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Action Express Racing
Founded	2010
Team principal(s)	Jim France (Team Owner); Bob Johnson (Team Principal); Gary Nelson (Manager)
Current series	WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
Former series	Rolex Sports Car Series
Current drivers	31: Full-time; Earl Bamber; Jack Aitken; Frederik Vesti; Felipe Drugovich (Rolex 24H only)
Drivers'; Championships	6 ('14, '15, '16, '18, '21 '23 IMSA)
Website	axracing.com

Action Express Racing (AXR) dba Whelen Cadillac Racing for the 2024 season is a sports car racing team that currently competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.^[1] The team is owned by NASCAR CEO Jim France and run by Bob Johnson and former NASCAR champion crew chief Gary Nelson. Based in Denver, North Carolina, the team currently fields the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-LMDh for Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti.

History

Rolex Sports Car Series

Action Express Racing was founded in 2010 and ran in the former Rolex Sports Car Series. The team started out of the gate strong, by winning the 2010 Rolex 24 at Daytona. Their lineup in the No. 5 Riley Mk. XI featured João Barbosa, Terry Borcheller, Ryan Dalziel, and Audi LMP1 driver Mike Rockenfeller. The team's win was notable as their engine, a Porsche 5.0L V8 engine, was not sanctioned by Porsche itself, and was built by a third party based on the Porsche Cayenne. Full season drivers Barbosa and Borcheller were joined by J. C. France for a few rounds, but did not find the podium again, finishing 13th in points. Barbosa, Borcheller, and France reunited the following season, taking a podium at the 2011 Rolex 24 and winning at Virginia International Raceway, enough for Barbosa and France to finish 5th in points. The team also expanded to the No. 9 Riley-Porsche, driven by Darren Law, IndyCar driver Buddy Rice, David Donohue, and Burt Frissele. After reuniting Barbosa and France, the team opted to replace the latter with Law, scoring wins at Belle Isle and the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen.

For 2013, AXR fielded both the Nos. 5 and 9, this time as Corvette Daytona Prototypes. They were driven by Christian Fittipaldi, Brian Frissele, Barbosa and Burt Frissele, respectively. The team opted to join Barbosa and Fittipaldi together for the remained of the season after Road Atlanta, and the pair scored two wins at Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen. While the Frissele brothers were teamed up, they only scored a single podium at Road America.

IMSA SportsCar Championship

Three straight championships (2014–2016)

For the newly formed IMSA SportsCar championship in 2014, AXR ran only the No. 5 of Barbosa and Fittipaldi for the full season, reducing the No. 9 crewed by the Frissele brothers and Jon Fogarty to only the North American Endurance Cup. AXR took three wins, including the team's second Rolex 24, en route to both the inaugural title and North American Endurance Cup for the No. 5.^[2] For 2015, AXR assumed operations of the No. 31 Whelen Racing team, hiring GTD champion Dane Cameron to pair with Eric Curran.^[3] The No. 5 took its second IMSA title as well as the NAEC on the back of two wins including the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans, while the No. 31 team won at Detroit and Road America to finish 3rd in points.

The No. 5 and No. 31 remained unchanged in 2016. With their worst finish being 6th and two wins at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and Road America, the No. 31 Corvette team won the drivers title, with the No. 5 team taking home another North American Endurance Cup.^[4]

Cadillac partnership (2017–present)

From 2017, both Mustang Sampling Racing and Whelen Engineering Racing fielded Dallara-based Cadillac DPi-V.R machines.^[5] The Rolex 24 At Daytona saw the Mustang Sampling Cadillac knocked from the lead on the penultimate lap by Wayne Taylor Racing, another Cadillac team. Following the Daytona outing near-miss, the team continued to learn the new Cadillac Prototype as the No. 10 team had a strong start to the season. Mustang Sampling Racing returned to the winner circle at Watkins Glen and began to gain momentum. Even with both cars taking wins, compared to the last three seasons, had a relatively disappointing year, the Nos. 5 and 31 only winning one race each, and watched the rival Wayne Taylor Cadillac win the first five races on their way to the WeatherTech Championship, however the No. 5 once again took the NAEC, their fourth in a row.

2018 brought changes to the team. Christian Fittipaldi moved to an endurance driver/manager role in the team, while Dane Cameron left to join Team Penske's new Acura program. Their spots on the team were filled by Filipe Albuquerque and ex-F1 driver Felipe Nasr, respectively.^[1] The team started the 2018 season with a 1-2 finish at the Rolex 24, setting an all-time distance record.^[6] The Mustang Sampling car then won at Long Beach, with the Whelen Engineering Racing squad taking a victory at Detroit, and eventually capturing both the WSCC and NAEC for 2018.

For 2019, the Pipo Derani joins the team in the No. 31 from Extreme Speed Motorsports, filling a void left by Eric Curran's move to endurance driver role. Additionally, Christian Fittipaldi will leave the driver's seat as he finishes his transition to a management role following the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona.^[7]

In 2021, 7-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson joined the team in a brand new entry, the No. 48 Ally Cadillac Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. Simon Pagenaud, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Rockenfeller joined Johnson in the car, which finished 2nd at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Johnson's former Hendrick teammate and defending NASCAR champion Chase Elliott joined the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R team during the Rolex 24 at Daytona as well.

Racing results

Rolex Sports Car Series

Year	Chassis	Engine	Drivers	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Pos.	Pts.
2010					DAY	HOM	BAR	VIR	LIM	WGI	MOH	DAY	NJMP	WGI	CGV	MMP
2010	Riley Mk. XX	Porsche 5.0L V8	João Barbosa Terry Borcheller	9	1	15	10	12	4	10	10	10	11	10	10	12		12th	260
2011					DAY	HOM	BAR	VIR	LIM	WGI	ROA	LAG	NJMP	WGI	CGV	MDO
	Riley Mk. XX	Porsche 5.0L V8	David Donohue Darren Law	5	9	2	5	3	5	5	6	6	6	6	3	5		3rd	318
	Riley Mk. XX	Porsche 5.0L V8	João Barbosa J.C. France	9	3	5	7	1	6	7	7	8	5	7	6	4		5th	314
2012					DAY	BAR	HOM	NJMP	DET	MDO	ROA	WGI	IMS	WGI	CGV	LAG	LIM
	Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8	David Donohue	5	5	9	3	4	2	3	4	7	8	6	3	9	4	4th	348
			Darren Law	5	5	9	3	4										3rd	355
			Darren Law	9					1	6	6	1	5	8	4	5	5	3rd	355
			João Barbosa	9	9	7	8	7	1	6	6	1	5	8	4	5	5	7th	342

24 Hours of Le Mans

Year	Entrant	No.	Car	Drivers	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2023	Action Express Racing	311	Cadillac V-Series.R	Jack Aitken Pipo Derani Alexander Sims	Hypercar	324	17th	10th
2024	Whelen Cadillac Racing	311	Cadillac V-Series.R	Jack Aitken Pipo Derani Felipe Drugovich	Hypercar	280	29th	15th

Race wins

Rolex Sports Car Series wins

#	Season	Date	Class	Track / Race	No.	Winning Drivers	Chassis	Engine
1	2010	January 30–31	DP	Daytona	9	João Barbosa / Terry Borcheller / Ryan Dalziel Mike Rockenfeller	Riley Mk. XX	Porsche 5.0L V8
2	2011	May 14	DP	Virginia	9	João Barbosa / Terry Borcheller / J.C. France	Riley Mk. XX	Porsche 5.0L V8
3	2012	June 2	DP	Belle Isle	9	João Barbosa / Darren Law / J.C. France	Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.0L V8
4	2012	July 1	DP	Watkins Glen	9	João Barbosa / Darren Law	Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.0L V8

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship wins

#	Season	Date	Classes	Track / Race	No.	Winning Drivers	Chassis	Engine
1	2014	January 25–26	Prototype	Daytona	5	João Barbosa / Sébastien Bourdais / Christian Fittipaldi	Coyote Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8
2		July 25	Prototype	Indianapolis	5	João Barbosa / Christian Fittipaldi	Coyote Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8
3		August 10	Prototype	Road America	5	João Barbosa / Christian Fittipaldi	Coyote Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8
4	2015	March 21	Prototype	Sebring	5	João Barbosa / Sébastien Bourdais / Christian Fittipaldi	Coyote Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8
5		May 30	Prototype	Belle Isle	31	Dane Cameron / Eric Curran	Coyote Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8
6		August 9	Prototype	Road America	31	Dane Cameron / Eric Curran	Coyote Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8
7		October 3	Prototype	Road Atlanta	5	João Barbosa / Sébastien Bourdais / Christian Fittipaldi	Coyote Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8
8	2016	July 3	Prototype	Watkins Glen	5	Filipe Albuquerque / João Barbosa / Christian Fittipaldi	Coyote Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8
9		July 10	Prototype	Mosport	31	Dane Cameron / Eric Curran	Coyote Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8
10		August 7	Prototype	Road America	31	Dane Cameron / Eric Curran	Coyote Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8
11	2017	July 2	Prototype	Watkins Glen	5	Filipe Albuquerque / João Barbosa / Christian Fittipaldi	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 6.2 L V8
12	2017	July 9	Prototype	Mosport	31	Dane Cameron / Eric Curran	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 6.2 L V8
13	2018	January 27–28	Prototype	Daytona	5	Filipe Albuquerque / João Barbosa / Christian Fittipaldi	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8
14		April 14	Prototype	Long Beach	5	Filipe Albuquerque / João Barbosa	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8
15		June 2	Prototype	Belle Isle	31	Eric Curran / Felipe Nasr	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8
16	2019	March 16	(DPi)	Sebring	31	Eric Curran / Pipo Derani / Felipe Nasr	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8
17		April 13	(DPi)	Long Beach	5	Filipe Albuquerque / João Barbosa	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8
18		October 12	(DPi)	Road Atlanta	31	Eric Curran / Pipo Derani / Felipe Nasr	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8
19	2020	July 18	(DPi)	Sebring	31	Pipo Derani / Felipe Nasr	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8
-	2021	January 24	(DPi)	Daytona (Qualifying Race)	31	Pipo Derani / Felipe Nasr	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8
20	2023	March 18	GTP	Sebring	31	Jack Aitken / Pipo Derani / Alexander Sims	Cadillac V-Series.R	Cadillac LMC55R 5.5 L V8