CONCORD, N.C. — Audio and story by Managing Editor Jacob Seelman for Speed77 Radio and Race Chaser Online — Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images North America photo — Charlotte Motor Speedway is home for many drivers and teams in the NASCAR community.

While it may not be truly home for Cale Conley, the 22-year-old Vienna, West Virginia native does call it a ‘very special place’ to race as he preps for tonight’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Drive for the Cure 300.

“This track is a very special place to me; to actually be one of the race car drivers competing this weekend is kind of emotional,” Conley said to Race Chaser Online on Friday prior to qualifying. “My dad brought me here for my first race ever when I was six years old and since that day, it’s lit a fire under me to be out there, be one of those drivers that I watched that day. I just can’t believe this has all come to fruition with a team like RCR, a team that I looked up to when I was little. It’s really cool to be a part of.”

Conley signed with RCR at the start of the 2014 season and the results have surprised many. The Nationwide Series rookie has posted six top-fifteen finishes in ten starts this season, including an 11th-place mark in his debut at Bristol, and comes to Charlotte off of a career-best 1.5-mile showing of sixth at Kentucky in September.

Looking at the numbers, Conley is surprised himself at how far he and the team has come in such a short period of time.

“I never imagined we’d be where we are at this juncture of the game,” Conley said. “It’s been a huge learning curve for me this year that I’ve had to take on and I knew it was going to be hard but I didn’t expect it to be as hard as it’s been for sure. Having good runs, and having people I can lean on like Paul Menard, and Austin and Ty (Dillon) even — makes it that much better for us. I never imagined I’d have people like that to lean on for help in this deal. I’ve been able to learn a lot from them that’s made me better, and I hope we can convert some of that into another solid run tonight.”

Conley says some of the recent success he’s had on mile-and-a-half tracks should translate to Charlotte tonight, but that the Concord track is still an animal all its own.

“There’s some comparisons. Some of the things we’ve learned at Kentucky, Chicago — yeah, they’ll help us here at Charlotte,” Conley said. “But there’s a lot of differences from track to track too. This track, it’s still really tough. I struggled in turn three yesterday on the entry and I think that’s going to be something that I’ll have to be ready for in qualifying here this afternoon, but I think we’ll be okay and we can go out and have a solid piece here.”

The young gun was not able to work on his qualifying setup yesterday due to the team having to change the motor in his No. 33 IAVA Chevrolet.

“We had some troubles under the hood mechanically yesterday; we had to change the engine, but we shouldn’t have to start at the rear — I’m pretty sure it was an approved engine change,” Conley said. “Yeah, we lost some time but I think we’ll still be able to go out, lock our car in the top 24 and move on to round two (in qualifying) and then be ready to go out for 300 miles tonight and make something happen.”

Despite it all, Conley says he’s grateful for the opportunity and just ready to live out a childhood dream.

“I can’t thank the guys at Richard Childress Racing enough for the opportunity. I’m going to race at Charlotte — that’s a pretty cool deal,” Conley smiled. “It’s not every day that a 22-year-old gets to live out his childhood dream but that’s exactly what I’m blessed enough to have the opportunity to do.”

“Nothing’s quite sewn up for 2015 just yet; we’re still working on that. If we get the chance to do this kind of a deal again next year, it’ll just be the silver lining to a year I never thought would be possible when we started it.”

Listen in to our complete interview with Cale Conley prior to Friday qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway: