A weight had been lifted off Garrett Alberson’s tired shoulders on Thursday at Golden Isles Speedway. An 11th-place finish might not look like much, but the Las Cruces, N.M., driver is ecstatic to get through the night unscathed while not having to take a provisional.

Last year, Alberson took six straight provisionals to begin Georgia-Florida Speedweeks, and that set the tone in the wrong way the rest of the season. During Wednesday’s practice, Alberson tore up his primary car so badly that he and his team were up through the witching hour making repairs. It’d been the second significant wreckage Alberson’s had to clean up in as many weeks counting the Wild West Shootout at Vado (N.M.) Speedway Park.

“For sure (a weight lifted off our shoulders), especially with all the work we’ve had to do to fix stuff,” Alberson said. “And all the work we’ve done over the offseason. At Vado, it seems like we went in the right direction with our car and program. But Vado is so different than here. We’ve had a couple good showings at Vado in the past and have it not translate out here. For it to at least show up and be competitive here is where it’s at.”

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Indeed, Alberson fired off the sixth-fastest lap in the first group of qualifying and his third-place finish in his heat race lined him up 17th in the feature.

Alberson emphasized “it’s been a tiring couple weeks” and that “everyone’s worked a lot of late nights to try to get it all put back together and back down the road.” But fortunately for the third-year Lucas Oil Series driver, he feels his car is back to where he needs to be.

“I think it does. I was a little nervous in hot laps today,” Alberson said. “I was really loose and out of the track a lot worse than I thought we needed. At first, I thought maybe we missed it. But we changed the right-front suspension and changed all the right things.”

Of all the drivers expected to follow the tour this year, Alberson sits sixth in the way-too-early, de facto look at the standings through one race this year. He’s currently 11th as is, but Brandon Overton, Brandon Sheppard, Jimmy Owens, Kyle Bronson and Dennis Erb Jr. seem to have priorities elsewhere.

Alberson’s next challenge, though, is to figure out Golden Isles’s ever-changing track conditions.

“The toughest thing for me at this track is I’m not sure if I need to wheel spin more or wheel spin less,” I guess I haven’t totally mastered how to make really good laps, like lap after lap. Some places, you wheel spin all the time. Others not. Here, it’s wheel spinning one lap. Then the next, you’re not gaining anything.

“I think we got it back to what it’s supposed to be. Now it’s up to making the right decisions. It can be such a goofy track.”