BRISTOL, Tenn. – Though Ty Majeski is a born-and-bred short-track racer, he admitted that there’s little he’s done in his racing career that prepared him for his first laps around Bristol Motor Speedway in a NASCAR Xfinity Series car.

Majeski, who recently tested at the .533-mile concrete oval, will make his first Xfinity Series appearance at Bristol and just his fourth series start overall in Saturday’s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300.

The Seymour, Wis., native will pilot Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 60 Ford Mustang with sponsorship from SunnyD. He admitted that there’s one track he’s raced at which comes close to Bristol, but even then it’s not an exact match by any means.

“There’s one short track up in Wisconsin, Slinger Superspeedway … it’s a quarter-mile and high-banked like this, but you don’t get the same speed sensation there as you get here,” Majeski explained. “It’s half the size of this and you’re doing it in about 11 seconds. Here you’re going like 15 seconds a lap, so the speed sensation is much greater. It’s something I had to get adapted to when I came here for the test, so I’m just very thankful we were able to come here and test.”

“The test we did recently shortened the learning curve so much for me coming here on race weekend, so I’m optimistic. … We had a really good test here. I think a lot of guys in the organization are excited about what we came home with from the test and we’re coming back here with something very, very close, so hopefully it responds the same and we can go to work making our car better.”

Majeski and Roush Fenway Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are both carrying the SunnyD colors this weekend, and Majeski said he’s trying to soak in as much as he can from Stenhouse.

“I’m getting plenty of advice from Ricky, for sure,” said Majeski. “Ricky has run really well at Bristol in the past. I also got some good advice from him last year at Iowa.

“We went there and tested … I think in late May, and I gave him a call after the first day of the test and just leaned on him and asked him some of the things he focused on at Iowa. He’s really been there for me. Any type of questions I want (answered), whether it’s on-track or off-track related, he’s been there to answer them for me.”

Stenhouse, who ran a limited schedule in what was then the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2009, has been through what Majeski faces this season and said Friday that he is excited to see him grow.

“In 2009 I ran seven Nationwide races and that was tough. I had a few in a row and I kind of felt like I got in a rhythm and felt really good, and then you sit for a while and that’s always tough,” explained Stenhouse. “You feel like the cars are always changing. … The guys that you’re racing with don’t really know who you are, especially in that car (the No. 60), now that they have three different drivers.

“It’s just a whole lot of different situations come up that I feel like you have to be aware of and have to be ready for.  I think Ty does a really good job showing up at the race track even when he’s not in the race car. I think that’s gonna go a long way and help make sure that he’s meshed in with the team.

Majeski’s goal for Saturday’s race is simple: make it to the checkered flag.

“The biggest thing for me is just going to be putting a whole weekend together and a whole race together,” said Majeski. “ I felt like we had spurts of being able to maybe run in the top five at Homestead early on, and we just didn’t keep up with the race track as the sun went down and as the track got rubbered up. That’s something I’m gonna get better at … is knowing where the car needs to be in the beginning of the race to be good at the end of the race.

“With four Xfinity races and my first one ending short, it’s been a learning curve for me just to know what kind of feedback to give to (crew chief) Mike (Kelley) to make sure the car is good at the end of the race. That’s something we’re gonna build on and something we’ve been thinking about coming into this weekend. Hopefully we can put the things I learned the past three races and have a good fourth (one) here.”