After opening the season with a typically exciting race at Daytona International Speedway, the men and women of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series have had to cool their heels for a couple of weekends.
Not anymore.
This weekend, the Truck Series will march into the lightning-fast 1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway for Saturday's Atlanta 200, which will be televised live on SPEED Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.
And of all the teams in the Truck Series, there probably isn't a single one happier to be in Atlanta than Billy Ballew Motorsports.
Team owner Ballew is a Georgia native, hailing from Blairsville, and the team has enjoyed tremendous success at AMS, where it has three Truck Series race victories.
On the other hand, much has changed for BBM in 2010. Kyle Busch, who won three Atlanta races in a BBM Toyota Tundra, left at the end of last year to form his own team. And longtime sponsor Miccosukee Resorts left, too, first to go with Busch and then deciding to pull out of the sport altogether.
Talented young Aric Almirola will pilot the No. 51 Toyota that Busch used to drive, and he thinks he can put it in victory lane at Atlanta. "It's great to race in Billy Ballew's hometown of Atlanta," said Almirola. "Where better than here to bring home a victory for Billy? His teams have had a lot of success there. I know that we'll be strong this weekend."
This weekend, Almirola will carry sponsorship from Akawareness.com, with the "ak" referring to actinic keratosis, a potential early warning sign of skin cancer that an estimated 10 million or so Americans are affected by.
For Almirola, simply getting back in the truck will be a relief. He had a decent 12th-place finish at Daytona last month and has been itching to race again ever since. "Man, I wish the Truck Series schedule was like the other NASCAR series," Almirola said. "I hate racing and then taking a few weeks off. I can't wait to get behind the wheel again."
In the cockpit of Ballew's other Tundra will be a noob, Steve Wallace, who will make his Truck Series debut Saturday in the No. 15 BBM Toyota, sponsored by Red Top Auto Auction.
Wallace, a regular in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, said he, too, will be ready to get it on in Hot 'Lanta.
"This is going to be awesome," said Wallace. "I'm really excited about getting behind the wheel of a truck. It's something I've always wanted to do. I can't think of a better way to start things off than driving for Billy . His teams run so well at Atlanta, which gives me a lot of confidence going into the weekend."
Wallace is looking forward to the new challenge.
"I know it will be an adjustment to hop in a truck," he said. "It's going to be a transition for sure. Thankfully I've got a great team to work with, which should help speed up my learning curve."
And he knows what to expect.
"The guys in the Truck Series race hard," he said. "They race every lap like it's the last one. It's 100 percent from the time the green flag drops. I know I've got to bring my A-game."
Almirola is excited about racing at Atlanta.
"The track is one of a kind; you can race on the bottom or up against the wall," he said. "It gives you an opportunity to find the line that suits the truck the best. It's such a fast track. It's definitely a 'hold your breath' track. There's great side-by-side racing and it seems like the finishes always come down to the wire. It's going to be exciting for sure."
