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Tony Raines
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Floyd Anthony Raines (born April 14, 1964 in LaPorte, Indiana) is an American race car driver, previously driving in the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for Hall of Fame Racing in the #96 Texas Instruments Chevrolet Monte Carlo. He also formerly raced for Kevin Harvick in the Nationwide Series with Tony Stewart and made his cup debut driving the #74 Chevrolet for the once famous BACE motorsports.
He is a former National Touring Series champion in the now defunct American Speed Association and 1999 Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
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Encyclopedia
Floyd Anthony Raines (born April 14, 1964 in LaPorte, Indiana) is an American race car driver, previously driving in the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for Hall of Fame Racing in the #96 Texas Instruments Chevrolet Monte Carlo. He also formerly raced for Kevin Harvick in the Nationwide Series with Tony Stewart and made his cup debut driving the #74 Chevrolet for the once famous BACE motorsports.
He is a former National Touring Series champion in the now defunct American Speed Association and 1999 Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. In 2008, he drove for both Front Row Motorsports #34 entry and for Haas CNC Racing's #70 entry, both in the Sprint Cup Series. For the 2009 season, he will drive the #34 Chevrolet for Front Row Motorsports in the Nationwide Series, and will drive their #37 entry in the Sprint Cup Series.
Before NASCAR
In 1988, Raines competed in five ASA races, and then returned for his rookie year in 1989. In 1990, Raines moved to NASCAR's All Pro Series, where he won Rookie of the Year and finished fourth in the final standings.
He returned to ASA in 1991 for a four-year stint as driver of a new team formed by Ernie Roselli. In 1995, he had moved to join crew chief Howie Lettow and Baker Motorsports. That in turn led to the 1996 championship and Raines' first major NASCAR ride.
Craftsman Truck Series
Raines entered the 1997 season with a full-time ride, running for Rookie of the Year honors in the #19 Pennzoil Ford F-150 for Kurt Roehrig. After failing to qualify for the first race of the season, Raines came back to win the seventh race of the season at I-70 Speedway. He finished 15th in points and ended the season with two top-5 and seven top-10 finishes, as well as two outside-pole positions.
In 1998, he won three races (I-70, Louisville and Texas) and earned 6 additional top-5 with fifteen top-tens, ending the season fifth in the standings.
After moving to the Busch and Winston/Nextel Cup series, he has made a total of two starts in the Craftsman Truck Series:
In 1999, he made one start in the Truck Series at The Milwaukee Mile for Gerry Gunderman in the #68 truck in 1999 when Raines started 22nd and finished 19th.
In 2004, he returned to the series for one race at Atlanta, finishing seventeenth in the #08 1-800-4-A-Phone Chevrolet Silverado for Green Light Racing.
Nationwide Series
1999
In 1999, Roehrig lost the Pennzoil sponsorship, causing Raines to move up to the Busch Series, signing with the #74 BACE Motorsports team. Raines raced 31 times during the season, with the exception of the Coca-Cola 300, in which Steve Grissom drove. Despite not having major sponsorship, Raines had a best finish of fourth and finished 12th in points, capturing the Rookie of the Year honors.
2000
In 2000, Raines moved to BACE's #33 Bayer Chevrolet Monte Carlo full-time. He had a career-best second-place finish at South Boston Speedway, but with no other top-tens, he fell to fifteenth in the final standings.
2001-2002
He would return in 2001 with Alka-Seltzer sharing sponsorship duties, winning his first career pole at Nazareth Speedway and had a career-high thirteen top-ten finishes, finishing sixth in points. He followed that up with five top-fives in 2002, but fell six spots in points.
2003
In 2003, Raines continued to drive the #33 Outdoor Channel Chevrolet Monte Carlo part-time for BACE while driving full-time in the Cup Series. He had a total of five top-10s in 2003 and finished 39th in the points.
2004
Due to a lack of sponsorship in 2004, BACE closed its Cup team and focused back on the Busch Series. BACE hired Damon Lusk to drive its #74 Outdoor Channel Chevrolet Monte Carlo; but after four races, Raines returned to the team in favor of Lusk, and finished sixth in his first race at Bristol. He ran fifteen races for BACE that season, and drove additional races for Phoenix Racing, Haas CNC Racing, and Kevin Harvick Incorporated.
2005-2008
In addition to his Cup ride in 2005 and 2007, Raines drove part-time for Kevin Harvick Incorporated in the #33 Camping World/Roadloans.com Chevrolet Monte Carlo. In 2005, he had nine top-tens in 23 starts, with a 4th place finish at the Federated Auto Parts 300. In 2007 he had three top tens in nine starts. He returned to the newly renamed Nationwide Series in 2008 for one race, finishing 26th in the #52 Means Racing/Front Row Motorsports car at the Dollar General 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.
2009
In 2009, Tony will be returning to the Nationwide Series for a full time schedule driving the #34 Chevrolet for Front Row Motorsports.
Cup Series
2002-2003: BACE Motorsports
Raines made his Nextel Cup debut with BACE Motorspots at Dover in the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, raising some eyebrows qualifying 17th, and finishing 31st in the #73 car. He ran six more races that season in the Winston Cup, driving the #74 Staff America Chevrolet Monte Carlo and his best finish was 29th at Atlanta.
BACE and Raines moved to the Winston Cup full-time in 2003, completing the whole season for NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors. Despite running without major sponsorship, Raines had a sixth-place finish at North Carolina Speedway and finished 33rd in the championship standings, and third in the Rookie of the Year race. During the last six races of the season, Raines was in the top 20 in points gained for those six races. In the Busch series, Raines had another second-place finish and three consecutive eighth-place runs, allowing him to finish 39th in points despite an abbreviated schedule.
2004-2005: Post BACE Motorsports/Pre HOF Racing
After BACE closed its Cup team, Raines ran one-race deals for Phoenix Racing and for Bill Davis Racing in 2004, before running four races for Competitive Edge Motorsports. His best finish in 2004 was 28th.
He made a total of six Nextel Cup races in 2005, his first being a 35th-place finish for Front Row Motorsports at Richmond. Late in the season, he drove the #37 Dodge Charger for R&J Racing for six races. At Michigan, Tony inherited the lead late in the race, however with a handful of laps left ran out of fuel. The best finish for the pairing was a 22nd place finish at Talladega Speedway
2006-2007: Hall of Fame Racing
Towards the end of the 2005 Nextel Cup Series, he was announced as co-driver of a new team: the #96 Texas Instruments/DLP for Hall of Fame Racing. He would share the ride in 2006 with Terry Labonte. In the 29 races he drove, Raines had a seventh-place finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway and finished 35th in drivers points.
He was expected to complete the full 2007 schedule with Hall of Fame Racing, but was replaced on road course events by Ron Fellows. His best finish in 2007 was ninth at Talladega and finished in the Top 25 in Owners Points. At the end of the 2007 season, Tony Raines was replaced by J. J. Yeley in the #96 car for the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and the team quickly fell out of the top-35 in points missing numerous races in the process.
2008
Tony Sat out the first 5 races of the 2008 season. It was said that he had been offered Nationwide and Truck rides but was waiting out for a Sprint Cup ride. Tony attempted his first race of the season for E&M Motorsports driving the #08 Dodge sponsored by Rhino Energy Drink. Unfortunately, the team was unable to qualify for any races together. He successfully qualified for his first Cup race of the season at Dover in the Front Row Motorsports #34 car, however had failed to make any other races for the team, partly because of a high number of qualifying rainouts. Tony began driving the #70 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet at Pocono, resulting in an 18th place finish, that team's second best finish of the season up to that point, and he bested that finish two races later with a 17th place finish at Bristol. Tony returned to Front Row Motorsports at Richmond and New Hampshire, only for qualifying to be canceled due to rain at both races, resulting in DNQ's for the team (this has been a major problem for this team as the 2008 season has produced a record amount of qualifying rain outs). He got back behind the wheel of the #70 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet at the Camping World 400 at Dover International Speedway, qualifying an impressive 13th for the race, the best of any team outside the top-35 in points, and finished 28th. In the race at Talledega, Tony was running near the Top-10 when a lead car lost a tire, causing the first "big one" of the race, and unfortunately the #70 was involved in the wreck and finished 34th. Tony ran the remainder of the season for Haas CNC, with the exception of the race at Phoenix where Johnny Sauter ran the race. Tony Stewart takes over partial ownership and becomes the driver of what was the #70 car beginning in 2009.
It has been reported that Tony has been helping former CASCAR champion JR Fitzpatrick and the TRG Motorsports ARCA team during testing at Daytona in December of 2008, as the rookie has little experience with drafting.
2009
In addition to his return to a full-time schedule in the Nationwide Series for Front Row Motorsports, he attempted to qualify Front Row's #37 Dodge Charger in the 2009 Daytona 500, however was unsuccessful. It is possible that the team will attempt more cup races in 2009.
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