Akins Motorsports, formerly Akins-Sutton Motorsports was a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

team based in

Mooresville, North Carolina Mooresville is a large town located in the southwestern section of Iredell County, North Carolina, United States, and is a part of the fast-growing Charlotte metropolitan area. The population was 50,193 at the 2020 United States Census making it ...

, which is near

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

. The team was formed in 1992 by Brad Akins, owner of several car dealerships in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and team pit crew member, and Bob Sutton who served as the team's financial manager. At the time the team was sold to

Braun Racing Braun Motorsports, formerly known as Braun Racing, was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team is based in Mooresville, North Carolina. Best known as one of the top ...

in 2006, it was owned by longtime team general manager Doug Stringer. The team was known for its

Great Clips Great Clips is an American hair salon chain with over 4,100 locations across the United States and Canada. It is headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. In 2013, it had system-wide sales of $1.03 billion. History Th ...

-sponsored #38 team in the

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

(now the Xfinity Series), which was later fielded by Braun Racing and

Turner Scott Motorsports Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM), formerly Turner Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the Nationwide Series, the Camping World Truck Series, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series ...

Busch Series

Car #38 history

Akins Motorsports debuted in 1993, running the #38

Country Time Country Time is a brand of non-carbonated lemon-flavored drink mix and soft drink. The powdered mix is produced by Kraft Foods. History Country Time lemonade flavor drink mix was introduced in 1975 by General Foods. Over the years various ot ...

Ford Thunderbird The Ford Thunderbird (colloquially called the T-Bird) is a personal luxury car produced by Ford from model years 1955 until 1997 and 2002 until 2005 across 11 distinct generations. Introduced as a two-seat convertible, the Thunderbird was pro ...

driven by

Bobby Hamilton Charles Robert Hamilton Sr. (May 29, 1957 – January 7, 2007) was an American stock car racing driver. A driver and owner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series circuit and the winner of the 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship, Hamil ...

. They ran two

Winston Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

races with Hamilton driving, posting a tenth-place finish at

Dover International Speedway Dover Motor Speedway (formerly Dover Downs International Speedway and later Dover International Speedway) is a race track in Dover, Delaware. The track has hosted at least one NASCAR Cup Series race each year since 1969, including two per yea ...

. They also ran a pair of Busch Races with

Elton Sawyer Elton Everett Sawyer (born November 5, 1959) is a former NASCAR driver. He is married to former NASCAR driver Patty Moise. Sawyer is currently the Vice President, Officiating and Technical Inspection of NASCAR. Career Start Sawyer began his caree ...

driving, his best finish a 25th at

Richmond International Raceway Richmond Raceway (RR) is a , ''D''-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in unincorporated Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Known as ...

. Sawyer went full-time with the team in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

with sponsorship from

Ford Credit Ford Motor Credit Company LLC, d/b/a Ford Credit, is the financial services arm of Ford Motor Company, and is headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan. The predominant share of Ford Credit's business consists of financing Ford and Lincoln vehicles ...

. They had six top-tens, as well as winning at

Myrtle Beach Speedway Myrtle Beach Speedway (originally named Rambi Raceway), was built in 1958 and was located on U.S. Route 501 near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The speedway was a semi-banked asphalt oval track that spans .The NASCAR Cup Series competed at the Sp ...

, finishing fourteenth in championship points. The following season, they moved to ninth in points and Sawyer won the pole at

Indianapolis Raceway Park Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park, O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, and Lucas Oil Raceway) is an auto racing facility in Brownsburg, Indiana, United States, about northwest of Downtown Indianapolis, do ...

. At the end of the year, Sawyer was replaced with

Dennis Setzer Dennis Setzer (born February 27, 1960) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He has driven in all three of NASCAR's top series, scoring eighteen wins in the Camping World Truck Series. Beginnings Setzer made his NASCAR debut in the ...

with

Lipton Tea Lipton is a British brand of tea, owned by Ekaterra. Lipton was also a supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, later sold to Argyll Foods, after which the company sold only tea. The company is named after its founder, Sir Thomas Lipton, wh ...

sponsorship for

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

. He had two top-tens, before Sawyer came back to the team to finish out the year, posting one top-ten. In

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Barbasol Barbasol is an American brand of shaving cream, aftershave, and disposable razors created by MIT Professor Frank Shields in 1919 in Indianapolis. It is currently owned by Perio, Inc. Invention MIT Professor Frank Shields set out to create a ...

became primary sponsor, and Sawyer finished a then-career-best sixth in points, before moving up to fifth the following season. Glenn Allen Jr. took over the #38 for the

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

season, and had a fourth-place finish at

The Milwaukee Mile The Milwaukee Mile is a oval race track in the central United States, located on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. Its grandstand and bleachers seats approximately 37,000 spectator ...

, but was replaced during the season by

Hut Stricklin Waymond Lane "Hut" Stricklin Jr. (born June 24, 1961) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. Racing career Stricklin grew up in Calera, Alabama. He married Pam Allison, the daughter of NASCAR legend Donnie Allison after they ...

, who ended the season with a pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 38 team was forced to shut down at the end of the season due to sponsor Barbasol departing. Rookie

Christian Elder Christian Stuart Elder (December 6, 1968 – August 12, 2007) was an American racing driver. He raced in the Busch Series for Akins Motorsports for two years. His best finish of the year was 26th at Kentucky. Elder made his debut in 2001, r ...

drove the #38 in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

with Great Clips/Deka Batteries sponsorship for sixteen races that year, posting a best finish of 20th twice. Elder drove the 38 for eight races in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, sharing the ride with Mark Green before Green took over the ride permanently, posting three top-fifteen finishes. In

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, Akins hired

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

development driver

Kasey Kahne Kasey Kenneth Kahne (; born April 10, 1980) is an American dirt track racing driver and former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, driving the No. 95 Dumont Jets/Procore, Procore ...

as the team's driver. Kahne finished seventh in points and won his first career race at the

Ford 300 The Ford 300 is an automobile which was built in the USA by Ford for the model year 1963 only. It was the base trim level of the full-size 1963 Ford line below the Galaxie, Galaxie 500 & Galaxie 500XL.John Gunnell, Standard Catalog of America ...

. He would take over the 9 Dodge in the

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

for

Evernham Motorsports Evernham Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing organization that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 2000 by former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Ray Evernham, entering full-time competition as a two-c ...

' for the 2004 season, but continued to run Akins' Busch team, as they switched to

Dodge Intrepid The Dodge Intrepid is a full sized front-wheel drive four-door sedan that was produced by Dodge for model years 1993 to 2004. It is related to the Chrysler 300M, Chrysler Concorde, Chrysler LHS, Chrysler New Yorker, and Eagle Vision which we ...

s. He went winless in 2004, but had two poles and finished eleventh in points. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, team manager Doug Stringer assumed full ownership, and Kahne shared the car with Tyler Walker. He had two wins and three poles, while Walker did not finish better than 14th, and was released in August 2005.

Mike Wallace Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. He interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade career. He was one of the original correspo ...

and A. J. Foyt IV shared the driving duties with Kahne for the balance of the season. Rookie driver A.J. Foyt IV was to compete for Rookie of the Year in the #38 Akins ride in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

but was released from the team when Doug Stringer merged Akins Motorsports with

Car #58 history

Akins added a second car to its stable in 2005, with

Brent Sherman Brent Sherman (born May 24, 1974) is an American professional racing driver who competed in the ARCA Racing Series, NASCAR, and the Firestone Indy Lights Series. Racing career Sherman's route to NASCAR was not like that of most drivers. After hi ...

driving a Serta Mattress and

Hickory Farms Hickory Farms, LLC is an American food gift retailer with headquarters in Chicago. Richard Ransom established the company in 1951 when he began selling handcrafted cheese at local fairs. By 1959, the company added summer sausage and opened its f ...

-sponsored Dodge. However, following the sale of team to Doug Stringer the team consolidated its operations to the #38 and sold the #58 to

Glynn Motorsports Glynn Motorsports is a former NASCAR Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series team. The team was owned by businessman Scott Glynn before it filed for bankruptcy in January 2006. Glynn made its debut in 2005 when it announced it would merge with Ak ...

Car #98 history

, Akins formed a second car, the #98 with

Lysol Lysol (; spelled Lizol in India) is a brand of American cleaning and disinfecting products distributed by Reckitt, which markets the similar Dettol or Sagrotan in other markets. The line includes liquid solutions for hard and soft surfaces, ai ...

sponsorship with Elton Sawyer driving. He won his second race at

New Hampshire International Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mil ...

and finished fifth in points again. In

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, Sawyer continued to drive the 98, posting fourteen top-tens. In

, clothing brand Starter and

Hot Tamales Hot Tamales is a cinnamon-flavored candy introduced in 1950, currently manufactured and marketed in the United States by Just Born. The name derives from the sometimes spicy flavor of tamales. It was the top-selling cinnamon candy in 1999. Vari ...

came on board as sponsor and in April 2001 Akins sold the #98 team to Michael Kranefuss in order to focus on the #38. Sawyer posted a career-best nineteen top-ten finishes and finished 5th in points. At the end of the year, Starter and Hot Tamales left and unable to find a sponsor, Kranefuss was forced to disband the #98 team.

Craftsman Truck Series

Truck #38 history

During the 1995 season, Akins/Sutton also fielded a

Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

team with

Sammy Swindell Samuel Alan "Slammin Sammy" Swindell (born October 26, 1955) is an American sprint car driver. He is a three-time champion and four-time runner-up in the World of Outlaws series; he has also competed in NASCAR and Champ Car competition and attem ...

full-time driving with sponsorship from

Channellock Channellock is an American company that produces hand tools. It is best known for its pliers—the company manufactures more than 140 types of pliers—particularly its eponymous style of tongue-and-groove, slip-joint pliers. Its pliers have dis ...

, posting five top-tens and a 4th place run at Bristol, finishing twelfth in points. The team racked up an astounding 7 DNFs during the 20-race season. Akins/Sutton never fielded a truck again.

References

{{reflist Defunct NASCAR teams Sports teams in Charlotte, North Carolina Defunct companies based in North Carolina fr:Akins Motorsports