Racing dreams are coming true for Brett Moffitt.

At age 17, those dreams seem to have no bounds.

He is driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, one of the hallmark names on the NASCAR circuit. On June 7, Moffitt, whose family lives in Grimes, won his first race of the year in a NASCAR developmental circuit, the same circuit where last year, at age 16, he became the youngest driver to win a race.Moffitt has been winning races since he was 10, starting out in go-karts, then hitting the dirt track circuit a few years later in Iowa and the Midwest.

These days, he is driving a Toyota Camry under the auspices of a nationally recognized racing team whose top drivers are NASCAR superstars Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano.

It was Logano’s achievement as the youngest person to win a race in the developmental circuit that Moffitt surpassed last year.

Moffitt’s wins, poise and a little swagger have caught the attention of NASCAR veterans. Those three attributes also have helped account for a $500,000 private investment to help pay his way with Joe Gibbs Racing.

His father, Richard Moffitt, has been the chief fund-raiser for his son’s career. Last year, cost concessions from another racing team helped Brett finish out the racing season.

“It was by the skin of our teeth that we finished the season,” said Richard Moffitt. The finish was a good one, too. Brett won his last race of 2009 at Dover International Speedway in Delaware.

Richard Moffitt said he is still raising money to fulfill his son’s financial obligations to Joe Gibbs Racing, which is owned by the former Washington Redskins coach and his son.In addition to fund raising, Moffitt also serves as a manager of sorts, arranging travel plans and, most important, acting as an adviser.

Though the Moffitts had contacted several racing teams to find out who was the most interested in working with Brett for the 2010 season, it was Joe Gibbs Racing and its reputation for being a faith-based organization that seemed the best fit.

“Brett is 17, and I really wanted him to be in the right environment,” Moffitt said.

Brett is not old enough to drive in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series, where the qualifying age is 18. That series is one step below the Sprint Cup Series, the major leagues of NASCAR auto racing.

Steve deSouza is vice president of Nationwide operations and development for Joe Gibbs Racing. He said it was something of a “miracle” that the team found a spot for Moffitt.

“A lot of it seems to be divine intervention,” he said. “There are thousands of people out there who are the next Joey Loganos, Denny Hamlins and Kyle Busches; unfortunately most will never be discovered. So it’s kind of a miracle.”

Joe Gibbs Racing heard about Moffitt via a “friend of a friend,” then followed his progress when he drove for Andy Santerre Motorsports, deSouza said.

Richard Moffitt said that shortly after Brett won the Dover race, deSouza sent an e-mail asking about his plans for 2010.

DeSouza said that because of a change of operations at Joe Gibbs Racing, the team had a spot open on its developmental team that drives in the K & N Pro Series. Besides, Joe Gibbs Racing liked the way Moffitt handled himself on and off the track.

“He’s confident, but not cocky,” deSouza said. “He has a little bit of that swagger that drivers seem to have.”

Moffitt has driven in four races so far this year. He has led in three of them and won the race at historic Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va.

There is more to his life with Joe Gibbs Racing than simply driving fast. DeSouza said there is a lot of “mental and physical pain” that goes into becoming a top-ranked driver.

Moffitt works out, is expected to keep up with his studies and listen to and learn from the more seasoned drivers on the team.

In addition, Moffitt is learning the marketing side of the sport, especially with regards to social media.

A Facebook fan page boosts 1,160 fans, and Moffitt appears responds to a great many of the posts.

He has a separate website, and he is working with a friend to improve his skills with reporters.

Moffitt and his parents made the decision that he would be home schooled this year.

With race season kicking in late in a normal school year, Moffitt was missing too much classtime, Richard Moffitt said.

“He tends to remove obstacles that get in his way,” Richard Moffitt said.

Joe Gibbs Racing serves as a developmental platform for drivers, mechanics and managers, all with the goal of being a dominating force in the Sprint Cup series.

The developmental drivers also are expected to learn the ropes of the racing world by developing their personal race teams and finding sponsors.

“We try to give them what they need to win races,” deSouza said, such as a car and personnel who are developing right along with the drivers.

“The reality is you have to earn your stripes,” he said.

DeSouza said that it costs about $750,000 a year to run a development team. Richard Moffitt noted that Joe Gibbs Racing “isn’t getting rich off of this.”

The cost steps up dramatically after that. A Nationwide team costs about $6 million and a Sprint Cup team about $20 million.

“Ultimately at the (Sprint) Cup level, it is completely funded by sponsors,” deSouza said. “At Nationwide, it’s sponsors and families; the family brings sponsor with driver. The dynamics have changed over the years. It used to be race teams like ours could afford to fund all of our programs.”

Developmental drivers get to keep 30 to 40 percent of their winnings, deSouza said. No one’s getting rich in that league, but for a 17-year-old, the money isn’t bad. For example, the first-place purse in the race that Moffitt won at Martinsville was $7,500.

Top-ranked Sprint Cup drivers can earn $12 million to $32 million in endorsements alone, according to Forbes magazine.

So the multimillion-dollar question is whether Moffitt has the talent to make it to the Sprint Cup level.

His dad said investors will receive a return of four times their investment if Moffitt is offered a contract by Joe Gibbs Racing or another racing team. Richard Moffitt is confident his son will get that contract, but he also cautions that “nothing is certain in life.”

Joe Gibbs Racing rarely offers a spot on its roster to someone who can’t make the grade, deSouza said, while also cautioning that “nothing is certain.”

“What we would like to do is see Brett run one more year in the (K & N Pro Series),” deSouza said. But there’s also the possibility that after Moffitt turns 18 in August, he might be able to drive in a Nationwide race.

“We’re definitely not closing the door to that,” deSouza said. “There are areas he still needs to learn on the racing side. He has natural speed; he can run up front. He needs to develop his skill set.”

Noting that “Brett is still awfully young,” deSouza said those skills can best be developed for now in the developmental series.

Moffitt would not be with Joe Gibbs Racing if the team didn’t have high expectations for his future, deSouza said.

“From a Joe Gibbs racing perspective, there are a lot of guys who are good who might be great,” deSouza said. “We’re looking for guys who are great who are borderline phenoms. When we’re looking at somebody, we have the mindset that we could see one of these guys in our cup cars one day.”