Robert Richardson (Team PR Photo)

Robert Richardson and his R3 race team have endured ups and downs within only the first two races of the 2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season. This weekend, Richardson will once again tackle a race track that he has not yet competed on as the series rolls into the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the John Deere 200 on Friday evening.

"These first two races have really handed our team highs and lows," said Richardson. "We left Daytona feeling good after running in the top-15 for most of the night and bringing home a 17th place finish with our WinYourMortgage.com Dodge. But then when we headed west for the California Speedway event, we just could not get the right handle under the truck for qualifying or for the race. We suffered a flat right rear tire and spun during the race and then we had to take the truck to the garage following another spin to fix the extreme loose condition that had developed. But our R3 team knows that this is all part of a rookie season."

"I am looking forward to racing at Atlanta," said Richardson. "I know it is a fast and intense race track, but it is the type of track that I like being a 1.5-mile speedway with a dog-leg. I think the changes that we have made to the race truck following California will help us to be more competitive at Atlanta. Our first goal at Atlanta is to have the truck right and ready the first time we go through tech line so that we don't lose valuable practice time. But I think we will see improvement this weekend hopefully both on and off the race track."

Richardson will be working with a new crew chief as well this weekend at the Atlanta Motor Speedway with Wayne Setterington coming over from Evernham Motorsports. Setterington has served as a crew chief in the ARCA RE/MAX Series and most recently has worked on the surface plate on the Evernham Motorsports NASCAR Craftsman Truck team.

"The whole team is excited to have Wayne leading the team," said Richardson. "He brings experience and energy to the race team in the crew chief role and I think Atlanta will be a great improvement for our entire race team."

Richardson is currently fifth in Raybestos Rookie of the Year points as the series enters the John Deere 200 this weekend. The green flag is scheduled Friday night at 9:00pm ET and can be seen live on Speed Channel.