For BHR, the dream lives 450 miles east in Virginia (cont'd)

Melling, the president of Melling Tool, a company with a long history in NASCAR, is also part of the ownership group and was not at the track. Hamilton said Compton and Arrington were primarily responsible for the day-to-day competition operation.

"The group of people we've put behind this -- and certainly, Lori letting us be a part of her team is pretty exciting for us -- I think we've got a lot of good things working," Compton said. "It's pretty cool to see the group of people that we've got involved. The people that are involved are basically racers, and I think that says a lot for the sport and a lot for this team.

"You can sort of control your own destiny and the destiny of the team because I do get to go into the shop every single day and be part of [the management], to see what's going on and hopefully help organize people more.

"For me, it's a lot of fun, but it's certainly a lot of work. But if you surround yourself with good people it works out pretty good, and I think that's what we've got."

Campbell had a couple reasons for getting involved, but they all center on racing. He currently runs the facility built by his grandfather, Clay Earles, but he's also raced karts and Late Model cars himself.

"This is good for Martinsville and Henry County, where Joey has gotten a tremendous amount of exposure for NASCAR with what he's done over the past few years," Campbell said. "I'm excited about this. I had the utmost respect for Bobby, and to carry on the vision that he had with such a fine group is an honor for me.

"I go way back with racing. I'm a racing person, that's all I know -- so this is just on the different side of the fence than what I'm used to, but I look forward to it because of the support we have from Dodge and [Dodge Motorsports'] Ted Flack. It's going to be a great year."

But there was a price. While Hamilton said that a number of key members of the team's competition department had transferred -- including crew chief Marcus Richmond and truck chiefs Jonathan Ellis and Todd Perryman -- others did not.

Hamilton said that engineer Jeff White, another long-term BHR fixture who most recently served as crew chief on the team's No. 18 Dodge, didn't make the transfer due to family considerations; and has taken a position as team engineer with Baker-Curb Racing's Nationwide Series team, which is based in Nashville, Tenn.

Kip McCord, who along with Bobby Hamilton could be considered one of "the faces" of long-term Nashville racing and who served BHR as both a team manager and crew chief, opted not to make the move, Hamilton said.

But Compton said transitioning the core group was a big plus. Ironically, the last time he raced full-time in the Truck Series, in 1999, both he and Setzer drove Dodges; and both of Compton's Truck victories came in a Dodge.

"I loved what I did with ESPN and I certainly enjoyed the people that I worked with but I'm a racer, too," Compton said. "It's fun to get back into the series full-time. Last year I enjoyed the part-time deal, but I didn't enjoy as much as being here every week.

"Joey called me up, basically a month ago and said 'let's sit down and see if we can put this together.' So we sat down with Clay and Mark and Mac and we all came up with a plan on how we could be a part of Lori's team."

Arrington, who has built a solid reputation in NASCAR for his work as a Dodge engine builder, said the manufacturer was stepping up its support in 2008.

"It looks like, right now with our test schedule, that they've put more into it than I was expecting," Arrington said. "So they've sort of passed it back to the teams saying, 'guys, step up to the plate, let's do this together and move the team forward.'

"Obviously, with the testing that NASCAR has put together for early in the season [Daytona and Atlanta] and the testing that's been planned for our race team -- track tests and wind tunnel tests -- I'm gonna say it again: We're gonna kick some butt this year and put Dodge back on top, the way it was in 2004 and 2005. That's about it and that's our job."

And that was what was always at the heart of Bobby Hamilton's dream, his wife said.