Michael Ritch

For the former Major League Soccer player, see Michael Ritch (soccer).

Michael Ritch (born February 24, 1973) is an American stock car racing driver who competed in 47 races across NASCAR's top three series between 1992 and 2002. He also competed in 165 Rev-Oil Pro Cup Series races between 1998 and 2009, winning 15 races and the 2007 Southern Division Championship. Ritch currently competes on the SMART Modified Tour.

Michael Ritch
Born	(1973-02-24) February 24, 1973 (age 52) High Point, North Carolina, U.S.
Achievements	1992 Mid-Atlantic Regional Champion 2007 USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series Southern Division Champion
NASCAR Cup Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish	61st (1995)
First race	1995 MBNA 500 (Dover)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
39 races run over 8 years
Best finish	33rd (2000)
First race	1992 Autolite 200 (Richmond)
Last race	2000 Outback Steakhouse 200 (Phoenix)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
7 races run over 2 years
Best finish	48th (2002)
First race	2001 Florida Dodge Dealers 400 (Homestead)
Last race	2002 O'Reilly Auto Parts 200 (Memphis)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
Statistics up to date as of November 25, 2012.

Early career

Ritch began his racing career when he was 9 years old when he raced BMX bikes.^[1] He would eventually move to late model race cars. At age 19, he won both the track championship at Ace Speedway in Elon, North Carolina and the regional Mid-Atlantic Championship in 1992, winning 14 of his 44 starts.^{[citation needed]}

NASCAR career

Winston Cup Series

Ritch made his only career Winston Cup start at Dover International Speedway in 1995. He would finish 34th in the 40-car field, falling out of the race just before the halfway mark after an engine failure.^{[citation needed]}.

Busch Series

Ritch made sporadic Busch Series starts between 1992 and 1999, often on short tracks in Virginia and The Carolinas. During this time he made 18 starts with a best finish of 9th coming at Orange County Speedway in 1994.

In 2000, Ritch got an opportunity to run a full schedule, driving the No. 55 Ford for Davis & Weight Motorsports. The season was a disappointment as Ritch failed to qualify 11 times in 32 attempts, had only one lead lap finish, and finished 33rd in the standings. He also finished in the top 20 only five times that season, with a best finish of 13th at Talladega, and also led five laps at Gateway. His best showing that season came at South Boston Speedway when he was fastest in practice and qualified 3rd for the race, but finished 25th after a rear gear problem late in the race. After the season, Ritch was released and never attempted another Busch Series race after that.^[1]

Craftsman Truck Series

After being released from his Busch Series ride, Ritch drove a limited schedule in the Craftsman Truck Series for Ware Racing Enterprises in 2001. He made seven starts for the team in a 2-year period, with a best finish of 16th coming at Gateway in 2001.^[1]

USAR Pro Cup Series

Ritch competed in the USAR Pro Cup Series both before and after his tenure in NASCAR, between 1998 and 2009. In that period he made 165 starts with 15 wins (including seven in 1998), 9 poles, and winning the series' Southern Division Championship in 2007. He followed up his championship campaign with a runner-up finish the year after, before switching teams and only running a partial schedule in 2009. He made his final series start at Concord Speedway on September 5, 2009.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1995	Active Motorsports	32	Chevy	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	SON	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	DAY	NHA	POC	TAL	IND	sGLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV 34	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO	ATL	117th	61	[2]

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	NBSC	Pts	Ref
1992	John Ritch	02	Olds	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	MAR	DAR	BRI	HCY	LAN	DUB	NZH	CLT	DOV	ROU	MYB	GLN	VOL	NHA	TAL	IRP	ROU	MCH	NHA	BRI	DAR	RCH 33	DOV	CLT	MAR 18	CAR 30	HCY		70th	246	[3]
1993				DAY	CAR 17	RCH 21	DAR	BRI	HCY	ROU	MAR 18	NZH	CLT	DOV	MYB	GLN	MLW	TAL	IRP	MCH	NHA	BRI	DAR	RCH 30	DOV	ROU	CLT	MAR								51st	479	[4]
			Chevy																										CAR 25	HCY	ATL
1994				DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	MAR 11	DAR	HCY	BRI																RCH 20	DOV	CLT							55th	438	[5]
			Olds									ROU 9	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	MYB	GLN	MLW	SBO	TAL	HCY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR				MAR 32	CAR
1995	Ritch Racing	2	Chevy	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	NSH	DAR	BRI	HCY	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	MYB	GLN	MLW	TAL	SBO	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH 27	DOV	CLT	CAR	HOM							95th	82	[6]
1996	Ken Wilson	02	Chevy	DAY DNQ	CAR QL†	RCH	ATL QL‡	NSV	DAR DNQ	BRI	HCY	NZH	CLT	DOV	SBO	MYB	GLN	MLW	NHA	TAL	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR				CAR DNQ	HOM 39							79th	116	[7]
			Pontiac																						RCH 31	DOV	CLT
1997	John Ritch	58	Chevy	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	LVS	DAR	HCY	TEX	BRI	NSV	TAL	NHA	NZH	CLT DNQ	DOV	SBO	GLN	MLW	MYB	GTY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH 41	DOV	CLT	CAL	CAR	HOM DNQ			117th	40	[8]
1998				DAY	CAR DNQ	LVS	NSV	DAR	BRI	TEX	HCY	TAL	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	RCH	PPR	GLN	MLW	MYB	CAL	SBO	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	GTY	CAR	ATL	HOM		N/A	0	[9]
1999	Davis & Weight Motorsports	55	Pontiac	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	TEX	NSV	BRI	TAL	CAL	NHA	RCH	NZH	CLT	DOV	SBO	GLN	MLW	MYB	PPR	GTY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH DNQ	DOV DNQ	CLT	CAR 35	MEM 37	PHO	HOM	104th	110	[10]
2000			Ford	DAY DNQ	CAR 16	LVS 39	ATL DNQ	DAR 39	BRI DNQ	TEX DNQ	NSV 39	TAL 13	CAL DNQ	RCH 42	NHA 22	CLT DNQ	DOV 15	SBO 25	MYB 24	GLN DNQ	MLW 16	NZH 43	PPR 32	GTY 22	IRP 20	MCH DNQ	BRI 25	DAR 42	RCH DNQ	DOV 23	CLT DNQ	CAR 21	MEM 42	PHO 35	HOM DNQ	33rd	1643	[11]
† - Qualified but replaced by Rodney Combs. ‡ - Qualified but replaced by Jeff Fuller.

Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	NCTC	Pts	Ref
2001	Ware Racing Enterprises	51	Chevy	DAY	HOM 33	MMR	MAR	GTY 16	DAR	PPR	DOV	TEX	MEM	MLW	KAN	KEN	NHA	IRP	NSH	CIC	NZH	RCH						64th	269	[12]
		91																					SBO 26	TEX	LVS	PHO	CAL
2002		51	Dodge	DAY	DAR	MAR	GTY	PPR 17	DOV 17	TEX 24																		48th	370	[13]
		81									MEM 36	MLW	KAN	KEN	NHA	MCH	IRP	NSH	RCH	TEX	SBO	LVS	CAL	PHO	HOM

SMART Modified Tour

SMART Modified Tour results
Year	Car owner	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	SMTC	Pts	Ref
2022	N/A	17	N/A	FLO	SNM	CRW	SBO	FCS	CRW 26	NWS	NWS	CAR	DOM	HCY 24	TRI	PUL 11		35th	32	[14]
2023	N/A	11	N/A	FLO 19	CRW	SBO 7	HCY 16	FCS	CRW	ACE 23	CAR	PUL 20	TRI	SBO	ROU			24th	123	[15]
2024				FLO	CRW	SBO	TRI	ROU	HCY	FCS	CRW 5	JAC	CAR	CRW 14	DOM	SBO 28	NWS	30th	76	[16]