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.

In the Loop: School's in at Martinsville

It'll be interesting to see how the likes of Austin Dillon, Jennifer Jo Cobb and Justin Lofton react to their first race at the beating and banging style of the unique Martinsville Speedway.

Debuts at NASCAR's oldest track are a statistical mixed bag. Some are very good, most are pretty bad.

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Todd Bodine started off his Martinsville career with four consecutive top-10 finishes. But Rick Crawford didn't crack the top 10 until his fifth try. Ron Hornaday's first trip to Martinsville came in the series' inaugural year of 1995, and resulted in a respectable 13th-place finish.

Of the active drivers, Mike Skinner's Martinsville career path is the most enviable. He finished second in his first race there in 1995 (Joe Ruttman won), and won his second race there a year later.

But what of the newcomers, those in the Loop Data era since 2005?

Ricky Carmichael finished 29th in this race last season, notching an Average Running Position of 24.8 and a Driver Rating of just 38.8.

Tayler Malsam enjoyed a much better debut outing, finishing 14th with an Average Running Position of 18.5, a Driver Rating of 67.6, and even turned a Fastest Lap Run.

James Buescher, now in the Nationwide Series, had an outstanding first trip to Martinsville. He finished 11th with an Average Running Position of 14.0, a Driver Rating of 76.9 and 105 laps in the Top 15.

Skinner rounds up for charity

Mike Skinner's fourth annual Toyota Skinner Round Up for Charity will take place Thursday and Friday in Daytona Beach, Fla. The event has raised more than a half-million dollars for Volusia County charities in its three previous years.

The two-day affair includes a Friday night concert featuring blues star Stacy Mitchhart, a celebrity auction and Saturday golf tournament and poker tournament at Spruce Creek Country Club.

Among those appearing are four-time Truck champion Ron Hornaday, Rick Crawford, Steve Park, Michael Waltrip and American Idol's Bo Bice.

"It's our opportunity to give back to the community," said Skinner, a longtime Daytona resident with wife, Angie.

Camping World Truck Series Bulletin

• Butch Hylton has been named crew chief of Kevin Harvick Inc.'s No. 2 Chevrolet being shared in 2010 by Harvick and Elliott Sadler. Hylton and Tony Stewart won last month's Nationwide Series race at Daytona for KHI. Hylton succeeds Doug George, who moved to Ron Hornaday's No. 33 Chevrolet at Atlanta.

• Harvick's victory at Atlanta was his third in as many starts. He won at Phoenix and Homestead to end the 2009 season. Sadler drove the truck at Daytona.

• Busch didn't get a record-matching fifth victory at Atlanta but his runner-up finish to Harvick was the best performance by a Kyle Busch Motorsports truck. "This proves we're out here to run good," Busch said.

• It took Austin Dillon just four races to claim his first top-10 finish. Dillon was 10th in Atlanta and tops the Raybestos Rookie of the Year points. (standings)

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• The E-Z-GO 200 painted a familiar picture for manufacturers. Since the track's fall race of 2005, Chevrolet and Toyota have swapped victories in successive races. Chevrolet now has won six times at the 1.54-mile speedway but Toyota, based on its Daytona victory and recent second place, retains the manufacturers' championship lead by three points. (standings)

Up next: Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway

After races on the series' two fastest tracks -- Daytona and Atlanta -- the Camping World Truck Series returns to its roots March 27 at .526- mile Martinsville Speedway.

The race is the first of two hosted by the popular southern Virginia track -- one of just three tracks to have been on the schedule each year since the series began in 1995.

Kevin Harvick is the defending winner of the Kroger 250.