CONCORD, N.C. – Myatt Snider doesn’t need any extra reminders of how special it would be to pull into victory lane Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

It’s something he’s been dreaming of doing from the time he was a little kid.

“Ever since I knew any better I’ve wanted to win here,” Snider told SPEED SPORT. “I’ve had the chance to before in a Bandolero but this is something different altogether. It’s a whole new feeling.”

Snider will get his shot at Charlotte on the national stage when the green flag waves for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 on Friday, the seventh race of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season and Snider’s NASCAR debut at his home track.

“I grew up around here watching races; I’ve been coming here for as long as I can remember, and to finally be able to race here in a truck is awesome,” said Snider. “I’ve been here racing on the frontstretch quarter-mile in the past, but never on the big track until this weekend. It’s exciting, for sure.”

Though he had an eight-race schedule with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series last season, Charlotte was not among the races Snider had an opportunity to run, making him even more anxious to hit the track in race conditions.

Snider appeared at an open test session last May at CMS, but only watched as Kyle Busch turned laps around the speedway, then drove to victory lane later in the month.

“Last year was tough, to have to know that there were trucks on track but I couldn’t be behind the wheel,” Snider admitted. “Especially after coming to the (open) test, where Kyle was testing … I thought maybe he would leave early and I’d be able to climb in the truck for a few laps, but when he didn’t leave early I was like, ‘Man, I just wanted to get out on the track for one go at it.’

“You watch all that, you try to learn as much as you can (visually), but nothing can replace the feeling of actually being out there in the driver’s seat. To come here and finally have this opportunity, with a team that believes in what I can do like ThorSport does … I couldn’t ask for any more than that.”

Though there’s intermittent weather in the forecast leading up to the race, Snider is playing the part of the eternal optimist.

“I’m just ready to go, especially with the threat of weather around here. It’s tough when you don’t know for sure what’s going to happen,” Snider said. “We might be battling a little bit, but I’m a person who likes to look on the bright side and I’m confident we’ll get on the track and have a shot with our ThorSport Ford F-150. I’m looking forward to it.”

Snider will have a lot of people to lean on going into race night, including his ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton, who is a two-time Charlotte winner and scored his first win on a 1.5-mile track in the Queen City in 2008.

“Matt got his first 1.5-mile track win here, so hopefully I can follow in his footsteps,” Snider said with a smile. “It’s one of the narrowest mile-and-a-half tracks on the circuit, and from everything I’ve heard and observed it’s both very fast and very temperature-sensitive. It’s going to be tricky to manage all day, but I’m excited for the challenge.”

Snider will also have a host of family and friends in the grandstands cheering him towards victory.

“I’ve got friends from just about every circle coming out for this one,” Snider noted. “It’s almost just like when I’d have a CARS Tour (late model stock car) race at Concord or be racing somewhere around here and have a ton of people out to support us as a team. The fact that now, we’re having that happen at a big-time race just makes it that much more special.”

Though the groundswell of support might put some extra nerves on some drivers’ shoulders, Snider takes it all in stride and said he uses it as a boost to push that much harder.

“I always put pressure on myself. As far as extra pressure because we’re in front of a local crowd … you try and stay as level-headed as you can all weekend. You can’t let things get to you,” noted Snider. “But I do have some extra motivation to win this race, for sure.

“This track is important. It’s home,” Snider added. “There’s nothing else like winning a race at home and that’s what I want to be celebrating at the end of 200 miles.”