I’d like to welcome Bruce Simmons back to the forum this week as he is now officially back from his trip. Bruce, it’s good to have ya back. I’d also like to thank Roc for stepping up to the plate for us last week in his absence and keeping this alive. And, of course, with us as always is Charlie Turner from On Pit Row. Now, let’s get started.

At the end of April, future NFL Hall of Famer, Randy Moss, announced that he was looking to break into NASCAR as a team owner, more specifically in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2009. With Moss’ announcement immediately came speculation that he would get his team into a few races prior to the end of this season, and rumors began to fly surrounding the team’s manufacturer, sponsor, and affiliates. Many even believed that Moss would land one of the bigger stars from the Sprint Cup Series to debut his truck.

The rumors were finally laid to rest two months later when Moss announced that he had bought into Morgan-Dollar Motorsports as a part-owner, and that the team would be renamed Moss Motorsports. They renumbered the truck #81 in favor of Moss’ jersey number, and the new team debuted at Kentucky Speedway in July with Willie Allen behind the wheel, finishing 15th.

Things continue to evolve for the race team, however, as they have recently announced an agreement that will put two-time Sprint Cup champion, Jimmie Johnson, behind the wheel of the no. 81 truck at Bristol on August 20th. Johnson has never in his career competed in a Craftsman Truck race, and some feel that it may be the result of the partnership between Lowe’s - Johnson’s Sprint Cup sponsor - and Kobalt Tools, which will sponsor the #81 entry in the truck race.

Q: Is Randy Moss’ recent 50% purchase of what is now Moss Motorsports good for the sport?

TZ: I know there’s a lot of fans out there that probably only see this deal go down on the surface and immediately think to themselves, ‘oh, that’s crap’. Let me tell you, I don’t care if he’s white, black, or yellow, Randy Moss is a smart businessman, and he’s grown up an avid fan of racing. I also like the non-NASCAR star power that he brings to our sport, and it’s already taking its effect by putting Jimmie Johnson in a Craftsman Truck race for the first time in his career next month at Bristol. In my book, kudos to Randy Moss for venturing down this path.

Bruce:  I think it will bring a different demographic to the sport to some degree as Randy Moss fans might just tune in to see what this is about.  Right?  Maybe?  We can hope.  New fans are always a good thing, regardless of how many or few.

Charlie:  It is a step forward in NASCAR’s drive for diversity. But Randy Moss is an OWNER. He isn’t going to bring any star power to the sport beyond this initial slash of publicity as his new venture is announced. Do you doubt this. If so, name for me  - quick - three other Craftsman Truck team owners. If you can do it, look at the names and then quantify how many fans those owners bring to the races. Did Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman bring a bunch of Cowboys football fans to NASCAR? If Moss can hang in  for more than three years and build his team into something more than it is today, then he will have accomplished something significant.

Want more? The “Loose in Turn 3″ trio answers three questions each and every week, so be sure to check out the other sites to get the rest of our weekly discussion.

Over at On Pit Row, we answer “Should Tony Stewart look for the hot, young prospect, maybe someone from the open wheel ranks, instead of a current, high dollar star like Ryan Newman for his second car at Stewart-Haas?”

And, we conclude our talks over at Bruce’s Bits ‘n’ Pieces, where the question was posed, “With Tony Stewart acting out over in USAC, what’s that about? I thought he had gotten a grip on his outbursts? Do you think the stress of starting up a new team might be getting to him?”

Image details: Built Ford Tough 225 served by picapp.com

Johnny Benson won his second race of the season and took the points lead for the first time in 2008 after making a 4-wide pass with just 32 laps remaining in the Built Ford Tough 225 Saturday at Kentucky Speedway. As the field restarted on lap 119, Benson was third in line behind Bill Davis Racing teammate, Michael Annett, and Dennis Setzer, and the lapped truck of Chad Chaffin was on the inside. Benson and Setzer both attempted the pass on Michael Annett at the same time, and Chaffin moved to the bottom of the track as well in an effort to make the pass and get his lap back. In the end, though, it was Benson getting the spot and cruising through the final 32 circuits to pickup the win.

Annett finished second - 0.475 seconds behind Benson - in just his third Craftsman Truck Series start. Matt Crafton finished third, with Setzer in fourth, and David Starr rounded out the top-five finishers. Kyle Busch failed in his bid to get his 15th overall win of the season, as he finished sixth. Mike Skinner, Terry Cook, Marc Mitchell, and Ron Hornaday finished 7th through 10th.

Making his debut for the newly formed Moss Motorsports, Willie Allen started 20th and finished 15th. Jack Sprague’s tough luck this season continued with a 22nd place run after starting 5th. Erik Darnell’s no. 99 Roush-Fenway Ford was caught up in an earlier accident and finished a disappointing 29th. And, in her third Truck Series start, Chrissy Wallace made it through just 50 laps before finding an accident of her own, and she finished 33rd.

Johnny Benson climbed up three spots in the standings to take a 1 point lead over second place, Matt Crafton. Ron Hornaday’s top-ten effort wasn’t enough, as he dropped two spots down to third, where he sits just five points out of first. Rick Crawford and Mike Skinner each moved up a spot to fourth and fifth, respectively.

Complete Ford 225 Results.

Craftsman Truck Series Standings:

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It’s going to be a big weekend coming up for the Wallace’s as the NASCAR Nationwide Series makes a trip to St. Louis this weekend for the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway, hometown to brothers Mike and Kenny Wallace. Considered to be the home track for the Wallace family, the track has been kind enough to name the grandstands in Turns 1 and 2 after the Wallace’s, and even honored them by placing their name on the race itself during older brother, Rusty’s retirement year.

Despite all of the hometown recognition, though, a member of the Wallace family has never put a tally in the win column since the Nationwide Series began racing here back in 1997, but they’ll have a prime opportunity to change that this weekend. Mike Wallace is having one of his finer seasons as he currently sits 8th in points and would like nothing more than to notch one up here in front of his hometown fans. He nearly did just that back in 2005 when he finished 2nd here in an Evernham Motorsports car. Mike will also be an honorary guest at the St. Louis Cardinals game on Thursday where he will throw out the first pitch of the game.

Kenny Wallace will also attend the race, as will Steven Wallace, who will be driving for Rusty Wallace Inc, the team owned by his father, Rusty Wallace. That team is still looking for their first win of the season. Steven is currently 12th in the points standings, and Kenny is 18th. All three Wallace’s will also compete in a dirt track race at Tri-City Speedway on Friday in Pontoon Beach, IL.

Mike’s daughter, Chrissy Wallace, will be competing this weekend as well. Chrissy will make the third Craftsman Truck Series start of her career on Saturday in the Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway. To date, she’s finished 18th at Martinsville and 20th at the Milwuakee Mile.

Image details: New England Patriots Mini Camp served by picapp.com

After Super Bowl runner-up, Randy Moss, announced last April that his latest endeavours would include the creation of a full-time NASCAR Craftsmant Truck Series team, the star WR for the New England Patriots has indeed made good on his promise. Moss has announced that he will debut the #81 Moss Motorsports truck on July 19th at Kentucky Speedway for the Built Ford Tough 225, though the team’s manufacturer, sponsors, and even their driver have yet to be announced.

We do know that Moss has recently purchased a major portion of Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, a team that currently fields Willie Allen in the no. 46 Chevy in the series. There has been some speculation that the team could simply rename their existing operations as Moss Motorsports, but that has yet to be determined. Either way, this more than likely means that Moss has established a relationship with GM, and odds are that when the green drops at Kentucky, we’re probably going to be looking at a no. 81 Chevy somewhere on the track.

There are also rumors that the driver of the truck in the team’s debut race could very well be a “prominent” Sprint Cup standout. My first inclination would be that if this is in fact true, then it would probably be someone with some past experience in the Truck Series. But, as I skim through the current Cup roster, there’s no Chevy drivers that fit both bills, so really, I don’t even know where to speculate in terms of who that driver will be. If the GM thing doesn’t hold true, though, then I’d look for someone out of the Gibbs camp, probably Denny Hamlin. But, again, that’s all speculation.

Moss is expected to make an official announcement concerning the team’s plans in a press conference this Thursday at Daytona.

Image details: Meijer 300 served by picapp.com

In only his third start in the Nationwide Series, 18-year old Joey Logano was nothing but masterful during Saturday’s Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway en route to picking up his first career victory in the series. Logano passed teammate, Kyle Busch, for the lead on lap 147 and stayed there for the ensuing 53 laps to become the youngest winner in Nationwide history at 18 years, 21 days (the former record was held by Casey Atwood at 18 years, 10 months, 9 days in 1999 at Milwuakee). The victory also gives Joe Gibbs Racing their leading 10th victory on the season.

Logano finished 2.259 seconds ahead of Scott Wimmer, who ran second in the race, with veteran, Mike Wallace, coming home third. Fourth place went to last week’s race winner, Brad Keselowski. Rounding out the top-five was rookie driver, Bryan Clauson. Sixth place was taken by second year Nationwide driver, Marcos Ambrose, and David Ragan, Mike Bliss, Clint Bowyer, and Jason Keller completed the top-ten finishers.

Kyle Busch had a great day turned sour. After flying into Kentucky Speedway late, he was forced to start the race dead last in 43rd. Forty laps later, however, Busch found himself with the lead and went onto lead a race high 85 laps on the day. After surrending the lead to Joey Logano on lap 147, Busch tried to fight back from the second spot, but he lost control of his car on lap 164. The spin sent Busch slamming into the outside retaining wall down the backstretch, and he went onto finish 30th.

Clint Bowyer retained control of the points lead, and now leads Brad Keselowski by 170 points. Keselowski jumped three spots in the standings to take over 2nd over David Reutimann and Carl Edwards, who finished 13th and 20th. Kyle Busch’s run dropped him from third to fifth in the standings.

For Logano, he has now led laps in each of his first three starts in the series. Those three starts have resulted in a win, 2 top-ten’s, and 2 pole awards. Between Logano’s driving abilities and the dominant team that Joe Gibbs has assembled for him over in that no. 20 car, the rest of the series could be in for a very long, agonizing season.

Click here for the complete results from the Meijer 300.

Nationwide Series Standings:

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It was announced Thursday that Bruton Smith, company chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI) has purchased Kentucky Speedway, located about midway between Louisville, KY and Cincinatti, OH, for the sum of $78.3 million - the track had originally cost $152 million just to build. Smith was very open from the get-go of the announcement that it was his intent to bring a Sprint Cup Series date to the track - a feat that previous owner, Jerry Carroll of Kentucky Seedway LLC, had been unable to accomplish.

Carroll is currently tied up in an ongoing lawsuit against NASCAR due to his inability to secure a date for the track on the Sprint Cup Schedule. The case was originally dismissed by the US District Court in 2005, but Carroll has since filed for an appeal with the US Court of Appeals. Carroll claims that the lawsuit is still on despite the recent sale of his facility, but NASCAR spokesman, Ramsey Poston, has assured that NASCAR will continue to defend their case vigorously.

The sale of Kentucky Speedway itself is still in the beginning stages and is not expected to be finalized until sometime late in the summer. Because of this, SMI has not yet made any formal requests for a 2009 date, but Poston has already stated that even if they had, not to expect a Kentucky race next year because NASCAR is already deep into their sanctioning process for the 2009 schedule.

There are several scenarios that could play out over the next year or two that could lead to landing a Cup date in Kentucky. SMI currently has seven other NASCAR tracks under their control: Bristol Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Infineon Raceway. Of these tracks, all except for Las Vegas and Infineon currently host two Sprint Cup dates. It could be very feasible for Smith to attempt to move one of the dates from NHIS over to Kentucky if needs be. It was originally discussed last year when SMI purchased the Vegas facility that they may try to get another date for that track, but that has yet to play out in anyway.

Another possibility is that Smith and company could attempt to purchase yet another track that already has to Cup races, and then attempt to move a date from that track. The leading candidate for this scenario appears to be Pocono Raceway, a track that Smith has been rumored to have been interested in for some time now, but sources have not yet confirmed whether or not the track is for sale.

Smith can make the request in any way he sees fit, but at the end of the day, the decision will fall upon NASCAR. Poston insists that track ownership does not play into whatever they decide to do, but with SMI currently controlling 1/3 of the Cup Series schedule, it stands to reason that the sanctioning body might go ahead and cater to their requests for a date swap if they should happen to make one.

Recommended Reads:
- Smith Coy About His New Kentucky Home (the Finish Line)
- My Old Kentucky Speedway (From the Marbles)

Roush-Fenway Racing’s developmental driver, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, brought home his first set of checkered flags in the ARCA Series during the Kentucky 150 this past Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway. Stenhouse, driving the no. 99 Roush-Fenway Ford Fushion, had to outduel Scott Speed, driver of the no. 2 Red Bull Toyota, through three late-race restarts, and beat him to the line by a mere 0.374 seconds to get the win.

Speed led 55 of the 112 laps, and held a commanding lead over the rest of the field with only 10 laps remaining until a series of wrecks tightened the field up and gave Stenhouse the opportunity to make the pass for the lead on the second restart. Speed went onto finish second, and Ryan Fischer battled his way back from an earlier spin to finish up third. Speed’s teammate, Ken Butler III finished fourth, and John Wesley Townley rounded out the top-five with his fifth place finish.

Following the race, Stenhouse, who took over the lead in the points standings, said, “I don’t know if it has really sunk in yet. I think the win probably won’t sink in until a little later on. We’ve come out here and have had good runs, and to finally have a win is great.”

The series returns to action next Saturday night at Toledo Speedway for the Hantz Group 200.