ROSSBURG, Ohio – Justin Haley took the pressure of scoring his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win off his shoulders when he broke through in a big way at Gateway Motorsports Park last month.

Now, as the 19-year-old from Winamac, Ind., put it heading into this week’s Truck Series stop at Eldora Speedway: “We’re trophy hunting!”

Haley will seek his second-career Truck Series win during Wednesday night’s 150-lap Eldora Dirt Derby, hoping to take home the unique assortment of prizes on offer to the winner at the Tony Stewart-owned half-mile dirt oval.

There are the regular rewards – five playoff points towards the championship and additional security on the playoff grid – but then there’s the golden shovel trophy and customary jar of Eldora clay that are also presented to the winner of NASCAR’s only dirt-track race.

Haley’s a big fan of unique trophies and he’s hoping to expand his collection on Wednesday night.

“I’ve always wanted to win a Dover because it has a cool trophy, but that one’s passed already (this season). Obviously, I wanted to win at Kentucky because we’d have gotten a jukebox … that’s always fun, but I think Eldora would be cool because that’s the Golden Shovel,” said Haley.

“It’s all about trophies; that’s it,” Haley stressed. “Obviously (winning at) Mosport (Canadian Tire Motorsports Park) would be cool, just because of my background in road racing. There’s certain tracks … Talladega would be cool, but I want to win at any track. I don’t know why we started picking out ones that are cooler than others, because if you win at any of them then it’s a good day, but there’s a few.”

Haley knows it won’t be easy to top the 38 challengers that will try to keep him from standing in Eldora’s victory lane on Wednesday night.

He pointed out that not only is the competition stiff, but the challenge of racing a vehicle that was originally designed for pavement tracks on a dirt track is equally tough.

“I think everyone struggles at Eldora (Speedway). It’s just so unnatural,” explained Haley, who finished eighth at Eldora last season. “I run dirt cars every week for fun, but when I went out there last year I was so confused. It’s a truck that you try to convert for dirt; it has no yaw and you set it up like a Martinsville (Speedway) truck. Plus, the track just gets so dry and slick throughout the day. That’s how you have to run these trucks because they have windshields. You can’t have it all tacked up and muddy like you normally would for a dirt race. We’re used to racing these mile-and-a-half tracks almost every weekend. We’re not used to this dirt stuff.

“There are so many factors that you can’t control when taking a NASCAR truck to a dirt track. It puts a lot of extra stress on the driver I feel like … but then again, it’s fun to go out there and race something different and get us out of our comfort zone, and this race definitely does that and challenges you as a driver. I’ve been to Eldora already a couple times this year with my modified to get some extra experience and to make sure I’m as ready as I can be for this race, and I’m super pumped about the chance to go out and show everyone what we can do.”

Haley’s background is largely in road racing, but he bought a dirt modified last year to better hone his skills on the clay and has spent many of his off weeks “just having fun” when he’s not with his GMS Racing team competing in his primary ride.

He’s hoping the extra track time – which included several runs at Eldora and two appearances with the gritty Summit Racing Equipment UMP Modified Nationals tour earlier this year – will pay off in a big way.

“Winning at Eldora is something that would be really special and mean a lot to me, especially with the time I’ve spent with my own modified … keeping my skills sharp and trying to get ready for Eldora,” Haley noted. “It’s obviously a very unique track for NASCAR and for the truck series, so if you can win there it really puts you in a select group of drivers who have accomplished that.

“I know I’ve worked hard and enjoyed getting ready for this week, so now we just have to put our heads down and see what we can get out of it,” he added. “We know what the goal is and it’s time to see if we can bring it home.”