MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Dawson Cram comes into Martinsville Speedway for his third-career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series appearance with his third different truck number, but the same plan for success.

Cram is hoping to gain knowledge, stay out of trouble and be around at the end of the race, all in hopes of improving on the impressive 17th-place finish he picked up in the spring for Beaver Motorsports.

This time, Cram comes into the .526-mile paperclip with Copp Motorsports, confident and relaxed amid the pressure of performing on the national stage once again.

“There’s definitely more comfort for me this time than there was in the spring,” admitted Cram. “We’re sitting here in a big hauler, so that’s obviously comforting, getting us out of the elements. Last time I was here I was here in a regular trailer with no heater … just sitting out in the snow basically. This time it’s a lot better and we have more people that have a lot more experience and are racers. They’re the type of people that you’d find at a short track every weekend.

“We have a better team, we have more racers on our team, and I think that all makes a huge difference for me as a young driver,” he added. “Brian Berry, my crew chief, works with Ross Chastain a lot … and it’s just a much better deal this time around. Hopefully we can improve on what we’ve been able to do here and go out and have another great day in the race.”

Cram, 17, has slowly but surely built up his resume while adding select national series starts in the process. Saturday afternoon’s race will mark his third straight attempt at Martinsville and his second start this year, after qualifying 23rd and making the second round of qualifying for the first time.

He is a graduate of Bandoleros, Legend cars and late models and noted that he’s continued to soak in as much information as he can each time he hits the track in NASCAR competition.

“I learned a lot here in the spring about the stage format and NASCAR’s qualifying procedures – all their flags and how everything operates in the NASCAR community,” explained Cram. “Getting used to pit road was a big thing for me and I feel like we’ll be a lot better this time around and we won’t lose too many positions on pit road.

“Making my first truck series start was obviously was a huge stepping stone. Being able to run another race at Martinsville and possibly a mile track this year, I will definitely have a lot more experience under my belt going into the 2019 season. That continues to be the major goal.”

While gaining experience may be the big-picture objective, Cram said the specific bullets for this weekend all revolve around keeping his No. 83 RGS Products/THP Chevrolet in one piece for 200 laps.

“To be successful – to finish first, you first must finish, so you need to keep the nose on the truck. You need to keep the toe straight. You need to keep the radiator filled with water,” said Cram. “Whichever trucks have their toes straight and their radiators filled – those are going to be your top 10 trucks.

“If I can keep the truck clean, I’ll feel like we’ll be up towards the top 10. Anything is possible, though,” he continued. “The whole field could go down to turn one and wreck – that’s always possible. Being realistic, we have a top-15 to top-20 truck, and that is where we are going to try and bring it home. We know we’re probably not racing for the win, but we’ll take everything we can.”

Should all go according to plan, Cram’s hope is that he’ll be able to travel west and make a start at the one-mile ISM Raceway in Arizona in two weeks’ time, pending sponsorship and approval to race.

“My goal is to keep the nose clean and hopefully be able to use this chassis at Phoenix in two weeks,” he said. “By the end of the 2019 season, I’ll be able to run tracks over a mile as an 18-year-old. We’ll be looking at tracks like Talladega, Texas, Homestead by then … but first comes this race and then another one in two weeks if all the right pieces to the puzzle come together.