COVENANT TRANSPORT, INC. 2006 OMNIBUS INCENTIVE PLAN AWARD NOTICE GRANTEE: TYPE OF AWARD: Restricted Stock Award NUMBER OF SHARES: DATE OF GRANT:

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Exhibit 10.22

 

GRANTEE:
TYPE OF AWARD:		Restricted Stock Award
NUMBER OF SHARES:
DATE OF GRANT:

1. Grant of Restricted Stock. This Award Notice serves to notify you that Covenant Transport, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the “Company”), hereby grants to you, under the Company’s 2006 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “Plan”), a Restricted Stock Award (the “Award”), on the terms and conditions set forth in this Award Notice and the Plan, of the number of shares set forth above (“Restricted Shares”) of the Company’s Class A Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share (the “Common Stock”), set forth above. A copy of the Plan is available from the Company’s Chief Financial Officer upon request. You should review the terms of this Award Notice and the Plan carefully.

2.  Restrictions and Vesting. Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this Award Notice, the Plan, and Schedule A attached hereto, and provided you remain continuously in the employment or service of the Company or any Subsidiary through the Vesting Date, one or more portions of the Restricted Shares shall vest, as of the Vesting Dates (as defined in Schedule A) if (and only if) the Performance Goals (as defined in Schedule A) for the Performance Periods (as defined in Schedule A) ending on such Vesting Dates have been satisfied and the Committee has certified such satisfaction in accordance with Section 3. Any fractional share resulting from proration shall vest on the last Vesting Date. 

3. Determination of Vesting. The Committee shall undertake to complete its certification on or prior to March 31 next following each Performance Period. If it shall be impractical for the Committee to complete its certification by such date, the Committee shall do so as soon as reasonably practical thereafter. Based on that review and certification, the Committee shall then instruct the Company as to whether any of the Restricted Shares shall vest. If only a portion of the Restricted Shares are released from the restrictions as set forth above and such action would result in the release of a fractional share of Common Stock, the total number of Restricted Shares that shall vest and be released from the restrictions thereon shall be rounded down to the next lower number of whole shares of Common Stock. Any Restricted Shares that do not vest as a result of the Committee’s review of the Performance Goal results with respect to one or more Vesting Date(s) shall automatically be forfeited without any obligation of the Company to pay any amount to you or to any other person or entity; provided, any Restricted Shares that do not vest as of a particular Vesting Date nevertheless shall be eligible for vesting, and shall vest, if (a) the Company achieves the Performance Goal for a subsequent Performance Period and (b) you are still in the employment or service of the Company or any Subsidiary on the subsequent Vesting Date. 

4. Effect of Death or Other Termination of Employment. In the event of your death or the termination of your employment or service to the Company or any Subsidiary for any reason prior to the complete vesting of the Restricted Shares, including the review and certification of results by the Committee as provided in Section 3, the unvested portion of the Restricted Shares shall be forfeited as of the date of your death or such termination.

5. Effect of Change In Control.

(a)  In General. Upon the occurrence of a Change In Control (as defined below), any unvested portion of the Restricted Shares shall immediately vest as of the date of the occurrence of such event.

(b)  “Change In Control” Defined. The term “Change In Control” means a change in control of the Company of a nature that would be required to be reported in response to Item 5.01 of a Current Report on Form 8-K, as in effect on December 31, 2004, pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act; provided that, without limitation, a Change In Control shall be deemed to have occurred at such time as:

(i)  Any “person” within the meaning of Section 14(d)(2) of the Exchange Act and Section 13(d)(3) of the Exchange Act, other than a Permitted Holder becomes the “beneficial owner,” as defined in Rule 13d-3 under the Exchange Act, directly or indirectly, of fifty percent (50%) or more of the combined voting power of the outstanding securities of the Company ordinarily having the right to vote in the election of directors; provided, however, that the following will not constitute a Change In Control: any acquisition by any corporation if, immediately following such acquisition, more than seventy-five percent (75%) of the outstanding securities of the acquiring corporation (or the parent thereof) ordinarily having the right to vote in the election of directors is beneficially owned by all or substantially all of those persons who, immediately prior to such acquisition, were the beneficial owners of the outstanding securities of the Company ordinarily having the right to vote in the election of directors;

(ii)  Individuals who constitute the Board on the date of the approval of the Plan (the “Incumbent Board”) have ceased for any reason to constitute at least a majority thereof, provided that any person becoming a director subsequent to the date of the approval of the Plan, whose election or nomination for election by the Company’s stockholders was approved by a vote of at least three-fourths (3/4) of the directors comprising the Incumbent Board, either by a specific vote or by approval of the proxy statement of the Company in which such person is named as a nominee for director without objection to such nomination (other than an election or nomination of an individual whose initial assumption of office is in connection with an actual or threatened “election contest” relating to the election of directors of the Company, as such terms are used in Rule 14a-11 under the Exchange Act as in effect on January 23, 2000, or “tender offer,” as such term is used in Section 14(d) of the Exchange Act), shall be, for purposes of the Plan, considered as though such person were a member of the Incumbent Board;

(iii)  Upon the consummation by the Company of a reorganization, merger, or consolidation, other than one with respect to which all or substantially all of those persons who were the beneficial owners, immediately prior to such reorganization, merger, or consolidation, of outstanding securities of the Company ordinarily having the right to vote in the election of directors own, immediately after such transaction, more than seventy-five percent (75%) of the outstanding securities of the resulting corporation ordinarily having the right to vote in the election of directors; or

(iv)  Upon the approval by the Company’s stockholders of a complete liquidation and dissolution of the Company or the sale or other disposition of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company other than to a Subsidiary.

(c)  “Permitted Holder” Defined. The term “Permitted Holder” means: (i) the Company or a Subsidiary, (ii) any employee benefit plan sponsored by the Company or any Subsidiary, or (iii) David or Jacqueline Parker or their siblings, children, or grandchildren (“Family Members”) or a trust, corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, or other such entity, so long as at least eighty percent (80%) of the beneficial interests of the entity are held by Mr. or Mrs. Parker and/or one or more Family Members, where such person(s) or entity acquired their Company stock from Mr. or Mrs. Parker.

6.  Book-Entry Registration. The Restricted Shares initially will be evidenced by book-entry registration only, without the issuance of a certificate representing the Restricted Shares.

7.  Issuance of Shares. Subject to Sections 8 and 13 of this Award Notice, upon the vesting of any Restricted Shares pursuant to this Award Notice, the Company shall issue a certificate representing such vested Restricted Shares as promptly as practicable following the date of vesting. The Restricted Shares may be issued during your lifetime only to you, or after your death to your designated beneficiary, or, in the absence of such beneficiary, to your duly qualified personal representative.

8. Withholding. You shall pay to the Company or a Subsidiary, or make other arrangements satisfactory to the Company regarding the payment of, any federal, state, or local taxes of any kind required by applicable law to be withheld with respect to the Restricted Shares awarded under this Award Notice. Your right to receive the Restricted Shares under this Award Notice is subject to, and conditioned on, your payment of such withholding amounts.

9.  Nonassignability. The Restricted Shares and the right to vote such shares and to receive dividends thereon, may not, except as otherwise provided in the Plan, be sold, assigned, transferred, pledged, or encumbered in any way prior to the vesting of such shares, whether by operation of law or otherwise, except by will or the laws of descent and distribution. After vesting, the sale or other transfer of the shares of Common Stock shall be subject to applicable laws and regulations under the Exchange Act.

10.  Rights as a Stockholder; Limitation on Rights. Unless the Award is cancelled as provided in Section 3 or 4 of this Award Notice, prior to the vesting of the Restricted Shares, you will have all of the other rights of a stockholder with respect to the Restricted Shares so awarded, including, but not limited to, the right to receive such cash dividends, if any, as may be declared on such shares from time to time and the right to vote (in person or by proxy) such shares at any meeting of stockholders of the Company. Neither the Plan, the granting of the Award, nor this Award Notice gives you any right to remain in the employment of the Company or any Subsidiary.

11. Obligation to Maintain Stock Ownership. Your ability to dispose of Restricted Shares after vesting may be limited by stock ownership guidelines adopted by the Company for certain officers and key employees, and the Company is authorized to place a restrictive legend on such shares, issue stop-transfer instructions to the transfer agent, or take such other actions as may be advisable, in the Committee’s sole discretion, to enforce such ownership guidelines. Please determine whether you are subject to the guidelines and how many Restricted Shares may be disposed of prior to attempting to dispose of any shares.

12.  Rights of the Company and Subsidiaries. This Award Notice does not affect the right of the Company or any Subsidiary to take any corporate action whatsoever, including without limitation its right to recapitalize, reorganize, or make other changes in its capital structure or business, merge or consolidate, issue bonds, notes, shares of Common Stock, or other securities, including preferred stock, or options therefor, dissolve or liquidate, or sell or transfer any part of its assets or business.

13.  Restrictions on Issuance of Shares. If at any time the Company determines that the listing, registration, or qualification of the Restricted Shares upon any securities exchange or quotation system, or under any state or federal law, or the approval of any governmental agency, is necessary or advisable as a condition to the issuance of a certificate representing any vested Restricted Shares, such issuance may not be made in whole or in part unless and until such listing, registration, qualification, or approval shall have been effected or obtained free of any conditions not acceptable to the Company.

14.  Plan Controls; Definitions. The Award is subject to all of the provisions of the Plan, which is hereby incorporated by reference, and is further subject to all the interpretations, amendments, rules, and regulations that may from time to time be promulgated and adopted by the Committee pursuant to the Plan. Except as set forth in the last sentence of this Section 14, in the event of any conflict among the provisions of the Plan and this Award Notice, the provisions of the Plan will be controlling and determinative. The capitalized terms used in this Award Notice and not otherwise defined herein are defined in the Plan; provided, however, that when the defined term "Company" is used in the Plan in Sections 2.1(c), 2.1(d), 2.1(g), 2.1(o), 2.1(r), 2.1(cc), 4.2(h) (second usage), 4.3, 6.1, 6.2, 11.3, 13.2 (second usage), 16.2, and 16.4, the term "Company" shall be interpreted to mean only Covenant Transport, Inc., a Nevada corporation (and not also its Subsidiaries).

15.  Amendment. Except as otherwise provided by the Plan, the Company may only alter, amend, or terminate this Award with your consent.

16.  Governing Law. This Award Notice shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Nevada, except as superseded by applicable federal law, without giving effect to its conflicts of law provisions.

17.  Notices. All notices and other communications to the Company required or permitted under this Award Notice shall be written, and shall be either delivered personally or sent by registered or certified first-class mail, postage prepaid and return receipt requested addressed to the Company’s office at 400 Birmingham Highway, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37419, Attention: Chief Financial Officer. Each such notice and other communication delivered personally shall be deemed to have been given when delivered. Each such notice and other communication delivered by mail shall be deemed to have been given when it is deposited in the United States mail in the manner specified herein.

The undersigned acknowledges receipt of, and understands and agrees to be bound by, this Award Notice and the Plan. The undersigned further acknowledges that this Award Notice and the Plan set forth the entire understanding between him or her and the Company regarding the restricted stock granted by this Award Notice and that this Award Notice and the Plan supersede all prior oral and written agreements on that subject.

Dated: _______________, 20__

	Grantee:
	Covenant Transport, Inc.
	By:

 

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