During the prerace report on Speed/TV at Kansas Speedway, Rick Allen reported that New England Patriot wide-receiver Randy Moss is starting a new truck team with plans to race toward the end of the year. A formal announcement is expected some time next week.(4-26-2008)
UPDATE: 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. 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.”(Integrity Sports Marketing/Moss Motorsports PR)(4-29-2008)
UPDATE 2: Hearing that NFL Player Randy Moss has bought into Morgan-Dollar Motorsports and the team will be renamed Randy Moss Motorsports. No idea when this will be announced.(6-12-2008)
UPDATE 3: Moss Motorsports has scheduled a press conference at Daytona Int’l Speedway on Thursday, July 3rd at 2:00pm/et – anticipating a formal announcement of future plans.(6-27-2008)
UPDATE 4: A source at New Hampshire Motor Speedway told the Herald yesterday that Moss’ NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team, Randy Moss Motorsports, will make its debut on July 19 at Kentucky Speedway. Moss’ truck will be #81, the jersey number he wears for the Patriots. Moss has also purchased a major portion of Morgan Dollar Motorsports, a team currently racing in the truck series. Moss will make the announcement on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway and is expected to have a prominent Sprint Cup driver race his truck in Sparta, KY.(Boston Herald)(6-30-2008)
UPDATE 5: Randy Moss, NFL All Pro wide receiver with the New England Patriots, will make his debut as a NASCAR team owner on July 19 in the Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway. Moss has purchased a 50-percent stake in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team owned by long-time series participant David Dollar. Dollar’s team, known as Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, will be renamed Randy Moss Motorsports effective immediately. Sponsorship for the new organization is pending. The new team will utilize Moss’s familiar #81, and will retain Morgan-Dollar’s relationship with Chevrolet. Eric Phillips, long time crew chief for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports will continue to fill that role with Randy Moss Motorsports. [Announcement on drivers will be made in the coming days.](Randy Moss Motorsports/Integrity PR)(7-3-2008)
UPDATE 6: Quote from interview with David Dollar; Dollar: Yes its going to be Willie Allen. We are going to run Willie Allen at Kentucky. [Future races for Allen with Randy Moss Motorsports have not been secured.](Team Chevy PR)(7-4-2008)
