The No. 80 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS will attempt to make the field for Saturday’s Busch Series O’Reilly Challenge today. (Austin Kilgore)

While gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman has been in a heated race for office all year, he’ll be participating in a faster and much louder one this weekend.

The Vote Kinky Friedman for Governor campaign will sponsor a race truck and a racecar at two of this weekend’s NASCAR races at Fort Worth’s Texas Motor Speedway.

SMU Alum Robert Richardson will pilot both vehicles this weekend for his father’s team, Robert Richardson Racing.

The No. 1 Silverado will compete in tonight’s Craftsman Truck Series race and the No. 80 Monte Carlo SS will attempt to qualify for Saturday’s Busch Series race.

Richardson said his team didn’t have a sponsor for this weekend’s race, so they approached the Friedman campaign about sponsoring the team.

Richardson described Friedman as a “straight talker” and said Friedman’s desire to increase voter turnout for 18-24-year-olds is something he identifies with and feels is important.

The former SMU football player is wrapping up his rookie season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and will attempt to make his first Busch Series start at what he considers his home track. Richardson starts 35th, second to last, in the truck race and faces an uphill battle to qualify for the Busch race.

Many drivers from NASCAR’s premier NEXTEL Cup Series moonlight as Busch Series drivers, and the well-financed teams have dominated the series this year.

The top 35 teams in the Busch Series owner’s points are guaranteed a spot, regardless of their qualifying time. Having never started a race in the series, Richardson will have to qualify faster than five of the 13 cars not already locked into the 43-car field.

Making the race would be a huge accomplishment for Richardson and his team. Richardson’s team is much smaller than many NASCAR teams and struggles to be competitive. With more funding, the team could improve its on track performance.

Richardson said being at his home track and having a high profile sponsor gives him an opportunity to stand out in the crowd and hopefully catch the eye of more sponsors or a large team that could hire him to drive.

“This is our time to shine,” Richardson said. “We need to capitalize on this.”