Brian Scott rejoins Xpress; Bill Davis Racing sale leaves Truck program in limbo
Brian Scott, who was signed to drive in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Bill Davis Racing in 2009, will instead return to Xpress Motorsports, according to Xpress Motorsports President Emmett Byrd.
Jeff Hensley will also return to the Xpress team as crew chief, and the team will field Toyotas, Byrd said Tuesday.
BDR had announced in September that Scott would drive for the team in 2009, but a majority interest in the team was sold to Triad Racing Technologies in December, and Byrd indicated that the new ownership wasn’t going to field a truck for Scott.
TRT owners Marty Gaunt and Mike Held said recently that it would take a month for them to determine what the team’s racing plans would be. But it appears the team will sideline much, if not all, of its truck program. Angie Skinner confirmed Tuesday that her husband, Mike, has been told that he will not be in a truck for the team next year. Johnny Benson, who won BDR's first NASCAR title by claiming the Truck championship in 2008, had announced before the end of last season that he would not return in 2009.
Team representatives for TRT could not be reached for comment.
Xpress Motorsports, owned by Brian’s father, had not planned to field trucks in 2009, but those plans changed with BDR in flux.
“In the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series landscape, there’s been significant changes,” Byrd said. “We’re happy to have Brian back here. We think he’ll be as competitive here as anywhere else.”
Hensley and Scott worked together for the final seven races of 2008. Hensley had been a crew chief for Mike Skinner at BDR, and Xpress Motorsports and BDR formed a partnership for those final seven events as a way to begin working together and prepare for 2009.
Scott, who turns 21 next week, averaged a finish of 8.6 in those final seven events, with five top-10s capped by a second-place run in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“We’re going to run for a championship,” Byrd said. “We certainly have tall the tools and all the people necessary to accomplish that coupled with Jeff and Brian. … Brian learned a lot about himself on that last stretch.
“Having a chance to win that race in the last restart has done wonders for everybody involved.”
Scott has some sponsorship from Albertsons, but the team is still looking for primary sponsorship, Byrd said.
