Michael Shank's involvement in racing began in 1989 when he started competing himself, winning SCCA Ohio Valley Region's Novice Driver of the Year. His formative years as a car owner were spent in Formula Atlantic, where he fielded a car for future IndyCar champion Sam Hornish Jr. and won the 1996 Player's/Toyota Atlantic C2 championship. Shank won the Formula Atlantic series Rookie of the Year title in 1999 and was twice named Formula Atlantic Team Owner of the Year, establishing the organizational foundation before the team entered prototype racing.
Michael Shank Racing joined Grand-Am in 2004, the second year of the Daytona Prototype class, entering a Lexus-powered Doran JE4 in twelve races with Ozz Negri and Burt Frisselle as primary drivers. The team improved steadily, and Negri became the central driver figure of MSR's prototype program. After finishing second at Watkins Glen and third at Homestead in 2004, the team progressed through successive chassis generations.
MSR's first Grand-Am victory came in 2006, with Negri and Mark Patterson winning the season finale at Salt Lake City. The team was among the first to upgrade to the second-generation DP in 2008, switching both cars to Ford-powered Rileys. Negri demonstrated the pace of the upgrade immediately, taking pole for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The 2012 season delivered the team's defining result of the Grand-Am era. With Grand-Am upgrading to the third-generation DP, MSR took a pair of Ford Rileys to the 50th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona and won the overall — a landmark achievement marking the event's anniversary. Justin Wilson and AJ Allmendinger joined Pew and Negri for the race.
In 2013, MSR added a world record to its history when Colin Braun drove the team's DP to FIA-sanctioned world records for the 10 kilometers and 10 miles at Daytona International Speedway, with a lap of 222.971 mph that broke Bill Elliott's 26-year-old track record.
When Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series merged to form the United SportsCar Championship in 2014, MSR ran a single Riley-Ford Ecoboost DP for John Pew and Oswaldo Negri. The team transitioned through a Ligier JS P2-HPD for 2015 and 2016, winning at Laguna Seca and Petit Le Mans in 2016 with Negri and Pew.
In 2017 the team moved to the GT Daytona class, entering two factory-backed Acura NSX GT3s. The opening season produced wins at Belle Isle and Watkins Glen. The partnership with Acura deepened over subsequent years: 2018 brought wins at Belle Isle and Laguna Seca; 2019 produced a win at Watkins Glen and four second-place finishes, with Mario Farnbacher, Trent Hindman, and Justin Marks claiming the GTD class title.
Hélio Castroneves joined MSR's IMSA program in 2021, initially at Petit Le Mans. His partnership with the team extended into IndyCar — Castroneves won the 2021 Indianapolis 500 with MSR, becoming the first driver to win the race four times, and marking the team's maiden IndyCar victory. Simon Pagenaud joined for 2022.
The 2022 season was the team's greatest yet. Oliver Jarvis, Tom Blomqvist, Hélio Castroneves, and Simon Pagenaud won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the team's Acura GTP LMDh car, and MSR also claimed the overall WeatherTech Championship title.
The 2023 Rolex 24 brought a second consecutive Daytona victory with Castroneves, Colin Braun, Pagenaud, and Blomqvist, though the result was marred by a post-race penalty. The team and drivers kept the race win but were stripped of all Michelin Endurance points and had championship points reduced after a tire pressure data violation led to a $50,000 fine and the expulsion of race engineer Ryan McCarthy.
MSR did not return to IMSA for 2024 but confirmed a comeback for 2025, entering two GTP Acura LMDh cars for the season opener at the Rolex 24.
From Atlantic team owner to back-to-back Rolex 24 winners in IMSA's GTP class, Michael Shank's team traced one of the most complete arcs in American endurance racing. The combination of Hélio Castroneves' four Indy 500 wins with Rolex 24 victories under the same umbrella made MSR a genuinely multi-dimensional racing organization rather than a purely sportscar-focused team, and its factory Acura partnership served as the benchmark for the manufacturer's North American program.