Justin Fontaine upbeat about Phoenix debut

AVONDALE, Ariz. – With just two races remaining in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, Justin Fontaine (@driverFontaine) heads to ISM Raceway (Phoenix) for Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 eyeing his third top-10 finish of the season.With a 10^th place in the season-opening race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and a ninth-place run at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway in March, Fontaine has been focused on delivering his Niece Motorsports team another strong performance as the end to his rookie season nears.“I’m really pumped about going to Phoenix and having a chance at a good finish,” said Fontaine who has risen to 15^th in the series’ standings. “I’ve been able to get our No. 45 ProMATIC Automation Chevrolet inside the top-10 on a superspeedway and a speedway, I’d like to add a smaller track to our total on Friday night.”Even though Fontaine has never been to Phoenix, the former ARCA Racing Series competitor has been studying film and reviewing photos of the track’s 1.0-mile oval, but he realizes the track’s layout has been altered for the penultimate race of the year – putting him and the rest of the Truck Series field in virtually the same situation.“They’ve made a lot of changes to Phoenix over the last year, including putting the start-finish line in Turn 2 before the dog leg, which should make restarts and even the finish even more thrilling for the race fans.“Hopefully, I’ll get up to speed pretty quick, follow some good trucks in practice and go from there. We have an opportunity to build on our Texas finish and deliver a strong effort that will carry our No. 45 ProMATIC team to Homestead the following week for the last race of the year.”For the third consecutive race, Fontaine will be working with Matt Weber who will call the shots for the 21-year-old Fontaine in his 25^th career Truck Series start.“Matt and I are really starting to get in sync,” sounded Fontaine. “We had a mechanical failure that none of us could control at Martinsville – but at Texas we made some major strides coming from the back to the front and getting a decent finish.“He wants to run good just as much as I do. He’s open to my suggestions and feedback and that’s comforting to me as a driver. I’m going to be leaning on him this weekend – just as much as he’ll be leaning on me. Together, we’ll work hard to bring home our best finish of the year.”After 21 races, Fontaine sits 15^th in the series’ standings. He carries an average finish of 20.0 entering Phoenix. He earned a career-best ninth-place result at Las Vegas in March.In addition to a full-time NASCAR driver, Fontaine just started his sophomore year as a student at the University of North Carolina (Charlotte), where he is pursuing a political science degree.For more on Justin Fontaine, please visit JustinFontaine.com, like his Facebook page (Justin Fontaine) or follow him on Twitter @driverFontaine.The Lucas Oil 150 (150 laps | 150 miles) is the 22^nd of 23 races on the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck schedule. Practice begins on Fri., Nov. 9 from 8:30 a.m. – 9:20 a.m., while final practice is set for 10:05 a.m. – 10:55 a.m. Qualifying is set for later in the day beginning at 3:35 p.m. The 32-truck field will take the green flag shortly after 6:30 p.m. with live coverage on FS1, the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90). All times are local (Mountain).