start the team?
Bill Venturini Sr. founded the team in 1982, drawing on the influence of his father, Tony Venturini. Bill was a former NASCAR driver, a two-time ARCA Racing Series champion in 1987 and 1991, and the 1983 ARCA Rookie of the Year before he became an owner.
The operation stayed in the family. Several relatives held senior posts across the business, from chief executive and finance chief to general manager and marketing head. In 2007 Billy, Bill's son, co-founded the Venturini Driver Development Program, which grew into one of the largest such schemes for ARCA drivers in the country. For the best part of two decades that scheme ran alongside the team's ARCA races.
A family team founded in 1982 that developed ARCA drivers for four decades before its ownership passed to Nitro Motorsports.
Why did the team announce its closure in 2025?
On 18 April 2025 Venturini Motorsports said it would shut down its operations and that its ownership would pass to Nitro Motorsports from 15 October. The handover came at the end of the 2025 season and closed a chapter that had run for more than four decades.
The announcement mattered beyond the team itself. Venturini had been a family-run name in ARCA for decades, and its development programme had sent a steady flow of drivers toward the top levels of the sport.
What did the team do in NASCAR's top series?
Venturini's top-tier work was occasional. Bill made his Winston Cup debut at Michigan in 1989, starting 38th and finishing 37th in the No. 35 Chevrolet, which carried a Rain-X sponsorship. Between 1982 and 1995 the team made select starts in the Winston Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck series with Bill driving.
The Xfinity Series return came in 2013 with John Wes Townley in a No. 25 Toyota Camry backed by Zaxby's. The plan covered Bristol, Charlotte and Talladega, with up to eight more races possible. Townley came home 17th on his Bristol debut, then crashed at Charlotte and missed the field at Talladega.
The truck programme followed a similar pattern. Between 1995 and 1996 Bill made three attempts in the No. 35 truck, and two of them ended in the field. In August 2014 the team returned to the Camping World Truck Series at Bristol, fielding ARCA driver Justin Boston with the Zloop backing, while Billy Venturini acted as Boston's crew chief. Billy ran the pit box for Boston, who qualified 27th and ended 30th after a crash.
Did a full-time truck effort follow in 2015?
No. The team had originally intended to finish 2014 with three more races, as preparation for a full-time effort. Plans for 2015 were scrapped when Zloop, the sponsor, changed its priorities, and Boston and Zloop instead moved to Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Venturini still planned to field its No. 25 truck in select races that year for Matt Tifft of Kyle Busch Motorsports, Cody Coughlin of Joe Gibbs Racing, and the team's road-course specialist Brian Wong. The team did not have a scheduled truck race in 2016.
Which drivers came through the ARCA program?
The team's clearest identity was in ARCA. Its alumni include names now racing at NASCAR's top level: Logano, Blaney, Bowman, Byron, Jones and Suarez. Several of them drove for Venturini before moving up, and the development programme was a major reason why.
The No. 15 car produced the most significant season in the team's history. Christian Eckes won the 2019 championship in it, driving nineteen of the twenty races while Harrison Burton took one. Eckes became the first champion since Tim Steele in 1997 to miss a race in the title year. In 2024 Kris Wright ran the full season in the No. 15 and finished third in points, with eight top-five and twelve top-10 finishes.
| Car | Driver and year | Result |
|---|---|---|
| No. 15 | Christian Eckes, 2019 | Champion, driving nineteen of twenty races |
| No. 20 | Corey Heim, 2021 | Won six races and finished second in points |
| No. 20 | Jesse Love, 2023 | Won 10 races and the championship |
| No. 25 | Brennan Poole, 2012 | Third in points, wins at Elko and Pocono |
| No. 25 | Justin Boston, 2013 | Rookie of the Year, third in points |
| No. 25 | Toni Breidinger, 2024 | Fourth in points, eleven top 10s |
| No. 55 | Isabella Robusto, 2024 | Won the pole at Kansas 2, full-time in 2025 |
How did the No. 15 car change drivers over the years?
In 2010 the car ran eighteen races and in 2011 it ran sixteen. In 2012 Reed took fourteen of the nineteen starts in the car, and in 2013 Kyle Benjamin and John Wes Townley shared eleven of the twenty-one races. Townley then drove fifteen of the twenty races in 2014.
The schedule thinned in 2015, when only eight races were entered, with Daniel Suarez and Frank Kimmel among the drivers. The car ran sixteen races in 2016, and Eckes took it over in 2017 alongside other drivers. The 2018 season had twenty races, and Eckes drove nineteen of twenty in 2019 for the title.
After the championship, the car went to Drew Dollar for 2020. He finished third and 14th in the first two races before the pandemic stopped the series, then won at Talladega and ended the year fourth in points. Gracie Trotter ran five races in 2021, and in 2022 four drivers, including Parker Chase and Landon Pembelton, split the seat time. Sean Hingorani competed in eight races in 2023 with other drivers filling the rest of the schedule.
What did the No. 20 and No. 22 cars achieve?
Corey Heim ran the No. 20 full-time in 2021, winning the Lucas Oil 200 and six races overall to finish second in points. He returned for six races in 2022, when Jesse Love ran 14 races in the car. Heim's full-time year was the high point of the car's recent history.
Love returned full-time in 2023, having turned 18 before the season began. He finished seventh in the season opener at Daytona and later won three races in a row at Talladega, Kansas and Charlotte. He went on to win 10 races and the championship. The No. 20 was shared by several drivers again in 2024.
Amber Balcaen joined the No. 22 full-time in 2024, finishing sixth in points with seven top-10 finishes.
What was the No. 25 history?
The No. 25 had a varied history. Sixteen races were run by five drivers in 2008. Mikey Kile moved to the car full-time in 2010, won at Michigan and finished fifth in points. Ten drivers used the car in 2011.
Brennan Poole ran it full-time in 2012 with 15 top 10s, three poles and back-to-back wins at Elko Speedway and Pocono Raceway, finishing third in points. Poole then had to race part-time for two years because of a lack of funding, and he worked on the team as crew chief, spotter, consultant and engineer in that time.
Justin Boston replaced him in 2013 with sponsor Zloop. Boston won Rookie of the Year honours, ending the year third overall behind Mingus and Kimmel. He returned in 2014, winning at Toledo and Madison to finish fifth in points.
Frank Kimmel and Brandon Jones shared the car in 2015, each driving ten races. Kimmel finished thirteenth in points and Jones fifteenth, and their best finishes were both second places, Kimmel at Michigan and Jones at Mobile.
Natalie Decker drove the car full-time in 2018 and finished seventh in points before a promotion to the Truck Series. Michael Self then won races in 2019 and 2020, finishing second in points both years. In 2022 Toni Breidinger ran the car full-time, scoring six top 10s and finishing sixth. She returned for 2024 and collected eleven top 10s, finishing fourth.
What happened to the No. 35 and No. 55 cars?
The No. 35 made its first appearances in 2010, with six races, and returned in 2012 for a season of part-time drivers. In 2013 Milka Duno ran the car full-time, taking a pole at Talladega before wrecking out of that race. Her best finish was eighth at Salem, and she ended the year seventh in points.
The No. 55 ran many drivers over the years. Steve Arpin drove 18 races in 2010, while ten drivers shared the car in 2011. Dalton Sargeant drove the most races in 2016 with 15. Corey Heim ran part-time in 2020, and Gus Dean drove at least five races in 2022.
Isabella Robusto started 2024 with a sixth place at Phoenix and then won the pole at Kansas 2, the sixth female driver to do so. The team confirmed the full-time 2025 plan in December 2024.
What were Venturini Motorsports' biggest achievements?
The team's clearest landmark came in 2006, when Billy Venturini took the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA 200. That win ended a 12-year winless streak, and from that point Venturini drivers won 86 ARCA Menards Series races. That record was built across nearly two decades of racing.
The record reflects a team that combined family ownership with an active development programme. It also followed a 12-year stretch without a win before the 2006 breakthrough, which made that result all the more significant for the family. Its drivers won championships and series races, and its alumni later reached NASCAR's top division. Robusto's Kansas pole in 2024 and Brent Crews's 2023 win at the Illinois State Fairgrounds Racetrack were among the more recent highlights.
What is the legacy of Venturini Motorsports?
The team's main legacy is its longevity. Run by one family from 1982 onwards, it kept a steady supply of drivers flowing into the sport for four decades. Its development programme, which Billy Venturini helped found in 2007, carried that work forward.
Its 2025 sale ended the family-run chapter, but the Driver Development Program and the names it produced remain its most visible contribution to American stock car racing, and its owner statistics are still tracked by Racing-Reference.
