Brian Scott knows the deck will be stacked against him at almost every track on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule this season. Then again, the 20-year-old Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate feels like he might has some aces up his sleeve every time he rolls onto the speedway.

"I'll have both a tremendous disadvantage and a tremendous advantage at every track we race at," said Scott, who will make his first-ever California Speedway start in the San Bernardino 200 Truck Series event Saturday. "On one hand, I'll be racing at tracks I've never been to before racing against drivers that have tons of experience and laps on those tracks. California is a good example of that. I've never been there before and that has to be somewhat of a disadvantage.

"On the other hand, I think I have a great advantage thanks to my Xpress Motorsports team and crew chief Dave Fuge," Scott continued. "They have been to California and all the other tracks on the circuit before. They know what to expect. They can rapidly accelerate my learning curve at each track by pointing out the unique features of each that I haven't raced or tested at. That will be huge for me. I pride myself in adapting to and learning things quickly and I know it will be a learning experience for me pretty much everywhere we go. But I don't feel like that is going to be an issue thanks to the experience my team has. I'm confident we're going to be competitive everywhere we go."

Scott was full of confidence heading into the season-opening Truck Series event at Daytona last weekend. In just his eighth career division start and in his first-ever NASCAR race on the famed Daytona 2.5-mile, high-banked track, Scott and his No. 16 Shark Energy Drink/Albertsons Supermarkets Chevrolet finished ninth.

The effort was a career best for the 20-year-old Boise, ID driver and has him looking forward to Saturday's 200-mile NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on the two-mile California oval.

"Getting a Top-10 finish in the first race of the season at Daytona no doubt boosted my confidence level," Scott stated. "It made me feel more confident in my abilities as a driver. You are always assessing where you stack up to other drivers, how your team and equipment compares to everyone else's. Week in and week out, you're competing against some strong competition. Coming through the race at Daytona and getting the kind of finish and effort we did was a huge boost for me. I'm so excited and amped about our Shark Energy Drink/Albertsons Supermarkets Chevrolet team. It definitely raised my expectations for California."

While Scott knows he'll need to quickly master the California track, his racing sense tells him that once the green flag falls, the competition, not the track, will determine the outcome.

"It doesn't matter what track you are at - you're going to be out there battling each driver for every inch on every lap," said Scott. "That's exciting to me and it's a commonality that I've found at every track on every level I've raced. It ultimately comes down to the racing for me and while you have to learn and adapt to the different characteristics of each track, it always comes down to the racing.

"I'll go to California and try to adapt to the track as quickly as I can, but I know that when it gets to the last 25 or 30 laps and we're in the heat of the battle, I won't be racing the race track," Scott concluded. "I'll be racing the other competitors. It won't be about who is a rookie or a veteran. We'll all be racing for the win at that point."