Young added that team morale is at an all-time high after starting off the year with three-straight top-10 finishes, including a career-best fifth-place finish by veteran Scott Lagasse Jr. in the season-opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway in February.

“I’m really optimistic,” said the 27-year-old. “It’s been a great start to the season and I think everyone is really motivated by that. I feel like we’re in the best place as a team we’ve ever been, with all the things that we have going on right now within the shop and with our drivers. We’re looking forward to continuing that this weekend.”

Wilson agreed with his truck owner’s sentiments, citing the expansion of the team from one full-time truck to two for the 2018 season, as well as Young’s dedication to the series and his personnel.

“Even before I came to the team, I feel like Tyler had a destination in mind. He had an idea in his head of where he wanted to be with the team a couple years down the road, and he’s working hard at it,” said Wilson. “The team is growing at an exponential rate. We’ve doubled in the amount of people working at the shop and now, this year, we’ve doubled the number of trucks we’re putting on the track.”

“We had Austin Dillon in the truck at Atlanta, we almost won Daytona (with Scott Lagasse) … and I was on the pit box for that. I was shaking the entire drive home after that one. It’s been amazing to watch where this group has come from and where it’s headed. Tyler and these guys never stop pushing.”

Wilson compares racing at Martinsville to the venue where he got his start behind the wheel.

“I like to think of this weekend as where I started, the (Bojangles’) Summer Shootout on the quarter-mile at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That’s kind of what Martinsville is like, from what I’ve heard and gathered – you’ve got longer straightaways and then it’s hard on the brakes going into the corners.”

“There’s a lot of grip, and if the setup isn’t right then you’re not going to have a good day, but if you can adjust the truck just right and survive the chaos, you should be able to pick off a pretty good finish.”

Though Wilson admitted the desire “is always to win,” he’s keeping the bar realistic for his first-ever Truck Series race.

“I’m hoping for a top-10,” he said. “I think it’s a realistic goal. Honestly, the first step is qualifying for the race, but after that I really do believe that this truck will make a show out of it.”

And Wilson is confident that if he can put a solid run together after 250 laps around the Virginia paper clip, he and Young’s Motorsports will be able to turn one Truck Series appearance into more.

“I want to grow this program and get back in a truck after this weekend, 100 percent,” Wilson affirmed. “If we go out there and do what we need to do, I can almost promise there will be more (starts), and I’m going to get better as a driver.”

“I was joking with Tyler a few weeks ago about a Tweet that got put out on the team’s Twitter, calling me ‘development driver Reid Wilson’, and I was like, ‘You mean developed driver Reid Wilson, right?’” he laughed. “But I know I have a lot to learn, especially in the Trucks, with the new radial tires and all the things I’m not used to yet.”

“We’ll just take things one race at a time and keep getting better at each turn in the road.”