Hank Parker Jr.

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Hank Parker Jr.
Parker in 2018.
Born	(1974-10-07) October 7, 1974 (age 50) Denver, North Carolina, U.S.
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	160 lb (73 kg)
NASCAR Cup Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish	78th (2002)
First race	2002 Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 (Rockingham)
Last race	2002 Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 (Rockingham)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
137 races run over 8 years
Best finish	14th (2000),(2002)
First race	1997 Jiffy Lube Miami 300 (Homestead)
Last race	2005 Federated Auto Parts 300 (Nashville)
First win	2001 Auto Club 300 (Fontana)
Last win	2002 NetZero 250 (Pikes Peak)
Wins Top tens Poles 2 31 2
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
29 races run over 2 years
Best finish	17th (2004)
First race	2003 O'Reilly 200 (Memphis)
Last race	2004 Ford 200 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 6 0

Hank Parker Jr. (born October 7, 1974) is a retired American stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Busch Series driving the No. 60 Ford Taurus For Roush Racing. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driving the No. 21 Toyota Tundra for Innovative Motorsports. His brother, Billy Parker, ran part-time in the Busch Series in 2004, and his father, Hank, is a professional outdoorsman.

Parker was born on October 7th, 1974 in Denver, North Carolina, to Martha Parker, and Hank Parker. He is the oldest of three, and is the big brother of Billy Parker, and Ben Parker. He began racing go-karts near his home in Denver, North Carolina as a kid. From there, he moved onto street stock racing at Concord Motorsports Park, where he won seven feature racing events in his first eighteen starts. The next season, he began running Late Model races and finished fifth in points. He won two races the next year.

In 1997, Parker moved to the Slim Jim All Pro Series, a former NASCAR touring series located in the Southeast United States. Parker picked up one win and was named the series' Most Popular Driver. He also made his NASCAR debut at the Jiffy Lube Miami 300 at Homestead in the No. 78 Mark III Financial Chevrolet, starting 41st and finishing 23rd.

Parker returned to the 78 in 1998, hoping to run the full schedule. After he was unable to qualify for most of his attempts, he was released. He did not run again until the AC Delco 200, where he finished sixth in the No. 53 B.A.S.S Chevrolet owned by his father.

Parker ran his father's car full-time in 1999, posting two top-fives and finishing 18th in points. He also finished second to Tony Raines for Rookie of the Year honors despite missing five races. In 2000, Parker received sponsorship from Team Marines and won his first career pole position at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He also had eight top-tens and finished a career-best fourteenth in points.

In 2001, Parker switched to the No. 36 GNC Live Well Chevy for Cicci-Welliver Racing. He finished 15th in points, and collected his first win at the Auto Club 300.^[1] At the end of the season, his team was sold to Wayne Jesel and switched to Dodge for the 2002 season.^[2] He won another race at Pikes Peak International Raceway and had eight top-tens.^[2] He also made his Winston Cup debut, driving the No. 91 USG Dodge for Evernham Motorsports at North Carolina Speedway.^[2] He started 25th and finished 33rd, four laps down.

At the end of the 2002 season, Parker was to take GNC over to ppc Racing but due to a new law that restricts advertising with supplements, this caused GNC to leave NASCAR and therefore, leaving him without a full-time ride into 2003. He began the season running a pair of races for Brewco Motorsports, finishing sixth at Darlington Raceway. He ran four more races that season splitting time between NEMCO Motorsports and Chance 2 Motorsports, finishing fifth twice. He also made his Craftsman Truck Series debut driving the No. 75 for Spears Motorsports, posting two top-ten finishes.

In 2004, Parker signed to drive for Innovative Motorsports' new Craftsman Truck team. He had four top-tens and finished seventeenth in points. Unfortunately, Innovative closed its doors at the end of the season,^[2] leaving Parker unemployed again, he would join Roush Racing to mentor Rising star Carl Edwards from 2005 to 2006, he would also qualify Edwards car when he was at the Nextel Cup tracks for qualifying. He made his last start in 2005 filling for Carl Edwards at Nashville as Carl convinced team owner Jack Roush to let Hank give it a shot. He won his second and final Busch Series pole, but finished 20th.

Parker then decided to retire from racing to Focus on family. He would later join his father and brother Billy to produce Hank Parker 3D, an outdoors-themed television show,^[2] then Hank Parker's Flesh and Blood, a hunting show.

Parker is a devout Christian. He is also friends with Dale Earnhardt Jr. as they met when they were kids on a fishing trip as his father Hank Parker was friends with the late Dale Earnhardt. Parker currently works at Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters, a Christian camp in Andrews North Carolina as a preacher time to time while also working as Executive Director of Sales, Marketing & Programming.

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

* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

• Hank Parker Jr. driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Hank Parker Jr. at NASCAR.com (archived)