Daniel Moss enters the 2019 racing season fresh off a championship at Orange County Speedway and united with Craig Moore as he now sets his sights on a division championship at the historic South Boston Speedway.
Moss, 24, from Danville, Virginia, won the Late Model Stock Car championship at Orange County Speedway last year. This season, he will compete in the ultra-competitive Limited Sportsman division at South Boston Speedway where he’s hoping to pick up another championship and score victories.
“This year my main priority is to win the Limited Late Model championship at South Boston,” Moss told Race22.com. “We won the Late Model Stock championship at Orange County Speedway last year. We went out there today, we’re actually competitive this year. We have Craig (Moore) on board. He jumped on last year and I started winning races and the car was handling better. It just keeps getting better every weekend.”
Moss has also teamed up with Craig Moore, who stunned the racing world with a victory in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour race at South Boston last fall, and feels even more confident.
“He sets my car up now,” Moss said. “He’s been keeping the car at his shop some. I still deal with Chuck Lawson. Chuck Lawson is still kind of like my crew chief as well. We’re kind of like three-way partners now. We’re all working together. Craig gives us that extra little edge. He’s only right down the road from Orange County.
“I’m not sure much about his background. When I started racing, he was winning all the races at Orange County. We just so happened to meet up and it’s been good ever since.”
Moss got his start in racing competing in Motocross before his grandfather, John, urged him to get into go-kart racing and eventually into Pure Stock racing. At the time, he had already developed a friendship with Blake Stallings.
“I’m a bigtime Motocross racer,” Moss recalled. “I’ve been racing Motocross since I was seven years old. I went to school with Blake Stallings as well and he grew up on the go-kart scene and I always raced Motocross. I fought that for a long time until I came to my grandpa and he asked if I wanted to ride a go-kart. He asked if I wanted to race a car at South Boston one weekend. That happened several weekends before anything happened.”
Eventually, Moss made the jump from two wheels to four wheels.
“This was around the same time Blake moved from go-karts to cars and he started nagging me about cars,” Moss explained. “One week he asked me and I denied him again and he had already paid for the car to be rented from the Milams out of the Pure Stock division. I was about 16-years-old, didn’t have my license, didn’t know how to drive stick. They threw me out there and I finished eighth in my first race. We decided I was halfway decent so I kept going.”
Moss hopes to compete for a Late Model Stock Car championship at South Boston Speedway and race against names like Philip Morris, Lee Pulliam, and Peyton Sellers.
“I want to drive in Late Model Stock at South Boston because that’s the best competition you’re going to get to race against in my opinion,” Moss remarked. “I want to see how I am compared to everyone else. Grandpa wanted me to grab this Limited Sportsman championship before I moved up.”
Moss tested on Thursday and felt confident after, saying the car was fast. That has him hoping and expecting to be in contention for the victory on Saturday.
“We went down there today,” Moss stated. “There were only a few Limiteds there but we were the fastest by far. I even talked to Trey Crews while I was there because we have to borrow his motor. He said my times were pretty good and I would be set up for a win if I drive with my head straight.”
While racing on four wheels is Moss’ priority, he still loves to race on two wheels as well.
“I never stopped Motorcross, I just made NASCAR my priority,” Moss commented. “I sacrificed my Motocross career for NASCAR. I still choose to stay in my car. With Craig on the team, it’s worth it. I think we’re actually going to do something. My grandpa wants me to sell my dirt bike and quit riding but you can’t take that out of me. You can’t take the dirt bike away. That’s how I grew up.”
Moss will compete in the 50-lap Limited Sportsman race during South Boston Speedway’s season opener on Saturday afternoon. Race22.com will have coverage throughout the day from South Boston Speedway.
