Whitt takes hauler's wheel into his own hands

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Brandon Whitt had to laugh a little when someone mentioned "spoiled race car drivers."

The 20-year-old native of El Cajon, Calif., had just driven a truck and hauler from Las Vegas, Nev., to his shop in Mooresville. Whitt, who left Las Vegas after running the Truck series race Saturday night, arrived in Mooresville Wednesday evening.

"They keep telling me Winston Cup drivers have their own planes but my pickup was all I had," Whitt laughed.

Whitt finished 26th in Saturday night's Las Vegas 350 Truck series race at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but that only after engine failure knocked him out of the top 15. The week before, he finished 13th in the Truck series race at Fontana, Calif., and had a top-10 assured before being caught in the pits during an untimely caution.

"I am pretty well pumped up after a race anyway but it takes a lot of adrenaline to keep you going for 2200 miles," Whitt said. "Still, we had three guys driving two pickups, hauling a race car and bringing a bunch of equipment from one coast to another. It was a long trip but it was a lot of fun too."

Whitt moved his Clean Line Motorsports operation from the Bakersfield, Calif., area to Mooresville, N.C. The team, which will also run the Truck series events at Fort Worth, Tex., and Homestead, Fla., is planning a full NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season in 2004.

"Everything we are doing now is gearing us up for next season," Whitt said. "We're going into 2004 and a full season of Truck racing knowing we have to hit the ground running. Once you make that kind of commitment, you have to be ready for it. (Crew chief) Jerry Pitts, (General Manager) Marty Gaunt and all of the guys on our race team know that, and we're wanting to run as well as we can at Texas and Homestead too."

Whitt has shown incredible talent in his last two outings, the first in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series since moving to North Carolina. A top-10 contender in the California race, he appeared on the way to at least a ninth-place finish before being caught in the pits on a routine pit stop when an untimely caution flag appeared. At Las Vegas, he qualified 20th, quickly moved into the top 15 and appeared on the way to a possible top-10 and a probable top-15 finish before his engine let go very late in the race.

"We were disappointed in the way things ended up but we were pretty excited with how we ran," Whitt said. "Bad breaks are part of the deal, and we know that. But if we can build on what we've been able to do, especially in the past couple of weeks, and have good runs at Texas and Homestead, we should be in great shape to start the 2004 season."

Following in the footsteps of former California phenoms Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick, Whitt has moved to the next level of major league stock car racing. He comes to the trucks from a successful stint in NASCAR's Winston West Series - where he qualified on the outside pole for the California race this Spring - and the NASCAR Southwest Touring Series, where he was the 2002 Rookie of the Year.

Pitts is a veteran crew chief who worked in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series with Bill Elliott, then moved to lead Eric Norris to the 2002 NASCAR Winston West championship. Gaunt is general manager, coming to the team after a winning stint with Penske Racing.