ROOKIE NOTES: Atlanta Motor Speedway Preview
03-07-2008 1:24 pm

Brian Scott holds a one-point lead (20-19) over McGilton in the Raybestos Rookie standings entering the American Commercial Line 200.  Scott has one prior Craftsman Truck Series start at Atlanta, a 19th-place finish on the lead lap in last October's Easy Care 200.  His best finish in nine Craftsman Truck Series starts is a ninth-place effort in the 2008 Chevy Silverado 250 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (race No. 1).

BRIAN SCOTT, No. 16 SHARK ENERGY DRINK/ALBERTSONS CHEVROLET:  "Well, we hope it's a one-day show.  We hope we get the race in tonight.  This is a track that finally I've had the experience of being on once before so I'm really looking forward to it.  I do hope that we can get a little bit of time on the track raised fuel cells and the little bit different tire and everything.  I think it'll change it a little bit but worst-case scenario, having to go right into the race.  At least I've got a couple hundred laps here under my belt.  That brings me a little bit of confidence and
security."

COMMENT ON YOUR PRIOR EXPERIENCE HERE.  "I ran the truck race here last fall.  That was one of the seven races that I ran last year.  We were in a Ford last year and of course I'm really excited to be in a Chevy Silverado with Shark Energy Drink and Albertsons on the truck.  I think it'll be a really great race for us.  We've got a lot of experience here.  It's a place that this Xpress team always seems to run good at.  I hope we can hit on the setup.  It looks like we're going to have to start by points so hit on the setup, be conservative just kind of slowly work our way up through the field and be there at the end and try to get a top-five, top-10 somewhere in there, a real solid run." 

DOES THE RAIN DELAY AND LIMITED PRACTICE EVEN THE PLAYING FIELD BETWEEN THE EXPERIECED DRIVERS AND THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIES?  "I feel like the veteran guys have been put in this situation before so they probably have a leg up that way, as well as everybody that was at the test.  We didn't have the option of coming to the test.  We were in the process of changing all of our trucks over to Chevrolets so we didn't have anything ready.  I feel like that way they have a leg up but I kind of pride myself on having the ability at the start of a race if I'm not right just laying back and observing other drivers and seeing what the good trucks are doing and everything and they trying to work our truck into that position.  We may not start the race off as good as these veterans but I'm confident by the end of the race we'll be just as good if not better." 

YOU WILL HAVE ONLY A LIMITED AMOUNT OF TRACK TIME BEFORE THE RACE.  DOES THAT PUT A PREMIUM ON COMMUNICATION BETWEEN YOU AND THE TEAM?  "I think being prepared and being organized is everything.  You don't have time to screw around and try things so really the driver's input has got to be spot-on and you've just got to go for it.  You've got to make larger adjustments than you would.  You can't really afford to creep up on anything.  You've got to hope that you hit it close and then you've got to hope that you can really zero in on it fast.  I think that if we get practice today that's what we've got to do and if not we've just got to really feel it out and shake it down during the first part of the race and not really try to do any hero-type moves until we've come in and made a couple of adjustments on the truck and get it a lot closer.  It doesn't do any good to be on the hook ."