NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

He entered the series at the age of 20 with just one season of stock car racing under his belt, but put together a solid season in the No. 81 Randy Moss Motorsports Tundra, taking 10 top-10 results and a best result of fifth at Gateway International Raceway en route to 12th in the final point standings. Those results were solid enough to catch the attention of a certain influential upperclassman, who has taken Malsam under his wing and is helping him to avoid a “sophomore slump.”

That upperclassman, of course, is NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch, one of the newest team owners in the Truck Series, and Malsam is the full-time driver of the No. 56 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra. It’s a somewhat unique position for Malsam, as Busch isn’t only his new boss, but he’s also a frequent competitor on the racetrack. That said Malsam sees only positives in driving for Busch, even if it comes with high expectations.

“It’s good,” he says. “There’s a lot of pressure, that’s for sure. You’re expected to win. All he wants to do is win, so I kind of feel that pressure, but at the same time, it’s a good thing and it motivates me to do really good. It’s made me work out all offseason and it’s made me do everything I can from a driver’s standpoint to make myself the best I can be, which is what I needed. I need somebody there to just push me and give me a little kick in the butt.”

Malsam’s first meaningful ride in the No. 56 KBM machine was in qualifying for the Truck Series season opener at Daytona last month, and he responded by putting his Tundra sixth on the starting grid, the highest-ranked Toyota driver in the field. He was a top-10 runner through the first quarter of the race at Daytona before getting caught up in one of many incidents and wound up 17th in the final race standings.

He also had a solid performance in Round 2 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, qualifying 11th and finishing 13th, and is currently ninth in the Truck Series driver standings after two of 25 races. Malsam and the KBM team get another weekend off this weekend while the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series tackle Bristol Motor Speedway before back-to-back races in the next two weekends at Martinsville Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway.

At the Nashville round, Malsam will welcome his other new teammate, Brian Ickler, who is also second-year Truck racer. Ickler is sharing the No. 18 Tundra with Busch and will drive the truck in all races that aren’t run in conjunction with the Sprint Cup Series. Malsam is the one constant driver in the 2010 KBM operation.

“When Kyle is here, it’s awesome having him and when Brian is here, it’s awesome having him, too, because we all work so well together,” Malsam explains. “Kyle’s been a huge help and I know I can call him when I’m at a different track, too, and he’ll help me there. It’s been a big help having both those guys with me.

“I met (Ickler) a couple times at the racetrack last year and we raced four or five races together. I’ve gotten to know him more and more this year and he’s awesome. He’s a lot of fun to hang out with. I think he’ll be good when we race together and I think we’ll feed off each other. If he runs a good lap time, I’ll have to try to beat it, and I think it’ll make it easier for everyone.”

It’s been a whirlwind few months for everybody associated with Kyle Busch Motorsports. Although rumors swirled that Busch would start his own team late in the 2009 season, it wasn’t until December – barely two months before the start of the 2010 campaign – that the team was officially a reality.

Nevertheless, Malsam feels that everything has come together well and the team is beginning to gel. He’s particularly looking forward to the team’s new headquarters, which are currently being built.

“Everything has gone really well at the shop and getting everyone together and the team together,” Malsam says. “It’s gone real good. We’re just very happy with how everything is going. I can’t wait until the new shop is done. The new shop is pretty stout. That will be fun to work there.”

Malsam isn’t a driver who just shows up at test sessions or on race weekends and that’s the only time his teammates ever see him. He spends a lot of time at the race shop.

“I’m there as much as I can be, pretty much every day,” he says. “I’ve got to see what’s going on. I don’t get to touch the trucks much because they don’t trust me with the tools, but it’s all good. I go in there and hang out and see what’s going on.”

One thing that Malsam believes was helpful for his transition to the new team was the fact that he was moving from one Toyota team to another. That familiarity contributed to helping him get comfortable quickly in his new surroundings.

“It’s definitely huge,” says Malsam. “Toyota is the number one team out there right now. They’ve got the best trucks, the best horsepower and everything, and to be with them again is great. They have such good people behind them. It’s just so much fun to hang out with them, and I get to do all the autograph sessions for the fans. I’m very fortunate to be driving a Toyota Tundra.”

Malsam’s goal is to drive that Toyota Tundra to top-five results every race and to get into the top five in the championship standings. More than anything, though, he knows his learning curve remains steep.

“I’ve got to learn a lot,” he explains. “You can always learn more and these trucks are changing so much every weekend. The more I can learn, the better. You’ve just got to keep learning, learning, learning. That’s really all you can do.”

And what are his plans when he learns all he can in the Truck Series? What does the “sophomore” plan to do when he “graduates?”

“I don’t want to push anything,” Malsam replies. “I just want to base it off how I run and what comes, comes. If we run good, I think stuff will happen for the better for us. I don’t want to say, ‘Yeah, I could go run Sprint Cup next year,’ because I can’t right now. I don’t have the experience to and I know I wouldn’t do good up there. I’ve just got to let everything fall into place.”