Bickle to No. 15 truck; Houston to No. 9 truck

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Longtime NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series owner Billy Ballew has made sweeping changes to his organization, placing Rich Bickle in the No. 15 Ford and moving Andy Houston to the No. 9 Ford for Friday's Hardee's 200 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

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Veteran NCTS crew chief Gary Showalter will team with Bickle and NASCAR Busch series veteran crew chief Tommy Morgan will join forces with Houston.

"We are going to find out which of our combinations of drivers and crew chiefs is fastest," Ballew said. "As competitive as this series has become, you have to keep pushing the envelope and that is what we are going to do.

"Andy has done a great job in the 15 truck and Rich did a super job at Martinsville in the 9 truck. We thought if we tried some other combinations we might get even better."

Both Bickle and Houston have three NCTS wins. Houston started the 2003 season off with a bang, bringing home a fifth-place finish at Daytona. Bickle raced to an eighth-place finish at the most recent NCTS event at Martinsville Speedway. Both drivers are looking ahead to the challenge that Charlotte presents.

"I can't wait to race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in the trucks," Houston said. "I have had some really good runs going there in the Cup Series but haven't got the finishes that I would like.

"This racetrack reminds me a lot of Texas and I have two second-place finishes in the trucks there so I am glad to have the opportunity to race here at Charlotte."

"This is my third time driving the 15 truck in my career so I hope that the third time is the charm," said Bickle. "Billy has always had good equipment and we have been competitive in the past. I really like Charlotte, I have won a Busch Series pole here and had some good runs in both Cup and Busch so I can't wait to try and win with one of these trucks."

Billy Ballew Motorsports currently stands 11th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings with the No. 15 truck. FASSCORE Motorsports fielded the No. 9 at Martinsville in conjunction with Billy Ballew Motorsports.

"Hopefully we can continue to run both trucks for as long as sponsorship allows us to," Ballew said. "The technical benefits of running two trucks is very helpful on the truck side just like it is to have a multi-car team in Winston Cup."