Running well week-in and week-out can definitely have an affect on a team's confidence and morale. Doing so after struggling for much of the last season makes the feeling much more special. This is the case for the No. 40 Key Motorsports NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team. After working their tails off for years to build a solid program, things are finally starting to look up for the small independent team.

Bringing over truck series veteran and proven winner Mike Bliss, the  Key Motorsports team has really come to life in the early stages of 2009. Along with long-time Truck Series crew chief Gary Showalter and the addition of Oakland Metal Buildings as a primary sponsor, the team owned by Curtis Key has shown their years of hard work and patience is starting to pay off.

 Despite a disappointing run in Daytona, in which the team was caught up in an incident early in the going, Bliss and the Gary Showalter-led team have fought back to maintain their solid runs. A formidable showing in Fontana resulted in a slightly disappointing 18th-place finish after problems on pit road shuffled the No. 40 Chevrolet back in the pack. Heading to Atlanta following a weekend off, Bliss and the team looked to overcome their past mistakes and misfortune and prove they have what it takes to compete with the best of them.

Starting deep in the field for Saturday's American Commercial Lines 200, Bliss was pleased with the car heading into the race.  Talking with HardcoreRaceFans.com prior to the start, Bliss felt the car handled best in race trim and expected a good showing.

With Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick setting a blistering pace, Bliss fought a loose truck from the get-go. Within the first thirty laps on the 1.5-mile speedway Bliss found himself a lap down to the leaders and fighting hard to be the first truck one lap down.

A caution for debris on Lap 30 gave Bliss and the No. 40 team the break they were looking for as they were granted the free pass, putting them back on the lead lap. Pitting under that caution, Showalter threw everything he had at the truck and made a three pound air pressure adjustment.

Restarting 21st, Bliss jumped up on the wheel and began working through the field.  Fighting to keep the truck handling well  underneath him, the team made another air pressure adjustment and a track bar adjustment during yellow flag stops on Lap 68.

As the laps would down, the No. 40 Oakland Metal Buildings Chevrolet came to life as Bliss climbed up the running order and into the top-10. Taking the final restart of the day from the 11th-spot, Bliss once again proved why he was the 2002 Truck Series champion by working his way to 8th at the time the checkered flag fell.

The impressive run gave Key Motorsports their first top-10 of the 2009 season and first since Las Vegas of last year. "Qualifying wasn't too good and we started in the back, but we did real good at the end of the race and I think we finished good," Bliss explained after the race. "Everyone seems excited, and it was a lot of fun today. It's fun going forward, and it sucks going backwards. We started off really, really loose, but Gary kept making changes and by the end of the race we got it pretty good. It turned out good, and I had a lot of fun."

Running well makes competing fun and after a motivating run this weekend in Atlanta this team has a new bounce in their step. With two weeks off the team now has the opportunity to get the job done at the shop and head to Martinsville with a full head of steam.