Davis looking to make his move

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By Bob Cohn

For most of his life, Marc Davis has been a young man in a hurry - in more ways than one. He has blazed through motorsports' many and varied levels since he started racing BMX bicycles at the age of 6.

Now a grizzled 18, he is again shifting into a higher gear.

Davis, who grew up in Silver Spring and Mitchellville, will drive the No. 18 car for the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team in his first Nationwide Series race Saturday, the Kroger On Track for the Cure 250 near Memphis, Tenn. The Nationwide circuit is the rough equivalent of Class AAA baseball, one level below the pinnacle, the Sprint Cup.

Davis is the youngest driver in the race - he's the youngest in NASCAR's top three circuits - and the only black driver.

"I just want to go out there and stay out of trouble," he said. "I just want to have fun."

Davis' father, Harry, has been with him literally each mile of the way.

"Most every driver dreams of driving in the Daytona 500, and this is one of the steps to get there," Harry Davis said. "Of course, he has a long way to go. This is the beginning of another process.

"There's no real rush, but we also want to take advantage of the skills he has and the opportunity he has. Since he's been training 12 years, it seems like the time is now."

Davis joined Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005 as a member of its diversity program (NASCAR also has a program) that was started by Gibbs and Reggie White, the late NFL Hall of Famer, to develop young minority drivers.

That was a start. The rest was up to Davis.