Xpress Motorsports - Rebirth

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 was fined for a rules violation following the Outback Steakhouse 300, the team closed its doors immediately and stopped running. 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, 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 winning in the team's #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 #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 #19 truck in addition to the #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, Bliss, and Derrike Cope all raced 16, with Hendrick making the most starts. Travis Kittleson drove the second #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 will run for Rookie of the Year in the Trucks in 2008, as the team returns to Chevrolet with sponsorship from Shark Energy Drink and Albertson's. The team was to be renamed Shark Energy Racing with Xpress Motorsports, before Shark ended its sponsorship program in early 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.

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