Matt Crafton enters Friday night's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series American Commercial Lines 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway seeking a return to the familiar surroundings of the top-10.

Crafton, who owns 76 career NCTS top-10 finishes, looks for his first strong finish of the season at a track where history bodes well for him.  In 7 previous visits to AMS, he has finished in the top-10 four times, including a 3rd place finish in last season's spring race.

"I love Atlanta," Crafton said.  "The track is really fast and you can hold it wide-open, and you can run pretty much anywhere on the track, from the white line to the fence.  If you catch someone, you can get around them, and not have to follow them and wait until they make a mistake to get around them."

The driver of the No. 88 Menards Silverado will pilot the truck he drove at California, where he finished 15th.  "We're racing the same truck, but the guys brought it back to the shop after California and cut it up and made a bunch of changes," said Crafton.  "We fought balance issues with it at California, but the guys worked like heck to make changes and we think the truck is a lot better.  I'm looking forward to seeing how we run with it at Atlanta.'

AMS is a high-banked, high-speed monster, but Crafton knows horsepower alone isn't enough.  "Tires are a big key here," he said.  "At the beginning of a run, you have lots of grip, but by the time we're about ten laps in, they're wearing out, so there's a lot of slipping and sliding.  At that point, we're all kind of on an even playing field, and that's where handling comes into play."

Crafton is in 17th place in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings, albeit after a pair of races.  He is confident that Atlanta will provide a necessary jumpstart for the No. 88 team.  "We know it's important to come out of Atlanta with at least a top-10 finish, possibly a top-5, and that would provide a nice spark for us," Crafton said.  "We've run well here in the past, and we know what it takes to be there at the end with a shot to win.  Atlanta is a great place for us to get things turned around."