CONCORD, N.C. — It’s not a random number, the “36” that’s plastered on the door of the black Toyota Marc Davis intends to race Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

It was chosen to represent the 36 years since a black driver competed in NASCAR’s top ranks in a car he owned himself.

That driver was Wendell Scott of Danville, Va., who died of cancer in December 1990, largely forgotten by stock-car racing after a career that left him with a lone victory (in 495 starts) and scarcely more fame and riches than he had when he started.

Davis, 18, a native of Silver Spring, Md., was 6 months old when Scott died. But he knows his story well, having been tutored in recent years by Wendell Scott Jr., who regaled him with stories about hard knocks and hard times, towing his father’s under-funded racecar all over the South and forever making do with less.

A few years ago, it seemed Davis would be spared that hard road. At 15 he was signed as a developmental driver for Joe Gibbs Racing and given the opportunity to progress through the ranks in quality racecars built and serviced by a first-rate crew.

Then came the economic collapse. With sponsorship money drying up, the Gibbs team couldn’t find a corporate backer to bankroll Davis’s next career move, the step up to NASCAR’s Nationwide Series.

So rather than look for a job driving for a lesser team, Davis and his father decided to start their own, a bold move in robust economic times and surely a risk amid the recession.

Honoring Scott’s achievement in forging a career as a NASCAR owner/driver with the No. 36 seemed fitting.

“It’s something that’s stuck with me, that it’s been 36 years since Wendell Scott was an owner/driver in the (Sprint) Cup series,” Davis said Friday. “It’s something I’d like to commemorate.”

It costs roughly $4 million a year to field a front-running team in NASCAR’s Nationwide ranks. Davis is getting by on a fraction of that, running a limited schedule with partial sponsorship and technical support from Joe Gibbs Racing, from whom he parted on good terms.

Saturday’s race will be his third this season, following finishes of 27th and 29th at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and Richmond International Raceway, respectively.

And his car will boast a new paint scheme to tout Davis’s latest sponsor, the Word Network, a Michigan-based satellite TV channel offering urban religious programming.

“I’m not an expert, nor is anyone at the Word Network an expert, on auto racing or NASCAR,” says Steve Antoniotti, the channel’s director of development. “But we were attracted to Marc because he is an African American in a sport that doesn’t have a lot of African Americans at the highest level. We wanted to support that effort, and we thought our audience would support that kind of involvement.”

Davis also continues getting financial help from longtime supporter WHUR, the radio station at Washington’s Howard University, whose logo is prominently featured on his racecar.

As a part-time driver, Davis isn’t assured of a starting spot in Saturday’s Auto Parts 300. He’ll have to earn his place with a fast qualifying lap Saturday afternoon.

Assuming he does, he plans to twitter his thoughts throughout the day as he did during the May 1 race at Richmond, which were immediately posted on his site (twitter.com/nascarmdavis) by a crew member listening over the radio.

Among the posts: “Just got in the car about to take off wish me luck,” “green green green here we go” and “20 (laps) to go sitting around 30th doing what I can do.”

The pressure of owning a race team has humbled many a driver, snuffing out their love of the sport and leaving many in financial ruin.

Davis says he relishes the challenge.

“It definitely pays off,” he says. “It teaches you a whole lot of business skills. Plus I have a lot more understanding and control over what goes on.”

He also thinks the recession may work in his favor, reducing the gulf between the haves and have-nots.

“The big teams aren’t spending the multi-millions they have in the past,” Davis said. “So if you can afford to (own your own team), it’s better to do it now.”

Harry Davis, Marc’s father and business manager, says the lean economy isn’t a factor for the team. Father and son have always struggled to carve out a place in NASCAR, he says, just as countless drivers before them — blacks in particular.

“From a black driver’s perspective, there was no sponsorship money, ever,” says Harry Davis, who retired from NBC News in 2005. “So it doesn’t matter. You have to make your own path.”

Davis hopes to make his debut in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup ranks at Infineon Raceway, a road course in Sonoma, Calif., in June. He believes his road-course skill will help him compete against better-funded drivers who aren’t as comfortable turning right.

He has a racecar that’s suitable for the twisting road course, but he needs more sponsorship money to get an engine. Renting one for just a single event costs about $60,000.

That’s just one of the figures swirling around Davis’s mind now that he owns his own team.

Another is 46. That’s how many years it has been since an African American driver won a major NASCAR race. Again, it was Scott.

“If I can go out and win races and championships and open the door for minorities behind me, that’s great,” Davis says, asked about Scott’s 1963 victory. “But I have to get there first.”