Ryan Moore of Scarborough is used to contending for victories on the racetrack.

He won two races and had eight top-five finishes in 12 starts in the Busch North Series a year ago and wound up fifth in points despite missing one race due to suspension.

He was sixth in points in 2004 and was the Rookie of the Year while finishing 11th in points in 2003.

Now he finds himself in a different situation while running in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for an under-funded team: Key Motorsports.

His average start in 10 races has been 29th and his average finish has been 27.8. He is 35th in points and that is the lowest among drivers who have qualified for at least 10 races.

He has finished 31st or worse in five races, including four of the last five.

However, the team failed to qualify for four of the first seven races before hiring Moore and he has successfully qualified for 10 of 11 races.

His Key Motorsports team still doesn’t have a primary sponsor. The funding comes out of owner Curtis Key’s pocket.

And it’s a one-truck team that isn’t linked to a Busch Series or Nextel Cup team so it doesn’t have anybody to share resources or information.

Moore said he is optimistic about the future and is hoping some home cooking at New Hampshire International Speedway on Saturday could reverse his team’s fortunes and trigger a strong finish.

“We’re learning things as a rookie team. It’s a very inexperienced team. We’re trying to build a team that can be more competitive and it’s really hard to do, especially without a [primary sponsor],” said Moore. “But I try not to get discouraged with myself. I try to stay positive. I try to stay focused on getting better.

“I’ve never been disappointed with the way I’ve run at New Hampshire. It’s probably my favorite track. I know how I need to run [to be successful],” added the 23-year-old Moore, who lives in North Carolina and will get to spend time with family and friends.

“If we don’t run well, it’ll be a disappointment but then we’ll go back and fix the problem,” said Moore.

His two best finishes have been a 14th at Texas Motor Speedway and an 18th at Nashville Superspeedway.

He will drive the black Chevy Silverado that he drove at Nashville this weekend.

“And we’ve made improvements to it,” said Moore.

Moore and crew chief Barry Dodson have implemented a lot of changes designed to improve the team.

“Barry and I weren’t happy with the chassis so Barry has had the chassis and the bodies fixed the way they should be,” said Moore.

Hopefully that also will lead to better qualifying efforts, said Moore.

“We need to be good right off the truck,” he added.

Dodson certainly knows what it takes to be successful.

He has been the crew chief for 19 Nextel Cup victories and helped Rusty Wallace claim the 1989 points championship.

Moore is still under contract to Dale Earnhardt Inc. to drive a Busch Series car but DEI hasn’t been able to line up a sponsor for him so he hasn’t raced for them this season.

He has run one Busch Series races this season for the Great Clips/Braun-Akins team and finished 29th.

The New Hampshire 200 will be held at 2:15 p.m. Saturday and will be spiced up by the inclusion of Nextel Cup regulars Mark Martin, Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer.

Martin and Busch have qualified for the 10-race Nextel Cup championship chase, which gets under way Sunday at 1:30 p.m. with the Sylvania 300 at NHIS

Bowyer is second in Nextel Cup rookie points behind Chase qualifier Denny Hamlin.

3 Mainers in Busch East race

Moore’s father, Kelly, will be one of three Maine drivers in the New Hampshire 125 Busch East race Saturday at 12:10 p.m.

The others are Strong’s Tracy Gordon and Sanford’s Mike Gallo.

Gordon is 21st in points while running just five of the eight races to date. He has two top-fives.

Moore and Gallo have run just one race each, the New England 125 in July.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old Sean Caisse of Pelham, N.H., who drives for the Andy Santerre Motorsports Team, will try to close the gap on points leader Mike Olsen of North Haverhill, N.H.

Caisse leads the series in wins with three but is second in points, 44 behind Olsen, who overtook him on the last lap to win the New England 125.

Cherryfield’s Santerre, the four-time points champ, is Caisse’s crew chief and team owner.

Gordon finished fourth at the New England 125, Moore was 10th and Gallo was 31st.

There will be 46 cars in the race after qualifying was rained out Thursday. That represents the most entrants since 48 took the green flag in 1992.