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. 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, 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 INDDNQ GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH NHA DOV MAR CLT TAL CAR PHO HOM 66th 18 Tim Sauter ATLDNQ
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 ATL36 HOM 90th 55 1999 DAYDNQ CAR15 LVS23 ATL35 27th 2324 Tony Roper Chevy DAR40 Pontiac TEX16 NSV35 BRI10 TAL18 CAL30 NHA43 RCH18 NZH43 CLTDNQ DOV42 SBO8 GLN42 MLW10 MYB18 PPR40 GTY30 IRPDNQ MCHDNQ BRIDNQ Robert Pressley DAR18 RCH28 DOV17 CLTDNQ Morgan Shepherd CAR10 Stanton Barrett MEM24 PHO23 HOM43 2000 Hut Stricklin DAY36 CARDNQ LVS10 ATL11 DAR26 BRI38 TEX37 NSV17 TAL6 CAL36 RCH NHA 47th 1228 Darrell Lanigan Chevy CLT38 DOV SBO MYB GLN MLW NZH PPR GTY IRP MCH BRI DAR Tim Sauter RCHDNQ DOV CLT CARDNQ PHO21 HOM15 Pontiac MEM29 2001 DAY10 TAL15 38th 1483 Chevy CAR21 LVS13 ATL34 DAR29 BRI9 TEX34 NSH17 CAL25 RCH23 NHA16 NZH22 CLT23 DOV22 KEN43 MLW GLN CHI GTY PPR IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM PHO CAR HOM
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 LVS 1997 WDW TUS HOM PHO POR EVG I70 NHA TEX BRI NZH MLW LVL CNS HPT IRP FLM NSV GLN RCH MAR SON MMR CAL PHO LVS 25th 1802 1998 WDW HOM PHO POR EVG I70 GLN TEX BRI MLW NZH CAL PPR IRP NHA FLM NSV HPT LVL RCH MEM GTY 17th 3029 Randy Renfrow MAR9 SON Stan Boyd Ford MMR33 Rick McCray Chevy PHO28 Blake Bainbridge LVS33 2001 Mike Bliss 16 DAY HOM MMR MAR GTY DAR PPR DOV TEX MEM MLW KAN KEN NHA IRP NSH CIC NZH RCH SBO9 TEX LVS PHO CAL 53rd 375 2002 DAY33 DAR3 MAR2 GTY3 PPR1 DOV5 TEX12 MEM18 MLW8 KAN1 KEN1* NHA10 MCH4 IRP15 NSH1 RCH3 TEX9 SBO1 LVS2* CAL9 PHO10 HOM5 1st 3359 2003 Travis Kvapil DAY2 DAR4 MMR16 MAR18 CLT4 DOV5 TEX4 MEM2 MLW6 KAN4 KEN6 GTW3 MCH7 IRP2 NSH9 BRI1 RCH9 NHA7 CAL8 LVS4 SBO2 TEX2 MAR16 PHO9 HOM6 1st 3837 2004 Jack Sprague DAY25 ATL24 MAR3 MFD1 CLT26 DOV9 TEX4 MEM7 MLW35 KAN8 KEN2 GTW29 MCH27 IRP18 NSH14 BRI28 RCH8 NHA2 LVS36 CAL3 TEX5 MAR28 PHO2 DAR11 HOM7 7th 3167 2005 DAY13 CAL22 ATL8 MAR11 GTY20 MFD2 CLT27 DOV29 TEX1 MCH10 MLW2 KAN30 KEN36 MEM13 IRP9 NSH21 BRI3 RCH26 NHA15 LVS4 13th 2999 Bobby Labonte MAR22 Mike Bliss ATL36 TEX22 PHO10 HOM4 2006 DAY22 CAL7 ATL7 MAR5 GTY9 CLT33 MFD8 DOV4 TEX10 MCH14 MLW2 KAN31 KEN15 MEM5 IRP5 NSH30 BRI8 NHA16 LVS3 TAL25 MAR22 ATL1* TEX27 PHO11 HOM30 12th 3151 2007 Stacy Compton Ford DAY17 ATL16 MAR21 27th 2406 Kelly Bires CAL29 Kenny Hendrick Chevy KAN35 Ford KEN34 IRP19 NSH34 Mike Bliss CLT6 Chris Fontaine MFD17 Chevy MEM20 Scott Lagasse Jr. Ford DOV21 Derrike Cope TEX31 BRI29 GTY29 TAL12 Boston Reid MCH35 Benny Gordon MLW15 Brian Scott NHA21 LVS29 MAR15 ATL19 TEX21 PHO18 HOM15 2008 Chevy DAY9 CAL23 ATL17 MAR30 KAN14 CLT35 MFD25 DOV32 TEX13 MCH25 MLW32 MEM13 KEN32 IRP29 NSH14 BRI19 GTW14 NHA8 19th 2787 Toyota LVS14 TAL7 MAR14 ATL10 TEX9 PHO4 HOM2 2009 DAY12 CAL29 ATL10 MAR8 KAN3 CLT21 DOV1 TEX15 MCH34 MLW3 MEM2 KEN6 IRP12 NSH2 BRI5 CHI28 IOW9 GTW3 NHA7 LVS19 MAR24 TAL23 TEX7 PHO11 HOM12 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 HOM1 59th 180 2003 Jack Sprague DAY DAR MMR MAR CLT DOV TEX MEM MLW KAN KEN GTW MCH IRP NSH BRI RCH NHA CAL LVS5 HOM5 49th 422 Clay Brown SBO17 TEX MAR PHO 2005 Regan Smith 19 DAY33 CAL32 ATLDNQ 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 Ford DAY CAL ATL MAR KAN CLT MFD DOV TEX MCH MLW MEM KEN IRP NSH36 BRI GTW NHA LVS TAL MAR ATL TEX PHO HOM 64th 0
References
External links (Steve Coulter) (David Fuge) (Joe Scott) Shop Tour: Xpress Motorsports