Ted Musgrave - Winston Cup Career

Winston Cup Career

In 1990, Musgrave was called upon by Winston Cup team owner Ray DeWitt to replace Rich Vogler, who had been killed at a wreck at Salem Speedway. Musgrave had four starts in Cup that year, his best finish being a 22nd at the Checker Auto Parts 500. From 1991 to 1993 he raced the #55 for the DeWitt/Ulrich team. He was runner-up to Bobby Hamilton for Rookie of the Year in 1991 and had twelve top-ten finishes.

In 1992, driving for Dewitt/Ulrich, he led all Winston Cup drivers in laps completed. In 1994, he was hired by Jack Roush to race for Roush Racing in the #16 Family Channel Ford Thunderbird as a teammate with Mark Martin. In his first season, Musgrave had three poles, and finished fifteenth in points. In 1995, Musgrave had a breakout year of sorts, posting 7 top-five finishes (including two second-place finishes) and 13 top-tens. At one point in the season, he was third in Winston Cup points. He slumped late in the season and finished 7th, but most felt his first race win was just around the corner. 1996 turned out to be a disappointment for Musgrave. He usually ran well in most races, but could never find what he needed to get his first win. He had several top-tens early in the season, but once again slumped in the second half and wound up 17th in points. He did, however, win the pole for the final Winston Cup race ever held at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

In 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, Roush vowed to give Musgrave whatever he needed to win his first race. The #16 car now had dual sponsorship from The Family Channel and Primestar. Once again, he started off well, and came very close to his first win at Darlington Raceway. Musgrave was running second late in the race and clearly had a faster car than leader Dale Jarrett in the closing laps. At one point, he was side by side with Jarrett, but Jarrett held him off for the win. Critics of Musgrave would say after the race that he should have been more aggressive and bumped Jarrett out of the way to get his first win. Later in the season at Pocono Raceway, Musgrave had a strong car and was running second late in the race with a chance to win when his car went unexpectedly loose. He ended up 4th. Musgrave was in the top 10 in points for most of 1997, but a bad final race at Atlanta caused him to fall to 12th for the year.

In 1998, Musgrave got full sponsorship from Primestar, and was 18th in points when he was suddenly replaced by rookie Kevin Lepage, to the shock of many. Still, Musgrave filled out 1998 by running part-time for Bud Moore Engineering and Bill Elliott Racing, as well as doing substitute duty for Travis Carter and Jasper Motorsports. He ended up missing only one race that year and gave Elliott's team its only top-10 finish with a fifth-place run at Phoenix.

In 1999, Musgrave was signed by Butch Mock Motorsports to run the #75 Remington Arms Ford. Musgrave struggled mightily however, and only put together two top-ten finishes before finally quitting the team after the Pennzoil 400. He began 2000 without a ride, but soon caught on with Joe Bessey Motorsports filling in for the injured Geoffrey Bodine, and ran five races with that team. After a one-race return to the #15, Musgrave finished the year with Team SABCO, driving the #01 for Kenny Irwin Jr., who had died in a practice accident at New Hampshire International Speedway. Musgrave has run seven Cup races since then, six of them with Ultra Motorsports and one for Petty Enterprises, Musgrave's last Cup race came at the 20-caution Sharpie 500 at Bristol in 2003, when he replaced Jimmy Spencer while he served his one race suspension.