Development driver, Marc Davis and the JGR team are unsure of his next step. He remains in one of NASCAR’s Class A leagues, the Camping World East series. The best and nearest hope for advancement team president J.D. Gibbs offers is perhaps the Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR’s Double-A ball, beginning next year. [Brad] Daugherty had limited success as a Truck and Nationwide owner in the past, and just last month bought into another team that will field one car at the Cup level in 2009. The team already had three white drivers under contract for next year, one in Cup, two in Nationwide, so his hands are tied on improving diversity there. “But I’m looking at running, hopefully, an African-American driver in the Truck series,” he says. Daugherty wouldn’t confirm the likelihood that Marc Davis is his man, but also wouldn’t deny it, in a joint effort with the Gibbs team. For Marc, “I would say there’s a possibility he could run something [part-time] in Nationwide in the fall,” Gibbs says. “Next year, we’re trying to look at trucks as a great spot for him.” (Read more of this article at ESPN.com)(8-11-2008)
UPDATE: Joe Gibbs Racing development driver Marc Davis will make his Craftsman Truck Series debut driving for Randy Moss Motorsports in the Sept. 6 race at Gateway International Raceway. Randy Moss Motorsports co-owner David Dollar said Wednesday that Davis could run more than just one race this year. Davis, who just turned 18 in June, has competed in the NASCAR Camping World East Series for the last two years.(SceneDaily.com)(8-21-2008)
UPDATE 2: Randy Moss Motorsports has hired 18-year-old Marc Davis to drive in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series beginning Sept. 6 at St. Louis, and for a total of “probably about six races this year,” Davis said Monday in a telephone interview. Davis is widely considered the African American driver nearest to making a major breakthrough in NASCAR. But his father, Harry Davis, said the deal as it came together “was never about diversity, as many would play it up to be. It’s about dollars.” Davis received special permission to drive for Moss from J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, where Davis has been a development driver alongside Joey Logano for the past two years. Harry Davis said the deal came together quickly because Marc brought his own sponsorship, from Howard University-affiliated radio station WHUR in Washington, D.C. (ESPN.com)(8-26-2008)
UPDATE 3: During a post-race interview with ESPN’s Mike Massaro, Marc Davis was asked if he was planning on running any more races this year. Davis responded by saying that they are trying to put some races together for the remainder of this year, but that they were really trying to set down their 2009 schedule first. Davis said they plan to run some Truck Series Races as well as some Nationwide races in 2009.(10-25-2008)
