Lack of resources doesn't scuttle racing dreams.(automobile racing team owner Travis Carter)

For Travis Carter, three decades devoted to stock car racing have produced many more struggles than successes.

Carter has known the best of times. In 1973, he was crew chief during Benny Parsons' Winston Cup championship season in L.G. Dewitt's No. 72 Chevy. Five years later Carter attended the title banquet as crew chief for champion Cale Yarborough and owner Junior Johnson. But Carter has yet to duplicate that success as a car owner. In fact, he hasn't won a race.

During the last 12 years, when the well-heeled Hendrick, Roush and Yates organizations have ascended to the pinnacle of the sport, Carter's efforts, including the last two seasons partnered with Carl Haas, have been mired in mediocrity.

In 1989, when Carter made his debut as an owner in the season-opening Daytona 500, his driver, Rick Mast, qualified 11th and ran as high as third before finishing sixth. That same day, Rick Hendrick's cars finished first, second and fourth. Though Carter's drivers have raced in 323 events without a victory, team members Todd Bodine and Jimmy Spencer qualified their Fords third and fifth, respectively, for last Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

But before the green flag falls, there's ample room for optimism, and Carter is far from giving up.

"There are a lot of little ingredients that prevent us from being a weekly contender," Carter says. "Other teams may have a better history. Take Jeff Gordon, for example. When that car comes to the World 600 (Charlotte), they're going to bring a car here that's capable of winning even if they never ran a lap of practice. They know what to do and how to adapt to changes.

"I don't think we have a good history on things like that. They have better engineering, maybe better money to work with, but I think steadily ... we've improved our cars, our teams and our people.