Trail Motorsports (formerly HighLine Performance Group, FitzBradshaw Racing and Fitz Motorsports) was a NASCAR team based in Mooresville, North Carolina. The team was owned by Armando Fitz and Art Shelton, and was previously co-owned by Fitz's former wife Mimi. The team was known as the HighLine Performance Group until the end of the 2001 season, when they teamed up with Terry Bradshaw and formally created FitzBradshaw Racing. At the end of the 2004 season FBR announced that it was partnering with Chip Ganassi Racing, which gave them access to more technical and engineering support. In addition to that partnership they also switched manufacturers from Chevrolet to Dodge. The team also formed a partnership with Michael Waltrip Racing for the 2006 season. Bradshaw left the organization at the end of the 2006 season. The team changed its name to Trail Motorsports in early 2009 after Shelton came on board.
Sprint Cup Series While the team was called FitzBradshaw, Trail briefly ran a Cup operation in 2002 with Kerry Earnhardt driving No. 83 RacingUSA.com/Aaron's Chevrolet. The car was fielded with support from Dale Earnhardt, Inc. The team had planned to run full-time in Cup by 2004. Earnhardt failed in each of his attempts, due to rain cancelling qualifying at all three events. Ron Hornaday Jr. qualified for that year's Checker Auto Parts 500, finishing 36th. Earnhardt attempted three more races in 2003 with sponsorship from Aaron's, Supercuts, and Hot Tamales, but also failed to qualify.
Car No. 83 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 35 36 Pts 2002 Kerry Earnhardt 83 Chevy DAY CAR LVS ATL DAR BRI TEX MAR TAL CAL RCH CLT DOV POC MCH SON DAY CHI NHA POC IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH NHA DOV KAN TALDNQ CLTDNQ MAR ATLDNQ CAR 61st 109 Ron Hornaday Jr. PHO36 HOM 2003 Kerry Earnhardt DAY CAR LVS ATL DAR BRI TEXDNQ TAL MAR CALDNQ RCH CLT DOV POC MCH SON DAYDNQ CHI NHA POC IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH NHA DOV TAL KAN CLT MAR ATL PHO CAR HOM 63rd 93
Nationwide Series
Beginnings Armando Fitz's team started as a two-car operation during the 2001 season. He and his wife, Mimi, purchased the team from Team SABCO, owned by his father-in-law and former Sprint Cup Series co-owner Felix Sabates at the end of the 2000 season. The team, then known as the HighLine Performance Group ran the No. 8 Chevrolet and No. 11 Chevrolet. Blaise Alexander began the season in the No. 8 car, but after four races, the team cut back to a part-time schedule. Frank Kimmel, Jeff Falk, Michael Dokken, Jason Rudd, Mario Hernandez, Mark Voigt, and Josh Richeson all shared time in the car over the season, with the No. 8 team finishing 42nd in owner's points. Marty Houston drove the newly renumbered No. 11 car at the beginning of the year, his best finish being a 13th at the NAPA Auto Parts 300, but he was replaced by Ron Hornaday Jr. after the Outback Steakhouse 300. Hornaday had two top-tens but was released before the season was over, and was replaced by Todd Bodine who had one top-five in three races at the end of the season. Andy Santerre and Tim Fedewa also ran races in the car. The No. 11 car ended 21st in owner points, with Bodine finishing 29th in points.
Car No. 8 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 Pts 2001 Blaise Alexander 8 Chevy DAY30 CAR16 LVS43 ATL12 DAR BRI TEX 42nd 1132 Frank Kimmel NSH TAL CAL Jeff Falk RCH NHA NZH CLT DOV KEN MLW GLN CHI GTY BRI RCH Michael Dokken PPR IRP MCH DAR CLT HOM Jason Rudd DOV KAN Mario Hernandez MEM Mark Voigt PHO Josh Richeson CAR
Car No. 11 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 Pts 2001 Marty Houston 11 Chevy DAY13 CAR42 LVS36 ATL33 DAR20 BRI14 TEX25 NSH23 TAL37 CAL32 RCH38 NHA30 NZH25 CLT32 DOV17 KEN21 21st 3282 Ron Hornaday Jr. MLW8 GLN10 CHI16 MCH14 BRI27 DAR11 RCH11 DOV26 KAN34 Andy Santerre GTY16 PPR13 IRP17 Todd Bodine CLT15 PHO5 CAR24 HOM15 Tim Fedewa MEM6
Primary Car history
In 2002, the newly formed FitzBradshaw Racing signed Supercuts, 10-10-220, Hot Tamales, and Jani-King as sponsors and Kerry Earnhardt as the driver of the team's No. 12 Chevrolet. The team also formed a technical alliance with Dale Earnhardt, Inc., receiving engines and engineering support from DEI. Earnhardt had two top-fives and finished 22nd in points. Earnhardt did not have a top-ten finish in 2003, and was released after the Tropicana Twister 300. Tim Fedewa, who had been Earnhardt's spotter since 2002, and crew chief for a single race, replaced him for the balance of the season. Fedewa finished in the top-20 eight times. Fedewa had five top-tens in 2004, and finished sixteenth in points. Fedewa struggled in 2005, and did not finish in the top-ten, causing him to be released after Pikes Peak. Joel Kauffman, Paul Wolfe, Carlos Contreras, Kertus Davis, Sterling Marlin, and Steadman Marlin all shared the ride for the rest of the season. In 2006, the No. 12 car has seen several different drivers through the first 25 races of the season. Joel Kauffman was slated to run the full schedule for the team this year, however after struggling the team scaled back his schedule. David Reutimann ran the car at Daytona because Kauffman had not received approval for superspeedway racing. Tracy Hines and Mike Skinner drove the car in multiple races. For the 2007 season, Fitz Motorsports switched to the No. 22 and signed David Stremme and Mike Bliss as their principal drivers. Both drivers had great success in the No. 22, with Bliss scoring the team's best finish of second at Memphis. When the team came to Montreal for the inaugural NAPA Auto Parts 200, the team - in a last-second decision - placed Canadian CART regular Patrick Carpentier in the car. Carpentier won the pole position for the race and charged from 6th with less than 2 laps to go to finish second to Kevin Harvick.
Bliss returned in 2008 to drive full-time, but left for Phoenix Racing after six races, and was replaced by various Cup drivers including Robby Gordon and Reed Sorenson. Michael Waltrip Racing development driver Josh Wise became the new driver for thirteen races with one top-five finish. Of note, Fitz switched temporarily to Toyota during Wise's runs with the team. A wide variety of drivers including former Champ Car driver Andrew Ranger, 2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman, Jarit Johnson, and Joe Gibbs Racing development driver Marc Davis, took over for the rest of the season. This team shut down in early 2009.
Car No. 12/22 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 35 Pts 2002 Kerry Earnhardt 12 Chevy DAY41 CAR28 LVS19 DAR18 BRI28 TEX23 NSH8 TAL18 CAL21 RCH33 NHA18 NZH20 CLT28 DOV16 NSH18 KEN7 MLW27 DAY38 CHI43 GTY12 PPR18 IRP35 MCH21 BRI31 DAR28 RCH27 DOV39 KAN2 CLT31 MEM5 ATL41 CAR31 PHO10 HOM27 26th 3145 2003 DAY14 CAR15 LVS14 DAR33 BRI34 TEX31 TAL17 NSH26 CAL40 RCH19 GTY17 NZH14 CLT35 DOV14 NSH30 KEN34 MLW15 DAY33 CHI41 18th 3170 Tim Fedewa NHA12 PPR13 IRP13 MCH25 BRI24 DAR19 RCH18 DOV17 KAN18 CLT25 MEM20 ATL24 PHO24 CAR24 HOM42 2004 DAY16 CAR18 LVS7 DAR16 BRI12 TEX15 NSH12 TAL37 CAL31 GTY9 RCH17 NZH15 CLT42 DOV9 NSH11 KEN34 MLW17 DAY10 CHI17 NHA2 PPR25 IRP34 MCH23 BRI16 CAL27 RCH35 DOV13 KAN38 CLT31 MEM23 ATL33 PHO18 DAR14 HOM21 20th 3480 2005 Dodge DAY24 CAL21 MXC21 LVS15 ATL38 NSH26 BRI25 TEX16 PHO41 TAL37 DAR19 RCH41 CLT29 DOV34 NSH21 KEN40 MLW27 DAY24 CHI32 NHA13 PPR18 28th 2846 Sterling Marlin GTY Joel Kauffman IRP BRI DOV KAN MEM PHO HOM Paul Wolfe GLN23 MCH32 RCH29 Carlos Contreras CAL33 Steadman Marlin CLT Kertus Davis TEX 2006 David Reutimann DAY29 34th 2561 Joel Kauffman CAL MXC LVS ATL BRI TEX NSH PHO RCH DAR CLT KEN MLW Tracy Hines TAL DAY29 CHI41 NHA34 Mike Skinner DOV25 NSH26 IRP18 MCH29 BRI13 RCH32 CLT10 TEX21 PHODNQ HOM24 Carlos Contreras MAR29 GLN32 CAL38 MEM39 Kevin Hamlin GTY Scott Wimmer DOV Ted Musgrave KAN30 2007 David Stremme 22 DAYDNQ CAL12 LVS5 ATL11 BRI33 TEX19 CLT16 CHI25 MCH24 8th 3381 Carlos Contreras MXC Mike Bliss BRI10 NSH10 PHO15 TAL14 RCH33 DAR18 DOV9 NSH16 KEN9 MLW25 NHA13 DAY17 GTY33 BRI13 RCH5 DOV4 KAN31 CLT29 MEM2 TEX43 PHO32 HOM23 Josh Wise IRP Patrick Carpentier CGV2 GLN19 Robby Gordon CAL9 2008 Mike Bliss DAY17 CAL13 LVS26 ATL7 BRI5 NSH11 23rd 3409 Robby Gordon TEX20 PHO27 Rubén Pardo MXC18 DAR42 Reed Sorenson TAL29 Johnny Sauter RCH Josh Wise CLT24 DOV19 NSH33 KEN23 MLW33 NHA20 DAY33 CHI25 GTY16 IRP5 DOV13 Andrew Ranger CGV BRI RCH KAN CLT Ryan Newman GLN Josh Wise Toyota MCH14 CAL22 Jarit Johnson Dodge MEM Marc Davis TEX30 PHO27 HOM27 2009 Johnny Borneman III Ford DAY CAL LVS BRI TEX NSH PHO TAL RCH DAR CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW NHA DAY CHI GTY IRP IOW GLN MCH BRI CGV ATL RCH DOV KAN CAL CLT MEM TEX PHO HOM N/A 0
Second Car history
The team expanded to two cars in 2003 halfway through the season as the United States Navy came aboard to sponsor the No. 14 for nine races. Casey Atwood debuted the car at Kentucky Speedway, bringing it home in 9th place. Atwood ran 11 races that year, posting four top-ten finishes. Atwood came back in 2004, and had seven top-tens, when he was dismissed after Charlotte. His immediate replacement was Dave Blaney for one race, with Braun Racing's David Stremme named as his permanent replacement. As part of the arrangement to bring Stremme to the team, FitzBradshaw agreed to align themselves with Chip Ganassi Racing, who had him under contract as part of a driver development deal. This would allow the team to finish the season as a Chevrolet team, but beginning the next year both the No. 12 and the No. 14 would switch to Dodge as Ganassi's team was fielding the vehicles at the time.
Stremme ran the No. 14 full-time in 2005, and had ten top-tens, finishing 13th in points, before moving up to compete in the Nextel Cup series. Tracy Hines was hired to run in the No. 14 Dodge for the 2006 season, however sponsorship issues forced the team to compete on a limited basis. Steadman Marlin competed for the team in two races and A. J. Foyt IV competed in one race for the team. It was announced in July 2006 that Family Dollar would sponsor the car for nine races and the team would feature Ricky Craven, Carlos Contreras, and Mike Skinner as drivers. Fitz Motorsports changed the car number to No. 44 for 2007 and Rubén Pardo qualified for the team's first race at the Telcel-Motorola México 200, followed up by another start at Nashville Superspeedway. Mike Bliss also drove the No. 44 with Family Dollar sponsorship at Charlotte in May 2007. For 2008, Kenny Wallace was signed to drive the No. 36 with sponsorship from Shark Energy. Although Wallace missed the season opener at Daytona, he ran all following races until owner Armando Fitz announced on March 17 that the No. 36 team would only run part-time due to a lack of product distribution, and the owner points of the 36 were switched the No. 28 of Wallace's new team. The No. 36 began running part-time with Pardo and Charles Lewandoski driving midway through the season.
Car No. 14/44/36 results