Philip "The King" Morris (born May 11, 1965) is an American former professional

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

driver from

Ruckersville, Virginia Ruckersville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Greene County, Virginia, United States, located in a rural area north of Charlottesville. The population as of the 2020 Estimate was 1,321, a 17.7% increase from the 2010 census with 1,141. Th ...

. He has won five Whelen All-American Series championships and competed in twelve

NASCAR Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to ...

races, finishing fifth in his debut. Morris has also won the

ValleyStar Credit Union 300 The ValleyStar Credit Union 300 is a late model race held at Martinsville Speedway in the early fall each year since 1985. History In 1970, Martinsville Speedway added 250-lap twin features for the Late Model Sportsman and Modified classes annu ...

three times, the most of any driver.

Craftsman Truck Series career

Morris made one career start in the Craftsman Truck Series, his major league

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

debut, which came in 1997. Starting 24th in the field at Martinsville, Morris had an engine let go early and would finish last in the 36-truck field.

Busch Series career

Morris made his NASCAR Busch Series debut at the North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, NC in November 1998, driving the No. 84

Chevy Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and oust ...

. He started 12th and finished in fifth. In 1999 he made 3 races driving the No. 01 Blue Ridge Motorsports Chevrolet. At the

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is ...

in March, he started in 8th and finished 35th, three laps down. At

South Boston Speedway South Boston Speedway, or "SoBo", is a short track located just outside South Boston, Virginia. SoBo is located approximately east of another area familiar to most NASCAR fans, Martinsville. It is owned by Mattco, Inc., the Mattioli family tr ...

in June, Morris started 26th and finished 7th. In August he made his 3rd and final start of 1999 at Bristol, starting 28th and finishing 29th. In 2000, Morris drove 6 races for

Innovative Motorsports Innovative Motorsports (IMI) is a former NASCAR team. It was owned by George DeBidart and began racing in the Busch North Series in the mid-1990s, before moving to the Busch Series in 1998. Winston Cup Innovative ran four Cup races during its ...

in the #30 Little Trees Chevrolet. In his 6 starts, he had a best starting position of 8th at South Boston and a best finish of 28th at South Boston, as well. Morris did not have much success after that, and in 2001 raced his three last NASCAR races. He was 30th and 34th in two races for

Jay Robinson Racing Premium Motorsports (formerly Jay Robinson Racing) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team last fielded the No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 LE full-time for Brennan Poole, and the No. 27 Ca ...

, with the better coming at

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

and then 40th in a race for

Hensley Racing Jeffrey S. Hensley (born November 11, 1962) is an American professional stock car racing driver and crew chief. He works as the crew chief for GMS Racing on their No. 23 Chevrolet Silverado in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driven by Grant ...

at Rockingham. He is often referred to as one of the greatest late model drivers to have existed, with the general consensus being that his name was what stopped him from breaking into the top levels of stock car racing. At the time, NASCAR's top series was sponsored by Winston, owned by

R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) is an American tobacco manufacturing company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and headquartered at the RJR Plaza Building. Founded by R. J. Reynolds in 1875, it is the second-largest tobacco comp ...

, a competitor of

Philip Morris International Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational tobacco company, with products sold in over 180 countries. The most recognized and best selling product of the company is Marlboro. Philip Morris I ...

, which owns brands such as

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The largest Mar ...

. There was never evidence of any connection between the driver and the company.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Philip NASCAR drivers 1965 births Living people People from Greene County, Virginia Racing drivers from Virginia