Rapper Nelly buys into Craftsman Truck team

DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) -- It's getting hot in NASCAR.

Grammy award-winning rapper Nelly will buy into a Craftsman Truck team starting at Darlington Raceway on March 14.

	Nelly

The deal to purchase part of Billy Ballew Motorsports will last the rest of the season, Nelly's representative, Michael Warmack, told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday.

The truck will sport a new paint scheme and feature Nelly's Vokal clothing label. It will be unveiled in time for the Darlington 200 truck event.

"We've kind of been running on stealth mode for the last few weeks," Warmack said.

Nelly, born Cornell Haynes, released his CD "Nellyville" with the infectious single "Hot in Herre" last year.

	Andy Houston

The hit earned him a Grammy for best male rap solo performance. He also won for best rap/sung collaboration for "Dilemma," featuring Kelly Rowland. Nelly had a hit with "Ride Wit Me," off the 2001 Grammy nominated album "Country Grammar" that included the catchy phrase "Hey, must be the money!"

Warmack will be the point-man for the Atlanta-based Vokal Racing Team, and said the group eventually will look for a minority driver. For now, Warmack said they will continue with Ballew's driver, NASCAR truck veteran Andy Houston, at the 1.366-mile superspeedway.

Warmack said plans came together last month at Daytona International Speedway.

Darlington Raceway spokeswoman Cathy Mock said her office got a call about security and protection for an appearance next week by the platinum-selling artist.

Warmack was hopeful Nelly would be at NASCAR's oldest superspeedway to debut the truck and watch the race.

"Nelly is a race fan, he's been one for a long time," Warmack said. "We're very excited about him becoming a team owner."

NASCAR manager for diversity affairs Dora Taylor said Nelly, who is black, and his people talked to her about the sport's diversity issues.

"They had heard we were good and wanted to find out for themselves," she said.

Rob Copeland, NASCAR's managing director of business communications, said Nelly had another reason for joining -- to win.

"They want to compete and in the end, that's what it's all about," Copeland said.

Several prominent blacks have tried -- and failed -- to make a dent in NASCAR.

Julius Erving, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Willy T. Ribbs are among the few blacks who have tried either to drive or to own cars. None have had much success. It has been nearly 40 years since Wendell Scott became the first and only black man to win a race in NASCAR's top series.

Taylor is in her second year trying to change that. There is only one black driver, Bill Lester in the truck series, on NASCAR's top three circuits.

Nelly would certainly introduce stock cars to an audience rarely seen in the pits. It's hard to think of two things more different than hip-hop and NASCAR.

"You have to remember, hip-hop has become a crossover sensation," Taylor said.

It takes somewhere between $1.5 million and $3 million to run a Craftsman Truck team. Nelly is spending "enough to go racing a few years," Warmack said, but would not elaborate.

"He thinks he can help bring more minorities to this sport," Warmack said. "We're happy we can be a part of this with NASCAR."