Brian De Los Santos

Any self-respecting NASCAR fan knows Lauren Wallace, a distant cousin (?) -- I thought it was nephew --  of Mike Wallace made famous in a series of commercials for Geico.

Many have wondered whether he really is related to Wallace. Well, the fact of the matter is, he is merely an actor -- and there's a nice little story about his vault to fame in the Richmond Time Dispatch -- http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/sports.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-05-01-0158.html

My favorite quote from the commercials: "Listen, go-kart track, grocery store, those remote controlled boats; when it comes to Mike Wallace. the story ends with me putting him in the wall."

I was passed along this video of Kevin Harvick doing donuts with a couple of passengers in the backseat. Let's just say it doesn't end well for the passengers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p1KsoJMcqg

We'll see how long this lasts or if it even gets off the ground.

It hasn't worked out too well in the past when NFL stars try to get involved. They are gung ho at the start, but after a couple of years when they don't get immediate results, they give up. Dan Marino, Terry Bradshaw, Jim Kelly, Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach are a few of the NFLers who've dabbled in NASCAR.

Read the press release below.

Huntersville, North Carolina (April 29, 2008) – Fresh off a record breaking NFL season, New England Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss announced today the formation of Moss Motorsports, LLC  with its intended participation to begin in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Moss anticipates that the team will debut at some point in the second half of the 2008 season and run selected races through the conclusion of the year. The partial schedule is a prelude to a full-time campaign in 2009. Sponsors and manufacturer alignments will be announced at a later date.

“We don’t have all of the details in place just yet, but I am very excited about Moss Motorsports becoming a part of NASCAR,” Moss said. “I am by nature a very competitive person and this is an outlet for me to compete at another level. There are some pretty awesome challenges in building a program like this from the ground up, but I am looking forward to it. That’s just another aspect of the competition – you want to find the best people available and you’re competing with all the other teams out there. We’re starting to look at who the best people are and working on getting them to be a part of our team.”

Moss is a ten year veteran in the National Football League and was a first-round draft pick in the 1998 draft out of Marshall University.  He has been a NASCAR fan for several years including sponsorship of a local dirt track program and recently made the decision to get involved with the ownership of a NASCAR team.  He is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the Urban Youth Racing School and furthers his youth advocacy while holding the same honor with American Youth Football. A major component of the Moss Motorsports program will be the continued involvement and support of youth programs.

“There are a lot of NASCAR fans in the locker room,” Moss said. “We’ve seen a lot of football players get involved – guys like Dan Marino and Troy Aikman to name a couple. I think it’s a good fit and gives some of the companies I am already working with an additional outlet. It’s a smart move on the marketing side of things but on the personal side of things I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Randy has kick started his efforts by contracting with Integrity Sports Marketing, LLC – a leading motorsports marketing company in NASCAR.   “We know it takes time to build a team from the ground up, and we have some good people working with us to get that process started,” Moss said. “We are talking to the manufacturers, and we’re already evaluating some drivers. Eventually I’d like to be able to have our team work with some of the young guys that are working hard to make it up the ladder, but right now it might make more sense to find a driver with a lot of experience to get us started. But we really don’t have anyone in mind. We’ll look at who is available and find someone that can help us compete and win as quickly as we can.”

Moss believes Moss Motorsports will give his current marketing partners another avenue to gain exposure and will open doors for new companies that want to work with him.

“The companies I already work with now have a chance to get some exposure to another group of dedicated sports fans,” Moss said. “And we’ll have an opportunity to build some relationships with an entirely new group of companies as well. We’ll have a chance to do some pretty cool things between the football side and the racing side. That’s a part of the equation that most of the other teams don’t have, so we already have a competitive advantage over them. Once we get everything in place we look forward to competing on the race track too.”

The news spread quickly last night as a couple of reports surfaced that Tony Stewart wanted out of the final year of his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing, which runs through 2009.

According to the reports, Stewart wants to join Haas CNC Racing, nabbing a 50 percent ownership stake in the process.

Expect a testy Stewart at Talladega as no doubt he'll be asked about these rumors ad nauseum.

Where it goes from here is anybody's guess.

The only reason I'm not completely laughing the rumor off is that Haas CNC receives engines and support from Hendrick Motorsports, so in all practicality it's a satellite operation. But even with that support, Haas CNC is a NASCAR bottomfeeder. Why would Stewart want to leave one of NASCAR's great teams for that?

I can't imagine that even the addition of Stewart would do much to change the fortunes of Haas CNC. Since Danica Patrick's win this past weekend, I've been on my soapbox that success is about more than a driver. It takes great personnel from the top to bottom of an organization. A driver can't do it alone.  

Now I'm not saying the rumor isn't totally without merit. I don't doubt that Stewart may want out. When Joe Gibbs Racing made the switch to Toyota, my thought from the start was that Stewart would eventually want out to rejoin forces with Chevrolet. But Haas CNC Racing?

There's a couple of Chevrolet scenarios that make a bit more sense to me.

1. Stewart buys a stake in Haas CNC, but signs to drive for Hendrick Motorsports -- after all, the generic version is never as good as the brand name. Mears gets shipped from the No. 25 to one of the Haas CNC rides.

2. Richard Childress Racing has a fourth seat to fill starting next and Stewart is good buddies with Kevin Harvick. If he's that's interested in ownership, perhaps he could by into Harvick's team.

That's all pure speculation on my part, but would make a lot more sense than Stewart simply wanting to leave JGR for Haas CNC unless he has become bored with success.

With the kettle now in full bubble mode, don't expect this to die down unless/until Stewart signs an extension with JGR.