Posted by John Schwarb
LAS VEGAS --
Stacy Compton came to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this morning as an owner. He'll spend tonight as a driver -- for another team.
The Craftsman Truck Series' silly season played out live Saturday as
Ted Musgrave crashed on the second lap of the first morning practice in the No. 59 HT Motorsports Toyota and promptly quit the team. For the second morning practice,
Bobby Hamilton Racing-Virginia part-owner Stacy Compton was behind the wheel.
Compton, himself a full-time driver until earlier this month when his No. 4 BHR-VA team parked due to lack of funding, was watching the first practice from atop the No. 18 hauler and listening on the radio to discussion about adjustments being made on
Dennis Setzer's Dodge. Then HT Motorsports' team manager Donny Vaden paid a visit, with Compton describing the extent of the offer to drive as this:
Vaden: "Hey, what you doing?"
Compton: "Spectating."
Vaden: "Have you got a helmet?"
Compton: "Driver's always got a helmet."
And with that Compton had a ride for the night, in a truck Musgrave had driven into 13th in points with six top-10s. But Musgrave's displeasure with HT Motorsports had been mounting in recent weeks and Saturday's practice crash broke the relationship, not to mention the team's primary truck.
"They just drive really out of control, and it just got away from me after, I don't know many races we've run, 18 or whatever, I finally lost control once," said Musgrave, the 2005 series champion. "I just said 'to heck with it, I'll just get out and let Stacy drive it,' and I can see he's bottom of the barrel, too, with it."
Compton ranked second-to-last in the final practice in the team's backup truck, which needed an engine change and other work to be ready to race. Compton needed some work himself before climbing in, borrowing a driver's suit from HT and shoes from Circle Bar Racing driver
Rick Crawford.
Musgrave remained at the track, cleaning out his personal items from the No. 59 hauler, transferring them to a Germain Racing hauler (he raced with the team in 2006-07) and spending the rest of the morning strolling the garage in a white Toyota golf shirt.
"I don't want to ride around, I want to perform and win races like I used to and be a contender, and you're not going to do it over there," Musgrave said. "So I'm just going to find one that is."
As for Compton, he's just happy to have a ride after sitting out the last two races following BHR-VA's downsizing, even in the most unusual of race-day circumstances.
"Man, you never know what's going to happen in this business," he said.
