Atlanta team owner Billy Ballew battled Kevin Harvick Inc. down to the season's final race for the 2009 Camping World Truck Series owners' championship -- largely on the strength of Kyle Busch's seven victories.

When Busch left to form his own team, many figured Ballew would have a difficult time matching that performance. So far that hasn't happened.

“

I feel like we're one of the trucks that everyone knows they're going to have to race for the win.

”

-- ARIC ALMIROLA

Drivers Aric Almirola (No. 51 Toyota) and Steve Wallace (No. 15) finished 3-4 in Saturday's E-Z-GO 200 at Atlanta. (recap)

Almirola jumped to fourth in series points while Ballew stands fifth in the owners' standings.

Almirola has finished second, third and third in his past six starts for the team. Wallace became the 25th driver to log a top-five finish in his Truck debut.

"I feel like we're one of the trucks that everyone knows they're going to have to race for the win," Almirola said. "I wouldn't say Atlanta was a confidence booster as much as it justified the confidence I had going into the season."

"It was phenomenal what we accomplished in Atlanta," Ballew said. "Kyle Busch is a tremendous driver. He's won everything you can at Atlanta and we ran toe-to-toe with him all race long.

"I think that shows that we're as strong or stronger than we've ever been."

One champion up, two down

Todd Bodine is off to his best start in a couple of years, finishing fifth at Atlanta to become the series points leader.

"That's the key to any series, any points race," said Bodine, backing up a runner-up finish at Daytona.

Bodine, the 2006 champion, last topped the standings after last year's season-opening race.

There's joy in the Germain Racing camp but Bodine added that two other former champions -- Ron Hornaday and Mike Skinner -- have their backs to the wall after just two races.

Hornaday, involved in an early accident, finished 34th. Skinner also had problems but salvaged a 14th. Skinner, the 1995 champion, heads to Martinsville Speedway later this month 17th in points. Hornaday, mired in a huge hole as he bids for a fifth championship, is 28th.

"I've come out of Daytona 38th before and it's a long, hard struggle to get back to the top," Bodine said. "Normally, you never get to the top. You get to the top five; that's about it."

Timothy Peters successfully backed up his Daytona victory. Peters finished seventh to trail Bodine by just four points. Considering Peters was the winner of Martinsville's fall race a year ago, his Red Horse Racing team no longer is flying below the radar as far as the championship is concerned. (Continued)