Sunoco Rookie race shaping up in Truck Series

Eleven drivers are in contention for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in the series.

In the first race of the season, three of the top five drivers at Daytona were Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidates: Erik Jones (second), Austin Theriault (fourth) and Ray Black Jr. (fifth).

Fellow rookies Korbin Forrister (12th at Daytona), Spencer Gallagher (21st), Cameron Hayley (23rd), Daniel Hemric (26th) and Justin Boston (29th) will attempt to catch up to the pack in Saturday’s Hyundai Construction 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1).

"I'm really looking forward to Atlanta this weekend," Boston said. "KBM has a lot of success at intermediate tracks. It will be nice to race at a place where truck handling, race strategy and skill play a bigger part than just luck."

Many of the rookies lack experience on 1.5-mile tracks like Atlanta, putting them at a disadvantage to their older counterparts.

"With the speeds you reach at Atlanta being a mile-and-half, it is definitely a lot harder on the tires than at the short tracks we race in late models," Jones said. "But I guess the concept of managing your equipment is the same, so hopefully I can apply some of it."

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