PHIL  PARSONS   -   06/21/1957

a former NASCAR driver and owner of MSRP Motorsports . He is also the younger brother of the late 1973 Cup champion and former NBC/TNT commentator Benny Parsons.  During his racing career, he also embarked on a career as a racing TV commentator, providing color analysis for the Mizlou Television Network.  Many of these shows can be seen on TV4U.Com.  He is now a commentator for Speed Channel's coverage of the NASCAR Truck Series.  Parsons began racing in the Late Model Series and the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series. When the Late Model Series became the Busch Series in 1982, Parsons joined the circuit full-time, driving the #28 Skoal Pontiac for Johnny Hayes.  He won his first career race at Bristol Motor Speedway, and led the championship points early in the season.  He won the pole in two of the last three races of the season and finished fifth in points.  In 1984, Hayes and Parsons joined the Cup series and ran twenty-two races, posting three top-8 finishes and wound up 24th in the standings, second behind Rusty Wallace for Rookie of the Year.  In 1986, Parsons ran seventeen races, and had a best finish of fifth at Talladega.  He had four more top-tens, but finished twenty-seventh in the final standings.  The following season, he got his first full-time Cup job with the Jackson brothers when he signed on to drive their #55 Copenhagen Oldsmobile, garning seven top-tens and a fourteenth-place points finish. In 1988, Parsons led 52 laps at the Winston 500 and won his only career Cup race.  He began 1990 driving the #4 Kodak car for Morgan-McClure 

Motorsports, but was released three races into the season. He ran at Bristol for Jackson in a one-race deal, finishing 25th, and also drove for Phil Barkdoll and Lake Speed. He made his most starts with the fledgling Diamond Ridge Motorsports, his best finish with them a 21st at Darlington. He did not run the Cup series in 1991, instead running a handful of Xfinity races in his own equipment leased from Diamond Ridge.  In 1994, Parsons returned to the Xfinity Series on a limited schedule for Bill Papke.  He won his 

First Cup start - Daytona 500 1983

1983 Talladega Cup crash

second and final Xfinity race at the Champion 300, and finished 25th in points after running just seventeen races.  He went back to full-time racing in 1995 in the #99 Luxaire Chevy owned by his wife Marcia, posting nine top-tens and finishing eighth in points.  In 1996, he finished in the top-ten in each of the first six races of the season posted a best finish of sixth in points.  He also made his final Cup debut that season for SABCO Racing at Darlington, when he replaced Joe Nemechek, who was on bereavement leave (Nemechek's brother John was killed at Homestead the previous week).  He finished 31st.  In 2000, he joined ESPN and eventually SPEED as a commentator for truck races. His last start in NASCAR competition came at Kentucky Speedway in 2001.  Phil also

served as a Pit Reporter for NASCAR on TNT.  As of 2023 he is the lead announcer of the NASCAR Truck Series races on Fox Sports1.  For his career he ran in 201 Cup events with the lone win at Talladega in 1988.  He also posted ten Top 5 finishes.  In the Xfinity series he ran 285 events; winning twice and 38 Top 5's.  Some info from Wikipedia

1988-1989 Cup ride

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