Xpress Motorsports

Xpress Motorsports
Owner(s)	Steve Coulter (1996–2003); Dave Fuge Sr (2004–2006); Joe 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 a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team. The team won the Truck Series championship in 2002 and 2003 with Mike Bliss and Travis Kvapil, respectively. The team was owned by Steve Coulter until 2004, when he sold the team to its then manager Dave Fuge Sr. Fuge Sr owned the team until 2007 when he sold it to Joe Scott. In late 2009 the team was again sold to Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch.

Beginnings

Xpress was formed in 1996, when Coulter founded the team to promote his company, IWX Motor Freight. Randy Tolsma was hired to drive the No. 61 Chevrolet Silverado at Phoenix, and finished 29th after an early crash. Tolsma was named the team's full-time driver in 1997, 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 at Mesa Marin Raceway. The team continued to run in 1998 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 the Busch Series. Tolsma left after 22 races, and they switched to the No. 61, fielding entries for Rick McCray, Stan Boyd, Blake Bainbridge.

They began running the Busch Series with the No. 61 Pontiac Grand Prix in 1998, fielding one race for Derrike Cope. Cope qualified for three out of four races and had a best finish of fifteenth in 1999 before he was replaced by rookie driver Tony Roper. Roper posted three top-tens in sixteen starts but departed the team near the end of the season. Robert Pressley, Morgan Shepherd, and Stanton Barrett drove the car for the rest of the season, with Shepherd posting a tenth-place finish at North Carolina Motor Speedway. Hut Stricklin was hired as the team's driver for the 2000 season and opened the year with a pole at the NAPA Auto Parts 300 but was released ten races into the season. After Darrell Lanigan ran a one-race deal at Lowe's Motor Speedway, they did not run until the Brickyard 400 Winston Cup race, when they failed to qualify with Rich Bickle driving. They returned to Busch at the end of the season, when Tim Sauter joined them with sponsorship from Stoops Freightliner. His best finish was fifteenth at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Rebirth

Sauter was named the team's permanent driver in 2001 and competed for NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors with Xpress, which was running Pontiacs and Chevrolets. After crew chief Dave Fuge Sr was fined for a rules violation following the Outback Steakhouse 300 at Kentucky, 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 at South Boston Speedway, where he finished ninth.

Without the guarantee of funding from Coulter,^[2] Xpress decided to make a full-time run with Mike Bliss in 2002. They won five races and the Truck Series championship. In addition, they fielded a second entry for the first time in team history at the Ford 200, with Ron Hornaday Jr. winning in the team's No. 11 entry. Bliss moved to the Busch Series for 2003 and Travis Kvapil joined Xpress from Addington Racing. Kvapil won just one race that season and had already announced he was departing the team for Bang! Racing in 2004 when he won the championship at the season-finale at Homestead, giving Xpress its second consecutive title.

Three-time champion Jack 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 inaugural UAW/GM Ohio 250 and finished seventh in points. In 2005, Coulter sold the team to Fuge, and Xpress attempted to field the No. 19 truck in addition to the No. 16 with rookie Regan Smith driving, but the team dissolved after three races. Sprague won at Texas 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 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Xpress switched to the Ford 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, and Derrike Cope all raced 16, with Hendrick making the most starts. Travis Kittleson drove the second No. 19 truck at O'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 and Fitz Motorsports in March 2008. On September 2, it was announced that Xpress would enter a technological allegiance with Bill Davis Racing and switching manufacturers to Toyota starting at the Qwik Liner Las Vegas 350. Scott scored five top tens in the final seven races of that year and won his first race at Dover in 2009. In 2009 the team was sold again to become Kyle Busch Motorsports.

Motorsports results

Winston Cup Series

Car No. 61 results

Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	Owners	Pts
2000	Rich Bickle	61	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	MAR	TAL	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	MCH	POC	SON	DAY	NHA	POC	IND DNQ	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	NHA	DOV	MAR	CLT	TAL	CAR	PHO	HOM		66th	18
2000	Tim Sauter	61	Chevy																																		ATL DNQ	66th	18

Busch Series

Car No. 61 results

Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	Owners	Pts
1998	Derrike Cope	61	Pontiac	DAY	CAR	LVS	NSV	DAR	BRI	TEX	HCY	TAL	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	RCH	PPR	GLN	MLW	MYB	CAL	SBO	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	GTY	CAR	ATL 36	HOM			90th	55
1999	Derrike Cope		Pontiac	DAY DNQ	CAR 15	LVS 23	ATL 35																														27th	2324
	Tony Roper		Chevy					DAR 40
	Tony Roper		Pontiac						TEX 16	NSV 35	BRI 10	TAL 18	CAL 30	NHA 43	RCH 18	NZH 43	CLT DNQ	DOV 42	SBO 8	GLN 42	MLW 10	MYB 18	PPR 40	GTY 30	IRP DNQ	MCH DNQ	BRI DNQ
	Robert Pressley																											DAR 18	RCH 28	DOV 17	CLT DNQ
	Morgan Shepherd																															CAR 10
	Stanton Barrett																																MEM 24	PHO 23	HOM 43
2000	Hut Stricklin			DAY 36	CAR DNQ	LVS 10	ATL 11	DAR 26	BRI 38	TEX 37	NSV 17	TAL 6	CAL 36	RCH	NHA																						47th	1228
	Darrell Lanigan		Chevy													CLT 38	DOV	SBO	MYB	GLN	MLW	NZH	PPR	GTY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR
	Tim Sauter		Chevy																										RCH DNQ	DOV	CLT	CAR DNQ		PHO 21	HOM 15
			Pontiac																														MEM 29
2001			Pontiac	DAY 10								TAL 15																											38th	1483
2001			Chevy		CAR 21	LVS 13	ATL 34	DAR 29	BRI 9	TEX 34	NSH 17		CAL 25	RCH 23	NHA 16	NZH 22	CLT 23	DOV 22	KEN 43	MLW	GLN	CHI	GTY	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	PHO	CAR	HOM			38th	1483

Camping World Truck Series

Primary Truck results

Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	Owners	Pts
1996	Randy Tolsma	61	Chevy	HOM	PHO	POR	EVG	TUS	CNS	HPT	BRI	NZH	MLW	LVL	I70	IRP	FLM	GLN	NSV	RCH	NHA	MAR	NWS	SON	MMR	PHO 29	LVS DNQ
1997				WDW DNQ	TUS 19	HOM DNQ	PHO DNQ	POR	EVG 26	I70 DNQ	NHA	TEX 8	BRI	NZH	MLW 31	LVL	CNS	HPT 15	IRP 6	FLM	NSV 32	GLN 32	RCH 9	MAR 14	SON 18	MMR 1	CAL 5	PHO 33	LVS 30		25th	1802
1998				WDW 20	HOM 37	PHO 10	POR 2	EVG 3	I70 17	GLN 9	TEX 25	BRI 5	MLW 12	NZH 18	CAL 6	PPR 9	IRP 6	NHA 25	FLM 26	NSV 6	HPT 25	LVL 22	RCH 7	MEM 13	GTY 16						17th	3029
	Randy Renfrow																									MAR 9	SON
	Stan Boyd		Ford																									MMR 33
	Rick McCray		Chevy																										PHO 28
	Blake Bainbridge																													LVS 33
2001	Mike Bliss	16		DAY	HOM	MMR	MAR	GTY	DAR	PPR	DOV	TEX	MEM	MLW	KAN	KEN	NHA	IRP	NSH	CIC	NZH	RCH	SBO 9	TEX	LVS	PHO	CAL				53rd	375
2002	Mike Bliss			DAY 33	DAR 3	MAR 2	GTY 3	PPR 1	DOV 5	TEX 12	MEM 18	MLW 8	KAN 1	KEN 1*	NHA 10	MCH 4	IRP 15	NSH 1	RCH 3	TEX 9	SBO 1	LVS 2*	CAL 9	PHO 10	HOM 5						1st	3359
2003	Travis Kvapil			DAY 2	DAR 4	MMR 16	MAR 18	CLT 4	DOV 5	TEX 4	MEM 2	MLW 6	KAN 4	KEN 6	GTW 3	MCH 7	IRP 2	NSH 9	BRI 1	RCH 9	NHA 7	CAL 8	LVS 4	SBO 2	TEX 2	MAR 16	PHO 9	HOM 6			1st	3837
2004	Jack Sprague			DAY 25	ATL 24	MAR 3	MFD 1	CLT 26	DOV 9	TEX 4	MEM 7	MLW 35	KAN 8	KEN 2	GTW 29	MCH 27	IRP 18	NSH 14	BRI 28	RCH 8	NHA 2	LVS 36	CAL 3	TEX 5	MAR 28	PHO 2	DAR 11	HOM 7			7th	3167
2005	Jack Sprague			DAY 13	CAL 22	ATL 8	MAR 11	GTY 20	MFD 2	CLT 27	DOV 29	TEX 1	MCH 10	MLW 2	KAN 30	KEN 36	MEM 13	IRP 9	NSH 21	BRI 3	RCH 26	NHA 15	LVS 4								13th	2999
	Bobby Labonte																							MAR 22
	Mike Bliss																								ATL 36	TEX 22	PHO 10	HOM 4
2006	Mike Bliss			DAY 22	CAL 7	ATL 7	MAR 5	GTY 9	CLT 33	MFD 8	DOV 4	TEX 10	MCH 14	MLW 2	KAN 31	KEN 15	MEM 5	IRP 5	NSH 30	BRI 8	NHA 16	LVS 3	TAL 25	MAR 22	ATL 1*	TEX 27	PHO 11	HOM 30			12th	3151
2007	Stacy Compton		Ford	DAY 17		ATL 16	MAR 21																								27th	2406
	Kelly Bires		Ford		CAL 29
	Kenny Hendrick		Chevy					KAN 35
	Kenny Hendrick		Ford													KEN 34	IRP 19	NSH 34
	Mike Bliss								CLT 6
	Chris Fontaine									MFD 17
	Chris Fontaine		Chevy												MEM 20
	Scott Lagasse Jr.		Ford								DOV 21
	Derrike Cope											TEX 31							BRI 29	GTY 29			TAL 12
	Boston Reid												MCH 35
	Benny Gordon													MLW 15
	Brian Scott																				NHA 21	LVS 29		MAR 15	ATL 19	TEX 21	PHO 18	HOM 15
2008			Chevy	DAY 9	CAL 23	ATL 17	MAR 30	KAN 14	CLT 35	MFD 25	DOV 32	TEX 13	MCH 25	MLW 32	MEM 13	KEN 32	IRP 29	NSH 14	BRI 19	GTW 14	NHA 8										19th	2787
2008			Toyota																			LVS 14	TAL 7	MAR 14	ATL 10	TEX 9	PHO 4	HOM 2			19th	2787
2009			Toyota	DAY 12	CAL 29	ATL 10	MAR 8	KAN 3	CLT 21	DOV 1	TEX 15	MCH 34	MLW 3	MEM 2	KEN 6	IRP 12	NSH 2	BRI 5	CHI 28	IOW 9	GTW 3	NHA 7	LVS 19	MAR 24	TAL 23	TEX 7	PHO 11	HOM 12			9th	3307

Secondary Truck results

Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	Owners	Pts
2002	Ron Hornaday Jr.	11	Chevy	DAY	DAR	MAR	GTY	PPR	DOV	TEX	MEM	MLW	KAN	KEN	NHA	MCH	IRP	NSH	RCH	TEX	SBO	LVS	CAL	PHO	HOM 1				59th	180
2003	Jack Sprague			DAY	DAR	MMR	MAR	CLT	DOV	TEX	MEM	MLW	KAN	KEN	GTW	MCH	IRP	NSH	BRI	RCH	NHA	CAL	LVS 5					HOM 5	49th	422
2003	Clay Brown																							SBO 17	TEX	MAR	PHO		49th	422
2005	Regan Smith	19		DAY 33	CAL 32	ATL DNQ	MAR	GTY	MFD	CLT	DOV	TEX	MCH	MLW	KAN	KEN	MEM	IRP	NSH	BRI	RCH	NHA	LVS	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	49th	188
2007	Travis Kittleson	19	Ford	DAY	CAL	ATL	MAR	KAN	CLT	MFD	DOV	TEX	MCH	MLW	MEM	KEN	IRP	NSH 36	BRI	GTW	NHA	LVS	TAL	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	64th	0

References

^ "Paying Their Dues". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-12-03.
^ "Double The Pleasure". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-12-03.

External links

Xpress Motorsports owner statistics at Racing-Reference (Steve Coulter)
Xpress Motorsports owner statistics at Racing-Reference (David Fuge)
Xpress Motorsports owner statistics at Racing-Reference (Joe Scott)
Shop Tour: Xpress Motorsports Archived 2006-11-13 at the Wayback Machine

[1] "Paying Their Dues". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-12-03.

[2] "Double The Pleasure". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-12-03.

[1]

[2]

v t e Xpress Motorsports
Years active	1996–2009
Personnel	Steve Coulter (1996–2003) Dave Fuge (2004–2006) J. B. Scott (2007–2009)
Former drivers	Blake Bainbridge Stanton Barrett Rich Bickle Kelly Bires Mike Bliss Stan Boyd Stacy Compton Derrike Cope Chris Fontaine Benny Gordon Kenny Hendrick Ron Hornaday Jr. Travis Kittleson Travis Kvapil Scott Lagasse Jr. Darrell Lanigan Rick McCray Joe Pezza Robert Pressley Randy Renfrow Tony Roper Tim Sauter Brian Scott Morgan Shepherd Regan Smith Jack Sprague Hut Stricklin Randy Tolsma
NASCAR Truck Series Championships	2002 (Bliss) 2003 (Kvapil)
NASCAR Hall of Fame	Ron Hornaday Jr.
Partnerships and affiliations	Bill Davis Racing
Buyouts and mergers	Kyle Busch Motorsports