NEWTON, Iowa – When Brett Moffitt pulled off a dramatic upset win in the second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race of the season at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway, many would have easily thought Moffitt and his Hattori Racing Enterprises team would glisten into the Playoffs home free.
But as the Truck Series season has pressed on, the challenge of making it to the race track each week has been tough, leaving their playoff hopes second fiddle as adequate funding is still needed for the Shigeaki Hattori-owned operation.
Moffitt returns home for Saturday night’s M&M’s 200 with sponsorship in full force but looking ahead there is still sponsorship gaps that need to be filled to not only keep the No. 16 Toyota running – but their Playoff eligibility alive too.
“We’re certainly in a tight spot,” Moffitt said Saturday morning at Iowa Speedway. “As we saw at Texas most of the truck was blank and Northland Foundation which is on the truck again this weekend and one of our partner here stepped up. Monday morning, we didn’t know if we were going to Texas or not.
“We need to go execute. That’s the goal for Iowa here and to win in my home state would be huge.”
While focusing on scoring his third career Truck Series win, Moffitt knows that they will likely have to fight the No. 21 of Johnny Sauter for the checkered flag. Sauter, one of the hottest drivers on the tour has collected four of the opening eight races in 2018.
Moffitt, a native of Grimes, Iowa believes his Scott Zipadelli-led team can contend and beat the GMS Racing empire.
“To beat him (Sauter),” Moffitt chuckled. “That’s the expectations. He’s set the bar. Him and Joe Shear and everyone at GMS has done a great job. It’s certainly the goal. They’ve really had fast trucks all year and Johnny has done a good job.
“We have speed and could have raced with him (Johnny) but we just haven’t put a whole race together.”
Whatever the finish at Iowa Speedway, it won’t be long before the mode switches from racing to business and while Moffitt will welcome back partner AISIN for a sixth time at Gateway, the clock is ticking to find someone for Chicagoland Speedway a week later.
The highly anticipated Eldora Truck Series race in July is also unsponsored for Moffit.
“Certainly, we’re in a great spot in the points and in a spot to compete for a championship and there’s still a few open races coming up,” added Moffitt. “I know we’re good for Gateway next week and then I think Chicago we’re looking for a sponsor to part with there. It’s certainly on all of our minds all the time and it’s something we’re working on to try and close that gap.”
Knowing the effects of winning and how it propelled further sponsorship to materialize after Atlanta, Moffit is hoping it could happen again with another win soon.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty on those open races so we’ll keep working,” sounded Moffitt. “Hopefully, we can go have a good run for the Destiny Homes SMART Series tonight and it will help us go a long way.”
While Hattori Racing doesn’t know if they’ll still compete with a blank truck, they are still focused on winning races and keeping their presence at the front. With two new sponsors set to join the Mooresville, N.C.-based team in the second half, Moffit showed his appreciation of local support as 15 companies stepped up to the plate to make his first Truck Series start at Iowa happen.
“It’s just more than Destiny Homes involved in this,” he said. “We probably have 15 different companies that all work on that SMART Series project and they all donated to the cause. Some of the guys are on the truck, some of them (just) wanted to give to the cause.
“A lot of people pulled together to do this which is overwhelming for me and it’s great that they all do that. And it’s great to represent an Iowa company. Hopefully, it helps boost some sales on their side as well.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
