Eel River Racing

Eel River Racing was a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup team that operated from 1999 to 2001. The team's history of drivers include Michael Waltrip, Kenny Wallace, Jeff Fuller, Rick Mast, and Mike Bliss, all of whom piloted Pontiac Grand Prix for the team.

The team's best finish was a ninth place run at Talladega on October 21, 2000 with Bliss. [ [http://racing-reference.info/owner?id=birmija01 Owner's statistics] , Retrieved June 13 2007] The team owner Jack Birningham passed away in the spring of 2007. The team's only full season was in 2000, when Fuller and Bliss raced for the team. That year the team had 10 DNF's, and would struggle to reach the top-40 in points. After a long season , the team would end up 38th in driver's points.

After running the previous two seasons with sponsorship from Pfizer and its Viagra brand, Eel River Racing began the 2001 season with Wallace driving a largely unsponsored car. After running with one-off sponsorships for most of the early season races, the team eventually was able to secure sponsorship from Duke's Mayonnaise and Sauer Pickles, who joined the team for the Coca-Cola 600.

The team failed to qualify for a race again until the Pennsylvania 500, at which point Wallace had departed and been replaced by Rick Mast. After missing the Brickyard 400, Mast qualified for the next five races after that, ending with the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 in what would prove to be the last race for Eel River as they shut down shortly thereafter (Mast attempted to qualify for the next several races in the car but failed to do so).

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