 | |
| Owner(s) | Steve Coulter (1996–2003) Dave Fuge Sr (2004–2006) J. B. Scott (2007–2009) |
|---|---|
| Base | Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Series | Winston Cup,Busch Series,Craftsman Truck Series |
| Race drivers | Mike Bliss,Randy Tolsma,Jack Sprague,Travis Kvapil,Brian Scott |
| Manufacturer | Chevrolet Ford Toyota |
| Opened | 1996 |
| Closed | 2009 |
| Career | |
| Drivers' Championships | 2 – Craftsman Truck Series (2002, 2003) |
| Race victories | 12 |
Xpress Motorsports was aNASCARCraftsman Truck Series team. The team won the Truck Series championship in 2002 and 2003 withMike Bliss andTravis Kvapil, respectively. The team was owned bySteve Coulter until2004, when he sold the team to its then manager Dave Fuge Sr. Fuge Sr owned the team until2007 when he sold it toJ. B. Scott. In late 2009 the team was again sold to Sprint Cup Series driverKyle Busch.
Xpress was formed in1996, when Coulter founded the team to promote his company,IWX Motor Freight.Randy Tolsma was hired to drive the No. 61Chevrolet Silverado atPhoenix, and finished 29th after an early crash. Tolsma was named the team's full-time driver in1997, but only qualified for one-third of the first nine races of the season. Dave Fuge was hired as Crew Chief to rebuild the team and they rebounded to capture his first career win atMesa Marin Raceway. The team continued to run in1998 with Tolsma driving and had ten top-tens and one pole position when they announced they were closing down their truck team at the end of the season to run theBusch Series. Tolsma left after 22 races, and they switched to the No. 61, fielding entries forRick McCray,Stan Boyd,Blake Bainbridge.
They began running the Busch Series with the No. 61Pontiac Grand Prix in 1998, fielding one race apiece forDerrike Cope andJoe Pezza. Cope qualified for three out of four races and had a best finish of fifteenth in 1999 before he was replaced by rookie driverTony Roper. Roper posted three top-tens in sixteen starts but departed the team near the end of the season.Robert Pressley,Morgan Shepherd, andStanton Barrett drove the car for the rest of the season, with Shepherd posting a tenth-place finish atNorth Carolina Motor Speedway.Hut Stricklin was hired as the team's driver for the2000 season and opened the year with a pole at theNAPA Auto Parts 300 but was released ten races into the season. AfterDarrell Lanigan ran a one-race deal atLowe's Motor Speedway, they did not run until theBrickyard 400Winston Cup race, when they failed to qualify withRich Bickle driving. They returned to Busch at the end of the season, whenTim Sauter joined them with sponsorship fromStoops Freightliner. His best finish was fifteenth atHomestead-Miami Speedway.
Sauter was named the team's permanent driver in2001 and competed forNASCAR Rookie of the Year honors with Xpress, which was running Pontiacs andChevrolets. After crew chiefDave Fuge Sr was fined for a rules violation following theOutback Steakhouse 300 atKentucky, the team closed its doors immediately and stopped running.[1] Later in the season, Fuge Sr decided to revive the team, and ran a one-race deal with Mike Bliss atSouth Boston Speedway, where he finished ninth.
Without the guarantee of funding from Coulter,[2] Xpress decided to make a full-time run withMike Bliss in2002. They won five races and the Truck Series championship. In addition, they fielded a second entry for the first time in team history at theFord 200, withRon Hornaday Jr. winning in the team's No. 11 entry. Bliss moved to the Busch Series for 2003 andTravis Kvapil joined Xpress fromAddington Racing. Kvapil won just one race that season and had already announced he was departing the team forBang! Racing in2004 when he won the championship at the season-finale at Homestead, giving Xpress its second consecutive title.
Three-time championJack Sprague, who had driven the No. 11 in two races in 2003, joined the team full-time in 2004 with Chevy Trucks coming on as a full-time backer. Sprague won the inauguralUAW/GM Ohio 250 and finished seventh in points. In2005, Coulter sold the team to Fuge, and Xpress attempted to field the No. 19 truck in addition to the No. 16 with rookieRegan Smith driving, but the team dissolved after three races. Sprague won atTexas Motor Speedway, but left the team near the end of the season, and Bliss finished the rest of the year for the team, finishing fourth at Homestead. He ran with Xpress full-time with decreased support from Chevy, picking up a win atAtlanta Motor Speedway.
Xpress switched to theFord F-150 and began a variety of drivers racing in the 2007 season.Stacy Compton,Kelly Bires,Kenny Hendrick,Scott Lagasse Jr.,Chris Fontaine,Mike Bliss, andDerrike Cope all raced 16, with Hendrick making the most starts.Travis Kittleson drove the second No. 19 truck atO'Reilly Raceway Park, but finished last. In September 2007, J. B. and Brian Scott bought a majority interest of the team, with Brian Scott driving the remaining races except for Talladega, as Scott had not been approved by NASCAR to run superspeedways. Cope ran in his place. Scott was to run for Rookie of the Year in the Trucks in 2008 with sponsorship from Shark Energy Drink and Albertson's. However, Shark Energy ended its program with Xpress andFitz Motorsports in March 2008. On September 2, it was announced that Xpress would enter a technological allegiance withBill Davis Racing and switching manufacturers to Toyota starting at theQwik Liner Las Vegas 350. Scott scored five top tens in the final seven races of that year and won his first race atDover in 2009. In 2009 the team was sold again to becomeKyle Busch Motorsports.