Justin Barcia has found something. The 31-year-old has seen a surge around the mid-way point of the season and the #51 has been one of the fastest riders each and every week. At the Atlanta Motor Speedway race over the weekend, he battled with Jason Anderson in the heat race and took second. He would be given the win moments after, as Anderson was penalized one position for an off-track excursion. In the main event, Barcia clicked off his fifth podium of the season after taking P2 to Chase Sexton. He battled with Ken Roczen and made a pass late in the race to claim the runner-up position. Then, Sexton, Barcia, and Roczen all three shared a hug, high fives, and fist pumps on the face of a jump together as the crowd cheered. The trio even did a quick burnout together on the asphalt of the speedway track.

After the race, we caught up with Barcia in the pits as he was signing autographs for fans. He was all smiles as he recapped his day then told us of his new two-year deal with the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas Factory Racing team, something he had hinted towards last weekend in Arizona. Here is what the #51 had to say.

Racer X: Alright, Justin Barcia, walk us through day here in Atlanta.
Justin Barcia: Day in Atlanta was good, man. Waking up early. I like to cook my own breakfast and when I cook at like 7 a.m., it was a little too early, but I got the breakfast done, ate before practice at 8:30. And like Chase [Sexton] said in the press conference, kind of like worked up all day, which worked out good for me as well because I just woke up. Woke up to the main event. Let’s go!

It was a good day. Qualified P5, which I’m stoked on that. Heat race, Anderson was riding really well. He kind of forfeited the win, so I took the win by [default]. Took the win, which was cool. He rode really well.

Main event, started fourth or fifth. Charged through, made some good passes, got into third behind Kenny. Kenny was riding really well. I saw Chase was up there not too far. Finally got around Kenny. Charged charged charged. But Chase just for a clean, good race and we could only bring it home the second, which I’m happy with, that for sure. One of these wins are going to come to me one of these days, but they’re not free, so I need to work hard for it and earn it.