Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: matt crafton

  • Four Takeaways From The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race From Las Vegas

    Four Takeaways From The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race From Las Vegas

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series normally visits Las Vegas in the fall during the Playoffs, but this time they visited Vegas in the spring for the first time ever. As always, the trucks did not disappoint. Here are four takeaways from the Stratosphere 200.

    1. Busch Gets 50th Career Win – After starting on the pole, leading 55 laps and retaking the lead on lap 120, Kyle Busch never looked back as he scored his 50th career truck series win. With this win, he is now one win away from tying NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr. If Busch keeps his winning ways up, he’ll more than likely surpass Hornaday’s record this year and make him the all-time wins leader.
    2. Brake Problems Leaves Crafton With Poor Finish – Two-time champ Matt Crafton was winless in 17 starts prior to entering the event and was looking to earn that first elusive win at Las Vegas. However, early on in the race on Lap 40, brake problems left him with a 29th place finish. Crafton will have to wait until the fall event in hopes of scratching Vegas off the tracks he has not won yet.
    3. Justin Marks Shines With 11th Place Finish – Marks made his 2018 racing season debut Friday night driving the No. 54 David Gilliland Racing machine. It was the first ever truck race for Marks since 2016 at Atlanta. He even was fastest in first practice beating guys like Brett Moffitt and Noah Gragson. While Marks didn’t place in the top 10 in either stage, it was still a decent finish for the No. 54 Tundra.
    4. Sauter Remains One To Beat Early In 2018 – With a second place finish at Vegas, it still shows he is the one to beat. It’s far too early to place any bets on who the 2018 champion will be and who will be challenging for the championship, but with a second at Daytona, third at Atlanta and second at Las Vegas, Sauter will for sure be a strong contender and challenger for the 2018 championship.
  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Las Vegas

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Las Vegas

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series headed out west last Friday night for the first inaugural spring race held at the 1.5-mile speedway.  It was a familiar face on top of the scoring pylon at the end of the day. Here’s a look at this weeks power rankings.

    1. Johnny Sauter: Sauter continues the GMS Racing momentum after finishing second in the Stratosphere 200. After starting third, he remained in the top 10 in both stages while finishing seventh and eighth, respectively. Sauter was up front for the win at the end, but just fell one sport short and finished behind race winner Kyle Busch .437 seconds. This gave Sauter his third top five of the season and he is the series points leader over Brett Moffitt by 39 points.
      Previous Week Ranked: 2nd
    2. Brett Moffitt: Moffitt added another strong finish for Hattori Racing after visiting victory lane last weekend in Atlanta. The No. 16 AISIN Group driver started third and finished eighth in Stage 1, and fifth in Stage 2. Moffitt also led twice for 27 laps throughout the race. He is second in the standings behind 2016 champion Johnny Sauter.
      Previous Week Ranked: 1st
    3. Stewart Friesen: Friesen and the No. 52 Halmar Racing continue to shine with another top-five finish in the 2018 season. He started second alongside pole winner and eventual race winner Kyle Busch. That was his best starting spot since winning the pole at Eldora last year. The team worked hard to stay in the top 10 during both stages. In Stage 1 he finished fourth. Friesen ended up winning the second stage, which could help him out later in the season should he make the Playoffs. Ultimately, the No. 52 driver ended the day fifth, leaving him with his third top five of his career and the first of the season.
      Previous Week Ranked: N/R
    4. Grant Enfinger: While it shouldn’t be a surprise, Enfinger had a nice solid top-five finish outing at Las Vegas. While working a challenging truck early on in the race, he worked hard to get to the front. He didn’t place at all in Stage 1 but did earn some points in Stage 2 finishing ninth. When the checkered flag flew, the Curb Records driver finished fourth, giving him his first top five of the year and the 12th of his career.  Enfinger sits third in the standings, 40 points behind Sauter.
      Previous Week Ranked: N/R
    5. Dalton Sargeant: Sargeant, in just the ninth race of his career, earned a career-best sixth place finish at Vegas. As the race started, he worked his way up to the middle half of the field from the rear. After a couple of adjustments to the truck, Sargeant finished 14th just four spots short outside the top 10. The No. 25 truck continued to struggle for most of the night with handling issues and wound up 13th in Stage 2. In the final stage, the GMS Racing team continued to work on the truck to get it to Dalton’s liking and he finished sixth for the best finish of his career.
      Previous Week Ranked: N/A

    Honorable Mentions
    1. Ben Rhodes: Rhodes came home with another top 10 finish by placing seventh.
    2. Justin Fontaine: Fontaine stood out in the top 10 finishing ninth with the Niece Motorsports entry. He gave the team their second top 10 finish of the year with the first one coming at Daytona.

    Fell out of the Power Rankings
    1. Matt Crafton: Brake issues limited the No. 88 team for a good finish to a 29th place finish.
    2. Noah Gragson: Gragson and the No. 18 Switch Tundra finished 12th after finishing second last week at Atlanta.
    3. Jesse Little: Did not compete in this week’s race.

  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Las Vegas Race 1

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Las Vegas Race 1

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend but with a different twist. They will now have two races this year, one in the spring and of course, the annual event in the fall during the Playoffs.

    There are 31 trucks on the preliminary entry list for Friday night’s Stratosphere 250. During the last 21 races, there have been 19 different winners and only two repeat winners. Jack Sprague won the first event held in 1996 and then won two years later in 1998.

    In the three past fall races, there have been three different winners ranging from Ben Rhodes to Tyler Reddick and John Wes Townley.

    Here’s a look at who might end up in victory lane in Friday’s race.

    1.  Johnny Sauter – You can never count out the 2016 champion at any race track where he competes. Sauter is a regular contender for the win every week and this week is no exception. In fact, he has won the fall event way back in 2009, his only Las Vegas win. During the span of nine starts, Sauter has one win, four top fives and six top 10 finishes, along with an average start of 9.1 and an average finish of 8.1, including 100 laps led and one DNF which took place in 2012. Another nugget to add, Sauter finished ninth in Stage 2 last year and finished 10th. He was also fastest in Thursdays’ final practice session. Keep an eye for Sauter Friday night.

    2. Ben Rhodes – Rhodes is the defending race winner of the fall race and has made two career starts. In a thriller last lap run in last year’s race, he held off a hard-charging Christopher Bell by .066 seconds. He led 20 laps en route to his victory while finishing sixth in Stage 1 and first in Stage 2. Rhodes’ stats show one top five and one top 15 finish at Vegas. He placed sixth in the first practice and ninth in final practice.

    3. Kyle Busch – Busch will be out for redemption in Friday’s race after last week’s pit road miscue. However, the last time Busch competed in a truck race at Las Vegas was in 2001 driving for Jack Roush where he finished ninth. But knowing Busch, it will be hard to count him out of victory lane, just like Sauter. He will have his Kyle Busch Motorsports notes from the previous races to lean on. Busch placed fifth in both practice sessions on Thursday.

    4. Matt Crafton – Crafton will be itching at the bit to check Las Vegas Motor Speedway off his win list this weekend. It’s hard to imagine that he has zero wins in 17 starts. However, Crafton has been runner-up in 2009, 2011, 2012 and finished third in 2014. He has also led 136 laps. Crafton showed some speed in Thursday’s practice sessions placing 11th and 7th, respectively. Be sure to watch for the two-time Truck Series champion to finally end up in victory lane at the 1.5-mile race track.

    5. John Hunter Nemechek – Nemechek will be back in the No. 8 family owned truck this weekend. In three starts, he has a best finish of fourth in 2015 and he finished eighth in last year’s race. This adds up to one top five and two top 10 finishes with eight laps led. He will have some work to do as he placed 13th in the first practice and eighth in the final practice.

    Where you qualify will be very critical if you want to win this race. In 2017, Rhodes started sixth, Reddick won in 2016 after starting 16th and John Wes Townley started second when he won in 2015. As you can see track position is important at this race track, but with a little bit of Sin City luck you could end up in victory lane if you play your cards right.

    Qualifying is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. ET Friday with no live coverage. Race coverage is slated for 9:00 p.m. ET with the green flag dropping at 9:16 p.m. ET, all on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio.

  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Atlanta Motor Speedway

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Power Rankings-Atlanta Motor Speedway

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series came to Atlanta Motor Speedway this past weekend following the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the only doubleheader of the season. The Active Pest Control 200 sure didn’t disappoint as it came down to the wire and the last restart of the race.

    Here’s a look at this weeks power rankings.

    1. Brett Moffit – Moffit surprised the field Saturday night by taking home his second career Truck Series victory. A late race caution came out on Lap 126 when Dalton Sargeant and Josh Reaume got collected to send the race into overtime. Moffit led the most important two laps of the race and won for the first time since 2016 at Michigan. With this win, Hattori Racing and Moffit are now locked into the Playoffs.
    2. Johnny Sauter – Sauter came into a track where he had no wins in the previous seven races. It looked like that streak could have ended Saturday, but he scored another third-place finish. This was Sauter’s second consecutive third-place finish at Atlanta. He will have to wait another year to check this track off. Sauter started ninth and finished seventh and second respectively in both stages, along with leading three times for 12 laps.
    3. Noah Gragson – Gragson scored his career-best track finish this past weekend. In last year’s race, he finished 14th after starting 10th. This year, Gragson started third, won the first stage and finished fifth in Stage 2. Gragson only led 43 laps before ultimately finishing second after restarting ninth with two laps to go.
    4. Matt Crafton – Crafton headed to one of his favorite tracks on the truck series circuit, Atlanta, in hopes of locking himself into the Playoffs early. After starting second, he took the lead on lap 44 and led for seven laps. This would be the only time Crafton led in the race. He finished second in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2. However, the No. 88 Menards driver ultimately finished fifth at the end of the day. Crafton sits second in the point standings, 31 points behind Daytona winner Johnny Sauter.
    5. Jesse Little – Little competed in his first race of the 2018 season this past Saturday. The last time the No. 97 driver raced was at Phoenix where he started 24th and finished 18th due to a crash on lap 134. Atlanta saw Little make his track debut. After starting 12th, he finished fifth in Stage 1 and eighth in Stage 2. After a late race restart, the scoring pylon showed the No. 97 team eighth. It was a solid outing for Little’s first start at Atlanta.
  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Atlanta

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Atlanta

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads north of Daytona this weekend for the 1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia. It will be the second race of the 2018 season for what has already been an exciting start for the Truck Series. Nonetheless, let’s take a look at who will be hot and might end up in victory lane.

    There are 34 trucks currently entered on the preliminary entry list.

    In the last three races, there have been three different winners. And there is a high possibility that there could be a fourth different winner this Saturday.

    1. Kyle Busch – Busch will be competing in his first truck race of the season this weekend. It will be the first of five races on the schedule for the Las Vegas native. However, the last time Busch went to victory lane was eight years ago in 2010. Since the truck series returned to Atlanta in 2015, he has competed in one race which came in last year’s Active Pest Control 200. During the race, Busch ran second in both stages. Unfortunately, issues arose late in the race and relegated him to a 26th place finish. Although, you can never really count him out in any race that Busch races in. Be sure to keep an eye on him all weekend long. He also scored wins in 2005, 2007 and 2008.
    2. Matt Crafton – After a somewhat forgettable Daytona finish last weekend, Crafton is heading to one of his favorite race tracks statistically. In 16 races, he has one win (2015), five top fives and nine top 10 finishes, along with one pole and 173 laps led. Crafton also has an average starting position of 13.7 and an average finish of 12.0. He also will be using a truck that has three wins, especially at Atlanta. Crafton is the highest active driver statistically. In 2017, he finished runner-up. The previous year, Crafton was taken out in a multi-vehicle accident late in the race which put him 30th and he won the year before that. The No. 88 Menards driver will be up in contention for victory this weekend at Atlanta.
    3. Johnny Sauter – Sauter is carrying momentum to Atlanta after scoring the victory last weekend at Daytona. In two of the past three races, he has a finish of third and sixth respectively. In 2016, he was caught with issues late in the race thus relegating him to a 28th place finish. Surprisingly enough, Sauter does not have a win in the past seven races at Atlanta. He has collected one top five and three top 10 finishes, with no laps led. His average starting position is 11.1 and he has an average finishing position of 14.7. Regardless of what the stats say, Sauter could use the momentum from Daytona and catapult for his first ever track win at the 1.5-mile speedway.
    4. Joe Nemechek – Nemechek will be back once again competing for the Nemco Motorsports team. This time, however, he will adorn the No. 8 Chevy. In two races, he has one top 10 finish which came in 2015 when Nemechek finished 10th. In his only other start that came last year, he ended up finishing 24th, two laps down. However, Joe’s son, John Hunter, took the truck to victory lane two years ago for his first ever victory. Joe finished third in the truck race last Friday night at Daytona.
    5. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger could be a surprise winner this weekend. In two races, he has one top five and two top 10 finishes, and four laps led. The No. 98 Tundra driver finished ninth in Stage 1 before coming home eighth in the final running order.

    Last year’s winner Christopher Bell, who will not be competing, started first and finished first, and also led 99 of the scheduled 130 laps. In the past three races, the lowest a driver has ever won from a starting spot was John Hunter Nemechek who started 18th when he went to victory lane in 2016.

    Live coverage for the truck series starts Friday afternoon with two practice sessions scheduled for 2:05 p.m. ET and final practice slated for 4:05 p.m. ET all on FS1. Qualifying will be held early Saturday morning at 10:35 a.m. ET on Fox Sports 1, with race coverage starting at 4:30 p.m. ET. The green flag will wave at 4:49 p.m. ET.

     

  • Several Truck Series Veterans Leave Daytona Disappointed; Hopeful For Turnaround At Atlanta

    Several Truck Series Veterans Leave Daytona Disappointed; Hopeful For Turnaround At Atlanta

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series kicked-off its 23rd year of competition and its eighth year racing at Daytona International Speedway. Some drivers left Daytona happy, but others like Matt Crafton (still searching for his first win at Daytona) left unhappy. Others included Noah Gragson, John Hunter Nemechek, Myatt Snider, Stewart Friesen, Cody Coughlin and Brett Moffit.

    Thorsport Racing – Two of its entries were involved in multiple incidents at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. On Lap 74, Snider was collected in a six-truck crash. He barely made it through the crash but was caught at the last second by Nemechek. After finishing seventh in Stage 1, Snider’s night was done early and he was relegated to a 24th place finish after finishing in the top 10 last year.

    “I almost got through the wreck, but John (Hunter Nemechek) ended up coming down the track and we made contact,” Snider said.  “Then, I was in the grass and dug the splitter in and tore the nose off. We had a really good truck – the guys at ThorSport brought me a really good Liberty Tax Ford F-150, and I’m really proud of the work they’ve all done, especially for how quick we had to get things turned around before the season started. It’s a great group of guys, I just hate that all of their hard work ended up getting torn up like that.”

    Matt Crafton was involved in a five-truck crash late in the race on Lap 83. With the incident, Crafton is still searching for his first Daytona win and it will have to wait another year, as he wound up finishing 19th. Despite not getting the finish he wanted, Crafton is looking forward to Atlanta next weekend.

    “Tonight just wasn’t our night,” he said.  “We had the pit road issue early, and then we had an issue with something under the hood – never could quite figure that out. Then, there at the end, we got turned and had to make multiple trips down pit road to repair the damage on the rear. Overall though, this Menards Ford F-150 was good. Even after the pit road penalty, I knew we could make our way back to the front whenever we wanted, we just had to play it smart. Unfortunately, we just didn’t get to make that move. We will regroup and head to Atlanta next week – hands down one of my favorite tracks.”

    Cody Coughlin found himself in a new team this season driving the No. 2 JEGS Chevy for GMS Racing. Things started off well as he started 10th and finished there in Stage 1 while finishing fourth in Stage 2. However, at Daytona, you have to some luck in order to be there at the end to capitalize on it. Unfortunately, Coughlin was collected in the first wreck of the night off Turn 4. At the end of the night, the scoring pylon showed the No. 2 in 17th.

    “Well, we had a good run going tonight and a really fast JEGS.com Chevrolet Silverado,” Coughlin said. “We just had terrible luck. It’s hard to overcome two flat left rear tires and having to start at the tail of the field a lot due to those issues. Hopefully, we can get this luck turned around for next weekend at Atlanta (Motor Speedway).”

    Noah Gragson who is now in his second year at Kyle Busch Motorsports also had unfortunate luck after having a strong run. Gragson posted a fifth place qualifying effort Friday afternoon giving him a good starting position. But at Daytona, it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. The first two stages saw him finish ninth and 14th, respectively. On Lap 56, the No. 18 Safelite Tundra was involved in a multi-vehicle wreck which thus ended their night early with a 23rd place finish.

    “In Daytona, a lot of the luck is not in the drivers’ hands — it is what it is. We qualified really good — Rudy Fugle and the guys on this No. 18 team built a really fast Safelite AutoGlass/Switch Toyota Tundra during the offseason,” Gragson said.  “I’m thankful for the opportunity to be driving for this team. This is not the way we wanted to start our season, but we can go to Atlanta next week with our heads held high that we had a lot of speed and I’m confident that we’ll have speed again next weekend in our first mile-and-a-half race of the year.”

    Hunter Nemechek finished 25th after being taken out on Lap 74, Stewart Friesen (27th) on the same lap and Brett Moffit was shown 26th.

    While some teams are already ahead and look forward to Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend, other teams are behind and will be playing catch up.

     

  • NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Daytona

    NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Daytona

    The NASCAR off-season is officially over for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with the first practice kicking off Thursday morning 11:35 a.m. ET on FS1.

    Currently, there are 36 Trucks entered on the preliminary entry list.

    With a new year, comes new faces in new places. Here are some notables.

    Jordan Anderson will be fielding his own team in 2018 by driving the No. 3. An interesting twist for Daytona, David Gilliland will be driving the No. 4 for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Korbin Forrister in his teams owned No. 7, Myatt Snider takes over the No. 13 for Thorsport Racing, Dalton Sargeant in the 25 for GMS Racing. Ben Rhodes is now the 41, not the 27 as in previous years. To round out the unique entry list, Bo Le Mastus will be competing in the new David Gilliland Racing team driving the No. 54. Got that? Good. Now let’s take a look at who will be hot at Daytona International Speedway this Friday night.

    In the last three races, there have been three different winners ranging from Tyler Reddick, Johnny Sauter and last year’s winner, Kaz Grala. Reddick and Grala will not be competing in this year’s event as they have moved on to the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

      1. Johnny Sauter – Sauter is the highest active driver stat wise at Daytona. In the past three races, he owns one win, one top five and two top 10 finishes, with 64 laps led. However, in last year’s race, he was involved in the infamous big one at Daytona on the last lap. Unless you’re a stat nerd, then they really don’t mean anything at Daytona but you have to be there at the end to win the race. Nonetheless, never count Sauter out at plate tracks.
      2. Matt Crafton – Crafton will be back competing in his 19th year for the Truck Series. It’s hard to believe that in the last 17 races at Daytona, the No. 88 Thorsport driver does not have a win at Daytona. His best finish came eight years ago in 2010, where Crafton finished fifth. In the past three races, he has put up only two top 10 finishes and has led seven laps, with an average finishing position of 10.7. Despite going up and over on the last lap in last year’s race, he wound up 14th. In 2015 and ’16, Crafton finished eighth and 10th, respectively. Crafton and Sauter are realistically the only highly experienced drivers in the field.
      3. John Hunter Nemechek – Nemechek will be back behind the wheel of his family’s team-owned No. 8 Fleetwing Corporation Chevy. He only has two career starts at Daytona that came in 2017 and ’16. During those two race spans, Nemechek has completed 99.5 percent of the laps, scored one top five and one top 10 finish, and has an average finish of 10.5. Nemechek’s best finish came in last year’s race, where he placed fourth.
      4. Myatt Snider – New Year, New Look, New Team for the young 23-year old Myatt Snider. After competing for Kyle Busch Motorsports last year, Snider will adorn the No. 13 Liberty Tax Toyota for Thorsport Racing. It will be interesting to see how Snider does with his new team in 2018. Regarding stats, he only has one start that came last year where Snider finished 10th. He finished eighth in Stage 2.
      5. Parker Kligerman – Kligerman has become quite the restrictor plate racer as of late. In fact, the last time the Truck Series competed on a superspeedway, Kligerman was the winner at Talladega last fall. In four races, he has finishes of 15th, 11th, 29th in 2014 and third in 2016. Kligerman could very well be an upset winner once again Friday night in Daytona.

    There are three practice sessions scheduled for Thursday. First practice takes place at 11:35 a.m. ET, with the second practice slated for 2:25 p.m. ET and the final practice at 4:35 p.m. ET. All taking place on Fox Sports 1.Qualifying is Friday afternoon at 4:45 p.m. ET with the green flag scheduled for 7:52 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Matt Crafton and Thorsport Move to Ford in 2018

    Matt Crafton and Thorsport Move to Ford in 2018

    CHARLOTTE, NC – In news involving the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Matt Crafton, long seen driving the bright yellow Toyota Tundra, announced that the No. 88 truck would be a Ford F-150 in 2018. How could that affect the team this new season?

    “We’re looking forward to working with Ford and they’re what I started with in NASCAR. In my old Southwest Tour days in 1997 I started racing a Ford out west and that’s all my dad has ever owned and raced, so it’s very exciting for him because he always said whenever I first started racing another manufacturer, ‘I don’t know if I can root for you because I’ve only driven a Ford and you’ve only driven a Ford,’ so I guess now I’ve got a new fan in my dad.”

    Crafton admitted that it was quite a job to switch manufacturers, but work is underway at the shop and going well in converting more than 16 tucks.

    “We have to cut everything off from the windshield bed forward and put all the Ford noses on it and the Ford back half, so there’s a lot going on and those guys are working a lot of hours right now to get this stuff done,” Crafton said. “We have four teams going to Daytona, so two per team, and we’re doing the test tomorrow. So we have one done for that.”

    Crafton said that though Ford will have wind tunnel and aerodynamic help, the late change in manufacturers won’t allow the team to take advantage of any of those services. The change caught him totally by surprise.

    “I had no idea, to be honest. It was definitely something that caught me off guard when they told me what we were doing,” Crafton said. “I was like, ‘Wow, OK.’ I’m very excited about it without a doubt just for the fact of that’s what I started in. That’s what I started my NASCAR career in and that’s what my dad has done and raced all his life.”

    Crafton’s hobby is racing dirt modifieds, and though he didn’t run the Chili Bowl this season (not enough seats available), he plans to do a little of that prior to the big race at the superspeedway. Add to that, Crafton, a former series champion at Thorsport, expressed a common viewpoint on the health of the truck series.

    “I think what we need to do is go to some different places and not just have us racing all the same race tracks,” Crafton said. “It’s great to race with the Cup Series, but, at the same time, we need to go to different places. We need more road courses. If you look in the Cup Series, what races did they sell out? The road courses. Our biggest turnout of the year was a road course. We need another road course, I feel. Maybe another dirt track. Take us to some short tracks and not just all the mile-and-a-halves. There are so many great short tracks that we used to race at. I know NASCAR is in a tough box with those people not having enough capacity in the stands to be able to – you have all the sanctioning fees and the tracks to be able to sell enough seats to be able to pay for those races and a lot of mile-and-a-halves do, so I would definitely like to see us go back to quite a few of these.”

  • Driver Analysis: Matt Crafton

    Driver Analysis: Matt Crafton

    The 2017 year saw two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton make his 18th career season start dating back to the 2000 season. The long-running sponsor Menards returned to sponsor him once again in the series with the different brands such as Shasta, Goof Off, Fisher Nuts, Ideal Door, Hormel Gatherings, Jack Links, Great Links, Rip IT and FVP just to name a few.

    It was a wild one, to say the least for the No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra driver. Daytona started off with a bang where on the final lap, Crafton went flipping in the air while doing a 360 and eventually landing back on four wheels. Thankfully, he, along with others, was not hurt during the big crash. A wild way to start your 2017 season off for sure.

    In the coming weeks, his finishes continued to be up and down, with a second at Atlanta and ninth at Martinsville, while finishing 16th and one lap down at Kansas due to a flat right rear tire with less than 10 laps to go. It wasn’t the prettiest race for Crafton as his team’s plan did not go well.

    “We struggled with free-in, free everywhere tonight. Junior (Carl Joiner, crew chief) made some big swings, but we just never got it right,” Crafton said. “Track position was everything and the tire was so hard, it was just impossible to feel anything when it stepped out from us. I thought we were going to be able to salvage a decent finish there at the end, but we had a right rear flat, and our night was just over after that.”

    After a couple of rough patches, he was back inside the top 10 at Charlotte with a sixth-place finish. Iowa was the ninth race of the season and the Menards driver still had not won yet to clinch a spot in the playoffs. Unfortunately, Crafton was involved in a crash on lap 184 which relegated him to a 19th place finish.

    Then it was Eldora, the biggest race of the season if you ask others, including Crafton. This race has been marked on his calendar and check list to win at since its inaugural running in 2013. After the qualifying heat races, he started second and won Stage 1. He fell back a bit in Stage 2 and wound up ninth. Crafton eventually worked his way back up to the lead after taking it away from Stewart Friesen on Lap 134 of 150. From there, he held on in the final 17 laps to score his first win of the season and clinched a spot in the playoffs. It was a great victory for Crafton and the No. 88 Thorsport Racing team. Needless to say, it was the highlight of his 2017 season up to that point.

    “Our first dirt win,” he said. “A lot of fun. In the second part of the race we downright just stunk. It was my fault. We over-tightened it. On the first run we were pretty good, I just thought we were a little bit too free. We tightened it up, and then we just went back to exactly where we started the race. Rico (Abreu) drove by me up top, and I’m like ‘Crafton, you got to put this thing on the fence down there’. I knew I was getting beat on the bottom, and then I found something in the middle over here in 1 and 2. Finally at the end, I’m like ‘well, we ought to tear the right side off this thing and take it to victory lane.”

    Crafton continued to carry that momentum in the weeks leading up to the playoffs at Loudon. Despite an unfortunate 25th place finish at Canada, he earned a pole at Michigan and finished sixth there. In the final race until the playoffs began, he finished 16th at Chicago, two laps down due to a spin in which he never could recover.

    “This was absolutely the most evil thing I’ve ever driven – I just spun out,” Crafton said. “Hopefully, we can get our stuff together for the Playoffs, so we can compete for another championship. We’ll be good though, we  made it here and now we just have to focus on the races ahead of us.”

    In the playoff races, Crafton had consistent finishes of sixth at Loudon, seventh at Las Vegas, ninth at Talladega, second at Martinsville, ninth at Fort Worth. The only finish outside the top 10 came at Phoenix, where he was involved in a crash on lap 129 which ended his night early and saw him finishing 21st.

    Despite that finish at Phoenix, Crafton qualified for the Championship 4 for the second consecutive year. In this case, he was searching for his third career championship in the Truck Series.

    The day started out somewhat okay for the No. 88 driver after qualifying eighth. In Stage 1, Crafton would finish seventh while in Stage 2, he finished eighth. When the checkered flag flew, it saw him finish sixth, the last final four driver to cross the line, finishing fourth in points. Even though it wasn’t the night Crafton wanted, he will be back to challenge for the title in 2018.

    “The first run we were pretty good, just got really, really free,” Crafton said. “As the night went on we just got freer, and freer. We would tighten it up, and we’d run good for about half the run, and then it would go away. All-in-all, we can’t hang our heads – we’ll get em’ next year.”

    Stat wise, the No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra driver saw one win, five top fives and 16 top 10 finishes, along with an average start of 6.2 and an average finish of 9.3 with 321 laps led and five DNF’s.

    You can follow Matt Crafton on Twitter @Matt_Crafton and on Instagram @Matt_Crafton.

  • Four Takeaways From The Ford Ecoboost 200 At Homestead-Miami

    Four Takeaways From The Ford Ecoboost 200 At Homestead-Miami

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series held its last race of the year this past Friday night in Southern Florida. As the sun set and nighttime fell, the action only intensified as the 2017 season neared its end. After the checkered flag flew, here are four takeaways from the championship event.

    1. Christopher Bell Earns Championship – In his second full year, Christopher Bell finally earned the championship after finishing second. He ended the season with five wins, 15 top fives and 21 top 10 finishes, with five pole awards. That was enough to earn him a championship. It would not be surprising if he challenges for the XFINITY Series championship in 2018, let alone win it all. After all, Bell has one win in eight starts this year in that series, along with three top fives and five top 10 finishes.
    2. Veterans Still Dominate in Series – In a year of new stars and rookies, veterans and champions, such as Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter were still dominant and age was no factor. Crafton qualified for the playoffs with a win on the dirt at Eldora and Sauter early at Dover. Sauter got in the Championship 4 for the second consecutive year after winning at Texas and Crafton got in on points. The two finished third and sixth, respectively, in the final race of the year. Crafton ended with one win, five top fives and 16 top 10 finishes, while Sauter ended with four wins, 13 top fives and 19 top 10 finishes. It just goes to show that veterans still can dominate the series and age is only a number.
    3. Grant Enfinger and Justin Haley Earn Top 10 Finishes – When it’s the final race of the year, racecar drivers like to end it on a high note. Enfinger and Haley did just that by finishing eighth and ninth, respectively. Both of them finished in the top 10 in Stage 1, while Haley was the only one to finish in the top 10 in Stage 2. At the end of the day, the scoring loop showed them in the top 10. This was Haley’s 12th top 10 of the year and Enfinger’s 15th top 10 of the year.
    4. Exciting Playoffs – The 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs might go down as one of the most exciting in its series history. Throughout the eight race round, we saw six different winners including an upset at Talladega by Parker Kligerman, which was very exciting for the fans to watch. Sauter was the only repeat winner after victories at Texas and Phoenix. Bell won at the opening round in Loudon but carried through with points and stage wins. The season, as always, ended in the bright Florida sun and showed a new champion, and a first-time race winner. The 2017 season, no doubt, was most likely one of the most exciting seasons yet for the Camping World Truck Series.