Moving over to Young’s Motorsports during the off-season, Spencer Boyd was able to kick-off the year with his new team with a fourth-place finish in the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

As the NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series get set to tackle Atlanta Motor Speedway, Boyd shared his thoughts with POPULAR SPEED.

PS: What are your thoughts as you look back at Daytona?

SPENCER BOYD: For us, it was a great weekend. All of the guys worked hard putting that truck together, and we showed a lot of speed in qualifying and in the race, my spotter did a great job. We were up front most of the race, stayed out of trouble, and got a solid finish. So we’re excited for a good start to the year, and a good start with Young’s Motorsports.

PS: How much did it mean for you and the team to get off on a good note together?

SPENCER: It’s really important to get a good finish with the first race with Young’s Motorsports and the guys worked really hard. Just getting started, getting good points – things like that. So I was really excited – got some stage points, so that was a big deal as the stage points are something you need to be thinking about at all times. So to collect those on a speedway, we were definitely happy about it.

PS: Now as we head to Atlanta, what are your thoughts going into the weekend?

SPENCER: For me, going to Atlanta, I feel like we have a good truck and a good chance. I really just want to go out there and get a good finish in the top-10, and work on our mile-and-a-half program. I think Young’s Motorsports did really well last year with a couple top-fives in the mile-and-a-halves, so if we could go out there and pick up where they left off, that’d be really good, and then just build from there through the rest of the season.

PS: What’s the biggest challenge of Atlanta?

SPENCER: Tire management is everything at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The surface is just a cheese grater. So you want to get out there and get as much out of the truck you can the first few laps to separate yourself from the other guys, and then just manage your tires, hold off your tires. Realize that maybe you can get them go for a couple laps if they’re going to just run off their tires real quick. So just recognizing the race pace, and not steering from that plan.

PS: Looking ahead on the season as a whole, what are your goals and expectations for this year?

SPENCER: For me, my goal is to go out there and run all of the laps and be in the top-10 on a regular basis and make the Chase. Through that, just strategically get more and more aggressive and get up front to battle it out with those guys.

PS: What track are you most looking forward to beyond Atlanta?

SPENCER: I love short track racing. So I’m looking forward to Martinsville. Gateway and Iowa are definitely circled, but Martinsville is definitely a special place. I made my debut there and ran in the top-five that day, so really looking forward to going back.

PS: Now, what track do you wish was on the schedule that currently isn’t?

SPENCER: Well, for me, my favorite track in Xfinity last year was Richmond, so I’d love for Richmond to be on the truck schedule. But not sure if we’ll see that anytime soon.

PS: If you were in charge of NASCAR for one day, what is one change that you would make to improve the sport?

SPENCER: That’s tricky. There’s so many moving parts. For me, I feel like NASCAR made the right decision to go to the Ilmor (Engine) in trucks, and I feel like doing the body change that they did in Xfinity would be good in trucks. Just all those cost management things help the smaller teams, and the bridge the gap from the middle to the front of the pack.

PS: Now, we’ve seen a lot of drivers try a bunch of different series and cars. So what’s out there on the bucket list for you?

SPENCER: I would love to run a Global Rallycross Race. That looks like a lot of fun. You see a lot of drivers from different motorsports do that, so that looks fun. They have a really cool young fan base and I think that’d be cool to tap into.

EMAIL ASHLEY AT ashley.mccubbin@popularspeed.com

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