Tommy Baldwin Racing

Tommy Baldwin Racing

Owner(s)	Tommy Baldwin, Jr.
Base	Mooresville North Carolina
Series	Sprint Cup Series Nationwide Series
Race drivers	Cup Series: 7. Dave Blaney 36. J.J. Yeley Victor Gonzalez, Jr. (road courses)
Sponsors	Cup Series: 7. Sany 36. Golden Corral(superspeedways) United Mining Equipment(Kentucky, Bristol) Accell Construction(Phoenix, Texas, Kansas)
Manufacturer	Chevrolet
Career
Debut	2001 Little Trees 300
Latest race	2013 Southern 500 (Darlington)
Races competed	Cup: 94 Nationwide: 35
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0
Pole positions	0

Tommy Baldwin Racing is a NASCAR team based in Mooresville North Carolina. The team is owned by former crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr., son of late modified driver Tom Baldwin. The team currently fields the No. 7 Chevrolet SS for Dave Blaney in a full-time capacity and the No. 36 for J.J. Yeley.

Sprint Cup Series

Car No. 10 History

For 2012, TBR reached an agreement with Stewart-Haas Racing to field a car for Danica Patrick in 10 Sprint Cup races, beginning with the 2012 Daytona 500. The 10 team carried 10 race sponsorship from GoDaddy.com with Patrick. The cars were run out of TBR's shop. The team utilized Hendrick engines for Patrick and Earnhardt-Childress Racing engines for TBR. A number of other drivers also ran in the 10, including Tomy Drissi, Tony Raines, and J.J. Yeley. For 2013 the car was under the full ownership of SHR.

Car No. 7 History

In 2010, Baldwin began fielding a second car for a number of events, the No. 35 Chevy. Johnny Sauter attempted three races with the car; it did not qualify at California and at Martinsville, but did make the field at Phoenix. Aric Almirola unsuccessfully attempted Talladega as well.

In 2011, the No. 35 car, qualified for the first Talladega race with Steve Park driving, but retired from the race early. Park also attempted one more race in the #35. The car was a fan sponsored Len Boehler tribute car. The Len Boehler tribute was originally planned for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, but was moved to New Hampshire due to a lack of donations; the team also said that a Northeast track (where the Whelen Modified Tour runs) would be more suitable and had a larger fan-base. The 35 failed to qualify for Loudon. Geoffrey Bodine will also run five races in the No. 35 with sponsorship backing from Luke Associates. He will drive the car at Daytona, Charlotte, Talladega, Texas, and Homestead. Blaney attempted the Watkins Glen race in the No. 35 while road course veteran Ron Fellows drove the #36; Blaney did not qualify for that race while Fellows finished 30th after a last-lap crash. Blaney will also attempt the September Richmond race with backing from Golden Corral and Pepsi Max while Stephen Leicht drove the 36 in his first NASCAR race since 2009.

For 2012, the #35 points were switched to TBR's #36 team (The former #35 finished 44th in 2011 owner's points, not guaranteeing the team a start for the first five races of 2012). Blaney left Fontana, the fifth race of the 2012 season and the last race where 2011 owner's points were used, 28th in owner's points, guaranteeing the team a start at Martinsville. Allen Heinke, owner of Connecticut-based construction company and TBR sponsor Mohawk Northeast, is listed as the owner of the 36.

For 2013, TBR changed the car number to 7 in honor of team owner Tommy Baldwin's father, who used the number 7NY during his days in NASCAR's Modified division. Heavy machinery manufacturer Sany will sponsor the 7 team in 14 races in 2013.

Car No. 36 History

Tommy Baldwin's main car is the No. 36 team, which he started in 2009. On January 8, 2009, Baldwin announced that he would restart TBR despite the slumping economy. The team later announced that former Evernham driver Scott Riggs would drive the #36. The team made the first two races of the season, even earning sponsorship from Red Bank Outfitters and Mahindra Tractors, but did not qualify for the next three events. Riggs, who qualified for eight races in twelve attempts, announced he would leave the team after Charlotte. Mike Skinner, Patrick Carpentier (in races that would conflict with Skinner's truck series schedule), and Brian Simo (road courses) would take over. Riggs' departure came after TBR decided to become a start and park team, and Riggs decided he wanted no part of that. Carpentier left the team in September and Michael McDowell took over. Robert Richardson finished 18th at the November Talladega race.

In 2010 Mike Bliss was hired to drive the No. 36 for TBR. Wave Energy Drink sponsored the team, and switched manufacturers from Toyota to Chevrolet in 2010 and used Earnhardt-Childress Engines. In April, Bliss and Baldwin parted ways after the team failed to qualify in 2 of the last 3 events. Johnny Sauter drove at Texas and Talladega. After Talladega, Casey Mears took over the No. 36 ride and qualified for the Richmond race while failing to make Darlington. Sauter returned to the No. 36 at Dover while Mears went to Red Bull Racing as a replacement for Brian Vickers. Geoffrey Bodine made his first race since 2004 at Pocono. Steve Park finished 13th in his first Cup Series race since 2003 at Daytona. It was announced on June 16, 2010 that Mears will return to the No. 36 following his release from Red Bull. Ron Fellows drove the car at the road course race in Watkins Glen, New York. Dave Blaney and J.J. Yeley also competed in the car.

For 2011, TBR brought back Blaney to drive the #36. TBR planned to attempt every race and complete a minimum of sixteen events depending on sponsorship; the team started the season with no primary sponsor and went to Speedweeks with an unsponsored black Chevrolet. The team received 11th hour sponsorship from Golden Corral after TBR made its third consecutive Daytona 500. Blaney led three laps and finished 26th after taking damage from a lap 196 wreck. Oklahoma-based Accell Construction became an 6-race sponsor for the team. All Sport later sponsored the car at Martinsville.. The team suffered misfortune again at the April Talladega race when Blaney nearly spun out while at the front. He salvaged a 27th place finish after leading 21 laps. Golden Corral later stepped up as a 19-race primary sponsor while Big Red joined the team for 5. The team elected to skip the exhibition race at Charlotte to work on improving the team and preparing for the upcoming points races. At the rain-delayed September race in Atlanta, Mike Skinner drove the 36 after Blaney developed a case of kidney stones. Blaney started and parked for Germain Racing, while Skinner drove the 36 to a 27th place finish. At Richmond, Stephen Leicht drove the 36 in his return to Cup. For the final three races of 2011, Blaney moved to the No. 35 and Geoffrey Bodine moved to the #36. Following a 13th place finish at the April 2011 Richmond race, the No. 36 moved into the Top 35 for the first time in team history. The team's best finish is third at the October 2011 Talladega race, when Dave Blaney drove the #36.

For 2012, the #36 team returned full-time with Blaney behind the wheel. The team lost most of its Golden Corral sponsorship save for the superspeedways, forcing the team to run unsponsored most of the season. The 36 teams owners points were transferred to the No. 10 car for the season. Ryan Pemberton was brought on as Blaney's crew chief. Blaney successfully attempted the first five races of 2012 and kept the team in the Top 35.

In the 2013 season, TBR planned to run as a one-car team with the renumber #7 team going full-time. The 36 will attempt to run the full schedule pending sponsorship. J.J. Yeley will run the superspeedway races with Golden Corral sponsorship and the Bristol and Kentucky races with United Mining Equipment. Accell Construction will sponsor the 36 at Phoenix, Texas, and Kansas. For the road courses, Puerto Rican native Victor Gonzalez, Jr. will pilot the 36; he would be the first competitor from the Caribbean region to compete in NASCAR's top division.

Nationwide Series

TBR made its official debut in 2001 at Charlotte. Ward Burton started 4th and finished 8th in the No. 5 Pillsbury Chevrolet. Burton ran the same car at Homestead-Miami Speedway, qualifying 6th and finishing 7th. The next year the team would switch its number and manufacturer. The team fielded the No. 6 Pepsi Dodge driven by Wally Dallenbach. Dallenbach would start 26th and finish 14th in the team's first race. Dallenbach scored two top tens at Charlotte and Phoenix. Damon Lusk would take over the No. 6 car starting at Richmond but crashed out of the 14th lap. Despite the rocky start, Lusk and TBR would make a run for Rookie of the Year in 2003, with sponsorship from Sta-Rite Pumps. Lusk had a consistent season with only 2 DNFs but would lose out on ROTY to David Stremme and Coy Gibbs.

The following year, Unilever backed TBR, and subsequently announced its Hungry Drivers program. Unilever would select four drivers and run each of them in three Busch Series races. The chosen drivers were Mark McFarland, Tracy Hines, Scott Lynch, and Paul Wolfe. Wolfe was eventually chosen after scoring two top-20 finishes. In 2005, TBR's Busch Series team was bought out by Evernham Motorsports (now Richard Petty Motorsports) and TBR closed up its team.

Car #8 History

In 2012, Baldwin announced his return to the Nationwide Series. The team will run six races in a #36 Chevrolet for Ryan Blaney, son of TBR Cup Series driver Dave. As part of the deal, SealWrap will sponsor all of Ryan Blaney's attempts. They will also run the #36 for 2011 K&N East Series Champion Ryan Truex at Daytona in February and once again at Daytona in July for Whelen Modified driver and 2010 NWMT series champion Bobby Santos III. Brad Parrott will act as crew chief for the team.

In 2013, the team to field the #8 Chevrolet Camaro in a alliance with Team SLR during the 2013 NASCAR Nationwide season. Sharing the driving duties of the #8 car with Scott Lagasse Jr. and Corey LaJoie.

External links

• Official website
• Tommy Baldwin Racing owner statistics at Racing Reference