Mike Bliss
Mike Bliss | |||||||
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![]() Bliss at Road America in 2012
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Born | Milwaukie, Oregon, U.S. |
April 5, 1965 ||||||
Achievements | 1993 USAC Silver Crown Champion 2002 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion |
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NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
179 races run over 17 years | |||||||
Car no., team | No. 32 (Go FAS Racing) No. 33 (Circle Sport) |
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2015 position | 66th | ||||||
Best finish | 28th (2005) | ||||||
First race | 1998 NAPA Autocare 500 (Martinsville) | ||||||
Last race | 2015 Bojangles' Southern 500 (Darlington) | ||||||
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NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
356 races run over 17 years | |||||||
Car no., team | No. 14 (TriStar Motorsports) | ||||||
2015 position | 31st | ||||||
Best finish | 5th (2004, 2008, 2009) | ||||||
First race | 1998 Kenwood Home & Car Audio 300 (California) | ||||||
Last race | 2016 Hisense 4K TV 300 (Charlotte) | ||||||
First win | 2004 Lowe's Presents the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 300 (Charlotte) | ||||||
Last win | 2009 Carquest Auto Parts 300 (Charlotte) | ||||||
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NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career | |||||||
203 races run over 12 years | |||||||
2009 position | 38th | ||||||
Best finish | 1st (2002) | ||||||
First race | 1995 Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic (Phoenix) | ||||||
Last race | 2009 Ford 200 (Homestead) | ||||||
First win | 1995 Lowe's 150 (North Wilkesboro) | ||||||
Last win | 2006 EasyCare Vehicle Service Contracts 200 (Atlanta) | ||||||
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Statistics current as of November 21, 2015. |
Michael "Mike" Bliss (born April 5, 1965) is an American professional stock car racing driver. A journeyman NASCAR competitor, he has run in all three major series. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 32 Ford Fusion for Go FAS Racing and the No. 33 Chevrolet SS for Circle Sport.
Contents
Racing career
Bliss began racing at age 10. 1993 marked his first major victory when he captured the USAC Silver Crown National Championship.
1995–1999
Bliss began racing in NASCAR in 1995, driving the #08/2 Ford F-150 for Ultra Motorsports in the new Craftsman Truck Series. Competing in 19 out of 20 races, Bliss picked up a win at North Wilkesboro Speedway and finished eighth in points. The next year, with sponsorship from Team ASE Racing, he won at Evergreen and I-70 and finished fifth in points. In 1998, he made his debut in the upper-NASCAR ranks. First, he finished 26th at the Kenwood Home & Car Audio 300 driving a car owned by Kevin Schwantz, then two weeks later, finished seventh at Indianapolis Raceway Park for Michael Waltrip Racing. He also ran a pair of Winston Cup races that season, finishing 25th at Martinsville Speedway in the #96 for American Equipment Racing.
After winning six poles and finishing fourth in points in 1998, Bliss announced he would not return to the team after 1998, and signed with Roush Racing to drive the #99 Exide Batteries Ford. He picked up a win at Heartland Park Topeka and finished fifth in points. During the season, he began to pick up offers to run in the Cup Series, and left Roush. In 1999, Bliss ran two Winston Cup races for Bahari Racing with sponsorship from Sara Lee products.
2000–2004
In 2000, Bliss signed to drive the #14 Conseco Pontiac Grand Prix owned by A.J. Foyt Racing in a bid for NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year honors. Because the team had no owner’s points, Bliss failed to qualify for three out of the first four races of the season, and he was quickly released. He soon signed to drive the #27 Pfizer/Viagra Pontiac for Eel River Racing. He had a ninth place run at Talladega Superspeedway and finished 39th in points that year.
Bliss was unable to pick up a full-time year for the 2001 season. He finished 40th at Daytona International Speedway in a one-race deal for David Ridling, but that team soon closed its doors. During the middle of the season, he briefly returned to Eel River after they fired their regular driver, but he was unable to qualify for a race. Late in the season, he garnered a ninth place run at South Boston in a one-race deal for IWX Racing's Steve Coulter.
In 2002, Coulter returned full-time to the Truck Series, and signed Bliss as the driver. Bliss picked up five wins and won the Truck series championship. He would sign to drive the #20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Busch Series the following year, posting fourteen top-tens and finishing tenth in points. That same year, he competed in the International Race of Champions, winning at Chicagoland Speedway. He ran only one Winston Cup race in 2002, subbing for Jamie McMurray (who was subbing for the injured Sterling Marlin, but had a prior commitment) in the #40 Coors Light Dodge. In 2004, Bliss picked up his first career Busch win at Lowe's Motor Speedway and finished fifth in points. After he was declined a job as driver for Gibbs’ Cup program, Bliss announced his departure, and replaced Ward Burton at Haas CNC Racing’s Cup ride, posting a tenth place run at Darlington Raceway.
Before leaving Joe Gibbs Racing, Mike Bliss had his career-best finish to date in his Cup series career in the 2004 Chevy Rock & Roll 400. Bliss-driving the #80 Hunt's Ketchup car- got penalized for speeding on pit road on lap 332. Despite this he formed a tremendous comeback, finishing 4th-his first and only top five to date.
2005–2009
Bliss signed with Haas CNC full-time in 2005, where he posted two top-tens in the latter half of the season and finished 28th in points. He came near to a Cup victory, nearly winning a large bonus paycheck and a win in the Nextel Open event but was crashed by Brian Vickers on the final lap in the final turn. Vickers won the race and the bonus paycheck, while Bliss slid across the finish line in 2nd place. Mike Bliss was visibly upset with Vickers in the post-race ceremonies saying "I just got plain dumped and I would not have wrecked him to win this race. Now he is in the big show (the All-Star Race) and I am not."[citation needed]
At the end of the year, Bliss departed to return to the #16 in the Truck Series, winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway and finishing eleventh in the final standings. In addition, he ran a part-time in the Busch Series this season, splitting time between Frank Cicci Racing with Jim Kelly and SKI Motorsports. Late in the season, Bliss began driving the #49 BAM Racing Dodge Nextel Cup Car, and finished out the 2006 season driving the car for BAM. Bliss was signed to drive the car in 2007, but after a long string of DNQs, he resigned from the organization midway through the season. He drove the first four races of the 2007 Craftsman Truck season for Key Motorsports and drove 13 more Truck races for Bobby Hamilton Racing in the #4 Dodge Ram. He also drove 22 races in the Busch Series for Fitz Motorsports in the #22 Dodge Charger with sponsorship from Supercuts and Family Dollar. He had signed to drive for Fitz full-time in 2008, but joined Phoenix Racing shortly after the season started. He matched his career best fifth place finish in points and also ran part-time schedules in Cup and Trucks.
Bliss scored his second career Nationwide win, taking advantage of a his fuel mileage and getting a caution at the right time, at Lowes Motor Speedway, and NASCAR declared the race official after 170 of 200 laps due to rain. On August 2, 2009 Bliss was let go from Phoenix Racing. He spent the rest of the season splitting time with MSRP Motorsports, NEMCO Motorsports, and CJM Racing before returning to Phoenix for the season finale at Homestead. Despite parking early in multiple races, three late top 5 runs pushed Bliss into 5th overall again. This was one spot better than when he was when he was fired from the #1 car.
2010–present
On December 3, 2009, it was announced that Bliss would return to the Cup Series full-time driving for Tommy Baldwin Racing in the #36 Wave Energy Drink Chevrolet Impala. In April 2010, Bliss parted ways with TBR after Phoenix, and returned to Phoenix Racing to take over the #09 beginning at Talladega.
He returned to full-time status in 2011 by joining Mark Smith's TriStar Motorsports in the Nationwide Series in the #19 Chevrolet. Despite being originally paired with old crew chief Dave Fuge, Fuge left the team to form a Nationwide Series team with Derrike Cope. After interim crew chief Wes Ward left the team, former TRG Motorsports crew chief Paul Clapprood took over, leading Bliss to a 12th place points finish. For 2012, Bliss moved to the #44. When teammate Tayler Malsam was released from the 19 team in October, he drove it for the remainder of the year. He ended the season with 1 top 10 at Daytona in July where he finished 8th, and also finished 8th in points.
While continuing to drive for TriStar in the Xfinity series through the 2014 season, he also drove part-time in the Sprint Cup Series for Smith's start and park Humphrey Smith Motorsports team. In September 2013, he drove Phoenix Racing's No. 51 Chevrolet in the Sprint Cup AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which was James Finch's final start as a team owner. Bliss had scored Finch's last win during a Nationwide race at Charlotte in 2009.[1]
Bliss served as standby driver for David Ragan in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford at the 2014 Pocono 400 with Ragan on paternity watch.[2] Later in the season, Bliss joined BK Racing in the No. 93 Toyota for the Quaker State 400,[3] finishing 41st.[4]
Bliss was hired by Go FAS Racing to drive the #32 Sprint Cup car sharing it with Bobby Labonte and Boris Said in 2015, while being scheduled to continue driving full time for TriStar in the Xfinity Series.
At the season opening Xfinity race at Daytona in 2015, Bliss was replaced by Scott Lagasse, Jr. because Lagasse brought sponsorship. Bliss returned to the car and drove through the spring Talladega race before being permanently removed from the car because former teammate Eric McClure brought full sponsorship. Bliss' ride was replaced by the new #24 driven by McClure and the #19 was relegated to a start and park ride. Bliss moved to a mentoring role for TriStar drivers McClure, Blake Koch, Cale Conley, and David Starr. He also continued in his part-time Sprint Cup ride with Go FAS Racing, but was displaced from this ride after the first Michigan race.
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Sprint Cup Series
Xfinity Series
Camping World Truck Series
* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points
Images
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Racing at Road America in 2011
References
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mike Bliss. |
- Official website
- Mike Bliss driver statistics at Racing-Reference
Sporting positions | ||
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Preceded by | NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion 2002 |
Succeeded by Travis Kvapil |
- Articles with unsourced statements from July 2013
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- Official website not in Wikidata
- Living people
- 1965 births
- People from Milwaukie, Oregon
- Racing drivers from Oregon
- NASCAR drivers
- NASCAR Truck Series champions
- International Race of Champions drivers
- Sportspeople from the Portland metropolitan area
- 20th-century American racing drivers
- 21st-century American racing drivers