DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The best thing that Bobby Hamilton Racing-Virginia might have going for it, as it heads into the 2008 season in the Craftsman Truck Series, is that it's an organization consisting of and controlled by racers.

You have to look no further than the driver's seat of its No. 4 Dodge truck to confirm that, as former Truck Series race winner and NASCAR veteran Stacy Compton is part of the new ownership group.

After racing five full seasons in the Busch Series, Compton shifted into a part-time Truck Series season at Wood Brothers/JTG Racing in 2007 while he also diversified into TV work.

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"It's a huge opportunity -- there isn't a better way to get a ride than to buy it," Compton said, laughing. "When we unloaded [Friday] I was pretty surprised at the amount of support that we had, and how well things had went."

In the offseason, BHR owner Lori Hamilton announced that the team formed by her late husband -- 2004 Truck Series champion Bobby Hamilton -- would merge with a diverse group of Virginia racers, take on a new name and relocate to Martinsville, Va.

Bobby Hamilton had been passionate about maintaining a championship-level race team in his hometown of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., but on Saturday during a break in Truck Series Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona International Speedway, his widow said discussions of moving the team to Virginia had begun in 2005 -- nearly two years before Hamilton passed from neck cancer in early January 2007.

"BHR was extremely successful where it was, in Mt. Juliet and Bobby's vision was that he wanted it to be in his hometown, but behind the scenes we had numerous meetings with Martinsville and Henry County about moving the team," Lori Hamilton said. "NASCAR obviously has a hub and it's convenient to be close to [it].

"Does that mean that your team will be more successful or not more successful because you're right down the road from it? No, not necessarily -- but I think it's going to help us in the vision that we have the group of people that we've assembled."

On Saturday, the team's drivers, Compton and Truck Series veteran Dennis Setzer; and the ownership group including Martinsville Speedway president Clay Campbell, Arrington Manufacturing head Joey Arrington, Lori Hamilton and S&M Brands' chief executive officer Mac Bailey sat down to explain the dream.

"The people we've surrounded ourselves with, you can see, come from all different aspects of NASCAR," Hamilton said. "We have the sponsor side with Mac, the track side; with Mark Melling we have someone who's been an owner and the racer [Compton and Arrington] over here.

"One of the things BHR lacked last year was Bobby -- and Bobby wore those hats. So we had to fill those roles and help secure Bobby's vision for many years to come and the best way to do that was to surround ourselves with strength and power.

"When you put a group of powerful people together, they'll help push Dodge back up to where they deserve to be, because [Dodge] backed us through some difficult times. So the key group of people that came from Tennessee are there, and they're excited about it. Change is good."

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.