Xpress Motorsports

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Xpress Motorsports
New Albertsons, Inc.
ManufacturerChevrolet
Ford
Toyota
Opened1996
Closed2009
Career
Drivers' Championships2 – Craftsman Truck Series (2002, 2003)
Race victories12

Xpress Motorsports was a

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. Fuge owned the team until 2007 when he sold it to J. B. Scott. In late 2009 the team was again sold to Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch
.

Beginnings

Xpress was formed in

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 Bainridge
.

They began running the Busch Series with the No. 61 Pontiac Grand Prix in 1998, fielding one race apiece for Derrike Cope and Joe Pezza. 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

Homestead-Miami Speedway
.

Rebirth

Sauter was named the team's permanent driver in

Outback Steakhouse 300 at Kentucky, the team closed its doors immediately and stopped running.[1] Later in the season, Fuge 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,

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

Dover in 2009. In 2009 the team was sold again to become Kyle Busch Motorsports
.

References

  1. ^ Paying Their Dues
  2. ^ Double The Pleasure

External links

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