MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Pinnacle Racing Group (PRG), a new professional motorsports team, has revealed its plans to compete in several grassroots racing series this year, beginning with the ARCA Menards Series East season opener at Five Flags (Fla.) Speedway next month.
The Mooresville, N.C.-based team’s purpose is to provide productive and fulfilling careers for all Pinnacle Racing Group team members while being a leader in on-track performance and driver development. The team will run Chevrolets in its ARCA Menards Series and late model platforms.
They have also selected No. 28 for its primary entries.
Veteran crew chief and former NASCAR driver Shane Huffman will serve as the team’s general manager and crew chief.
“The great thing about a new start-up team or business is you have a clean slate to build the foundation and set the principles for PRG to operate,” said Pinnacle Racing Group spokesperson Mark Webb. “From our earliest discussions, our key focus points were on excellence, integrity, performance and sustainability for the long term.
“Acquiring Shane (Huffman) was the first important piece of the building block we needed. Shane has a vast knowledge of racing at many levels and has done a tremendous job in a short amount of time putting together an excellent group that is highly talented, motivated and most importantly team-oriented.”
Huffman, who most recently led the crew chief efforts at Bret Holmes Racing in the ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series respectively is excited about the next chapter in his motorsports career. He believes the foundation that PRG is constructing will not only lead to success, but also to victory lane.
“We have been quietly working on building PRG and I am thrilled to have the formation of the team finally announced,” Huffman said. “PRG has given me the green light to build a team from the ground up. We have not rushed anything.
“We want to make sure when we unload at Five Flags Speedway in March, PRG sets a tone on what our drivers and members of our team can expect on a weekly basis. We realize that there likely will be some initial growing pains, but we feel we can emerge from those quickly and start producing results with our talented driver lineup.”
Webb concurred with Huffman’s assessment of not rushing to the team’s first green flag.
“We purposefully delayed our opening race until March 25 at Five Flags to be certain we were prepared and had everything in place to be our best,” he said.
The team did offer a clue about its first-named driver.
“We are really excited about our new driver,” sounded Huffman. “Lorin Rainer, Josh Wise and Chevrolet have been instrumental in fitting all the pieces of the puzzle together and we believe the driver can really create some attention under the PRG banner.”
Webb added, “Lorin Ranier has been an excellent voice and sounding board in providing insight into our decision-making processes. We look forward to Shane’s leadership and the dedicated work of our PRG team members for a successful inaugural season.”
PRG will officially unveil its full 2023 driver lineup in the coming weeks.