HAMPTON, Ga. -- Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly. And Burney Lamar has to race.

Lamar hasn't had a full-time ride since being released from his Busch Series job near the end of the 2006 season. Still, he refuses to become the answer to the trivia question: "Hey, whatever happened to that guy who drove Busch cars for Kevin Harvick?"

"It tears you up inside but all you can do is keep going," Lamar said Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. "In '05, we won some races and did good in some Truck races, and man, life was good. It was a high for us. And then we go to Daytona and finish second. And then we go to Atlanta and finish eighth."

"Once the finishes started declining, it got bad in a hurry. I thought it was a low then, until I sat out almost this whole year. I thought I'd be able to get a ride right off the bat and that wasn't the case. Come March, April, May, here I am working on the house to make money, thinking I'm going to get back out there and I'm not."

He failed to qualify for his Nextel Cup debut this weekend but caught the attention of many in the garage area who wondered if Lamar -- married to model Niki Taylor -- had given up on racing.

"A lot of people thought, 'Oh, he's not into racing anymore. He's set for life,'" Lamar said. "But I tell you what, when you've been racing your whole life, that ain't the case at all. It's tough to hear people think that. But I've been to all the Truck races, trying to get something going. It's tough."

Lamar said he's been pounding the pavement every weekend, banging on hauler doors and hoping for another chance. But there's one problem: He doesn't have a helmet full of cash to cement a deal.

"It's real difficult," Lamar said. "I know I can drive. ... Getting the opportunity is the problem. A lot of people coming in are more fortunate than I am with financial backing. There's a lot of good drivers [in this position]. I wasn't the only one. There are a lot of people in the same boat. It's just really tough in the Busch Series.

"It's so tough mentally, not being out there racing with these guys when you know you can do it. You have to believe in yourself, and I do believe in myself."

Three years ago, the former Southwest Tour rookie of the year was signed as a development driver for Kevin Harvick Inc. and immediately went out and was competitive in NASCAR's regional stepladder series, earning Lamar a full-time Busch Series ride in 2006. (Continued)