Winston Cup Series Career
Purvis made his NASCAR debut in 1990. He was hired to drive Bobby Allison's #12 Raybestos Buick at Martinsville Speedway. He started in 31st position for that race, but crashed out and finished 28th. After that, Purvis raced four more times in 1990 in the #51 Plasti-Kote Chevrolet owned by James Finch, who once owned his cars when he raced late model dirt races. His best finish among those was a 31st at North Wilkesboro. He also set his best start of 1990 there: a 24th.
Purvis would run 6 races for Finch in 1991. His best start of that year at 22nd. He set his career best finish to that date at Atlanta. After starting 29th, Purvis completed many laps and finished in the 24th position. Unfortunately, he only finished two races that season.
Once again, Purvis would race 6 times in 1992. He ran two races for Finch finishing 27th at Michigan and 36th at Phoenix. He ran 4 more races for the #12 Raybestos Brakes Chevy for Bobby Allison. His highlight was his career-best finish of 22nd at Richmond.
In 1993, Purvis ran the most races in a season for his career. Making 8 starts, Purvis ran 3 races for Finch and 5 races for Morgan-McClure Motorsports in their #4 Eastman Kodak Chevy. At Talladega in July, Purvis was able to top his previous best starts with a 21st, as well as enjoying the best runs of his career. He earned his best qualifying effort of 18th at Richmond and quickly followed it up with his career-best 16th place finish. The next week, he broke his best finish again with a 13th place finish at Dover and also added a 17th at Martinsville.
In 1994, Finch picked up sponsorship for the #51 from Country Time, and Purvis raced in the Chevy for 6 races, replacing original driver Neil Bonnett, who was killed in a practice accident for the Daytona 500. His best finish of the year came in his first start of 1994. At Atlanta, Purvis finished 21st. However, at Michigan, Purvis was able to break his best start record, with a 13th place start in the race. In the fall race at Michigan, Purvis made the race with T.W. Taylor's #02 Ford. He started that race in 23rd and finished 28th.
Finch once again found sponsorship from Jackaroo BBQ Sauces for the newly renumbered #44 Chevy. Purvis raced 6 races again for Finch in 1995. They struggled, and the best finish for Finch and Purvis was a 29th at Talladega, though once again he set a personal best qualifying effort of 12th. In the fall Atlanta race, Purvis drove for Rick Hendrick and the #58 Leukemia Society Chevy at Atlanta, finishing 26th, his best finish of the year.
Despite only racing 4 races for Finch in 1996, the #44 MCA Records Chevy had their best season effort. In the 1996 Daytona 500, Purvis increased his best career finish to 12th place, where it stands today. He also earned two top-10 qualifying efforts in 1996, the better being his best career start of 6th at the Pepsi 400.
In 1997, with Purvis driving for himself in the Busch Series, he drove his #12 self-owned Chevy into 3 races. He mustered only a 37th, 38th and 39th in those efforts, but did start 8th for the fall race at Charlotte.
After a 3-year absence from the elite division of NASCAR, Purvis returned for his final season in 2001. Purvis was able to make 4 races in the #51 owned by Finch, who bought Fords from Bill Elliott Racing. He started in the top-20 for three of the four racees, but his best finish of the year was a 34th in the #51 Subway Ford at Talladega.
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