Text By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Any doubt about the future of Bobby Hamilton Racing began to be dispelled Thursday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway, when a pair of BHR transporters arrived for the Craftsman Truck Series portion of Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder.  They unloaded Dodge trucks for veteran Ken Schrader -- a former Truck Series winner -- and Georgia youngster Chase Miller, who made his first eight Truck Series starts last season for BHR.  Any concern that existed about how competitive the Dodge Ram trucks brought to Daytona by the followers of the team's namesake -- who died from cancer three weeks ago at home in Mt. Juliet, Tenn. -- vanished Friday.  BHR's Dodges, the only ones among more than 35 trucks in Daytona's garage Friday, warmed up in single truck runs that morning, then were seventh (Miller) and ninth (Schrader) on the sheet in the afternoon, when drafting runs dominated the action.

"We've got to still work on it a little bit, but it's not bad at all," Schrader said. "But see, I've never run a truck down here, so they're a handful [in the draft]. It's fun, but they're a handful.  "That big old body is what gives 'em all that drag, even if the front ends are getting slicker. And you've got better guys working on 'em, but it's still a big old block to move [through the air]." 

Schrader, the motorsports mercenary who is probably the leading current example of a racing lifestyle made famous by Bobby Allison, i.e., racing anything, anywhere, anytime on any surface, is testing the truck with which Hamilton won the 2005 Daytona opener.  In fact, the truck's won three Daytona openers, wheeled by Joe Ruttman (2001),Robert Pressley(2002) and Hamilton.  "I'm going to be driving this truck every time that my Nextel Cup schedule will allow me to," Schrader said of his program with BHR.  "I'm looking forward to going to all of 'em, whether I've been there in a truck before or not."

The team's commitment to its former owner is shown by the visible displays of his name -- on the hauler, on the No. 18 Dodge on the hauler's side and even above the window on the truck that Schrader tested.  And Schrader said that, despite having heartfelt pain that would probably never dissipate, there was no question the team would be in Daytona, would be competitive and would move on with its collective heads up.  "Well, I was thrilled last fall when Bobby asked me to drive his truck," Schrader said after taking a few seconds to gather his thoughts.  "But then I got to thinking about it and I said, 'What the hell is he asking me to drive his truck for -- he should be driving it by then?'

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