By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
It was the little team that could in the Active Pest Control 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway for JJL Motorsports and Jesse Little.
The final practice session of the weekend for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Friday should the strength of the small team. In Saturday morning’s qualifying session, Little was able to make the second round and qualified his Ford in the 12th position.
When the green flag was unfurled, Little quickly made his way to the top-10 and stayed there for majority of the race. The 20-year-old driver came in with a goal to gain and earn the respect of the full-time drivers in the field.
“I came here. I wanted to learn. I wanted to gain respect and hopefully we did both tonight. We had an incredibly fast Ford. It was fun to compete with those guys, battling with them,” Little said. “I learned a lot. Hopefully come Dover in a couple of months we will be on top of it and be up there a couple of spots.”
Over the offseason, JJL Motorsports switched to Ford and to the Ilmore NT1 Engine package. The hard work by the team and Little paid off at Atlanta.
“Over the winter, we decided to do it right and go compete for wins. I am not one to come out here and ride around. Neither is the guys working for me,” Little continued. “It’s a great chemistry we have. We busted our tails over the winter. We came here with a plan. We did everything we could to execute and not make mistakes. We learned.”
Throughout the race, Little was able to run with the premier names of the series like Kyle Busch, Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton.
“It gives me confidence but It validates what I have always known in myself and my team. It reassured the fact that I know we are competitive when we come to track. This series is competitive. To come here and execute like we needed to. It shows our relentlessness for the rest of the year.”
This is the first race for Little since the fall Phoenix race. The No. 97 truck leaves Atlanta with no scratches or dents. The organization will go back to their shop in North Carolina to build a bigger notebook for Dover in May.
“This is our first race in about six months. It’s a brand new truck. There is a lot to build on. There is not a scratch on it. We can go home and take any measurements that we want and build a thick notebook and reassess to make sure that we evaluate all our options and do better.
Although he is running a part-time schedule, Little knows that the full-time teams are constantly working on chemistry and vocabulary. Although JJL Motorsports will not be on the track until Dover, they will come to the track prepared.
“It’s always a struggle. These guys are constantly racing. They are building repeteur and building chemistry with each other. The crew chiefs and drivers are building more vocabulary so it’s always tough to come back and combat that, but you have to prepare more,” Little stated. “You have to exhaust all options coming to the track and make sure you know each and every issue that arises to adapt and come through it.”