of the season, he briefly returned to Eel River after they fired their regular driver but he was unable to qualify for a race. Late in the season, he garnered a ninth-place run at South Boston in a one-race deal for IWX Racing's Steve Coulter. In 2002, Coulter returned full-time to the Truck Series and signed Bliss as the driver. Bliss picked up five wins and won the Truck series championship. He would sign to drive the No. 20 Rockwell Automation-sponsored Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Busch Series the following year, posting 14 Top 10s and finishing 10th in points. That same year, he competed in the International Race of Champions, winning at Chicagoland Speedway. He ran only one Winston Cup race in 2002, subbing for Jamie McMurray (who was subbing for the injured Sterling Marlin, but had a prior commitment) in the No. 40 Coors Light-sponsored Dodge. In 2004, Bliss picked up his first career Busch win at Lowe's Motor Speedway and finished fifth in points. After he was declined a job as driver for Gibbs’ Cup program, Bliss announced his departure, and replaced Ward Burton at Haas CNC Racing’s Cup ride, posting a tenth place run at Darlington Raceway. Before leaving Joe Gibbs Racing, Mike Bliss had his career-best finish to date in his Cup series career in the 2004 Chevy Rock & Roll 400. Bliss, driving the No. 80 Hunt's Ketchup-sponsored JGR car, got penalized for speeding on pit road on lap 332. Despite this, he formed a tremendous comeback, climbing through the field during the final 50 laps, and finishing fourth, his first and only Top 5 to date. 2005–2009 Bliss signed with Haas CNC full-time in 2005, where he posted two Top 10's in the latter half of the season and finished 28th in points. He came near to a Cup victory, nearly winning a large bonus paycheck and a win in the Nextel Open event but was crashed by Brian Vickers on the final lap in the final turn. Vickers won the race and the bonus paycheck, while Bliss slid across the finish line in second-place. Mike Bliss was visibly upset with Vickers in the post-race ceremonies saying "I just got plain dumped and I would not have wrecked him to win this race. Now he is in the big show (the All-Star Race) and I am not." At the end of