Ben Rowe still Richard Moody Racing's driver -- for now

As far as Ben Rowe knows, he still has a ride with Richard Moody Racing.

Despite the rumor mill churning around the clock to the contrary, Rowe said that he and car owner Rick Moody have made no plans to part ways on the PASS North Series in 2009.

"He told me that I have a job until I hear it from him," Rowe said on Friday.

Rowe, a multi-time PASS North champion who finished second to Johnny Clark this season, said he has approached Moody to discuss the future. He told Moody that if he only wanted to field cars for RMR’s second driver, Trevor Sanborn, in ’09, the owner had Rowe’s blessing.

"I’m on his payroll right now," Rowe said. "I’m being paid to drive, and Trevor is paying to drive. The way the economy is, I told Rick to go that route if he needs to."

Sanborn drove only a partial schedule in 2008 for RMR, nearly winning the PASS 300 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in September while winning two PASS South races for the team.

But Rowe and RMR still have races on the schedule for this year. They’ll team up to run the Southern Slam 250 at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, Ga., on Nov. 23.

Rowe said he has talked to owner Jay Cushman – whom he drove for in the All-Star Nationals at All-Star Speedway recently – and knows there could be other driving opportunities out there. For the winningest driver in PASS North history, with more than 30 wins, finding a seat shouldn’t be difficult.

For now, though, Rowe isn’t officially looking elsewhere.

"Not that I’ve heard," he said.

In the meantime, Rowe has been busy working with the Late Model team owned by David Avery. The team will test White Mountain Motorsports Park on Sunday – the fourth time they’ve done so in the last two weeks as they try and get a jump on next year’s American-Canadian Tour schedule.