CP MOTORSPORTS - CRAFTON CAPTURES AN EVER ELUSIVE DOVER VICTORY
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Matt Crafton finally can take home Miles the Monster.
After leading 76 of the 200 laps in Friday afternoon's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Dover International Speedway, Crafton will walk away with the trophy branded after the mascot of the "Monster Mile".
"It's awesome," Crafton told reporters in Victory Lane following the victory. "I've always wanted (trophy) Miles. We've came close, we've come in second, we've had some very fast trucks. This Menard's Toyota Tundra was very, very good today."
<p>Crafton knows the win would not have been possible without the changes his crew made to his No. 88 Menard's Toyota both the night prior and during Friday's race.
"These guys just never give up because we were not very good in the last practice," Crafton said. "I think we were 21st and we went wholesale last night. Me and (crew chief) Junior (Joiner) sat down and talked a while and we talked again. I just showed up later and let him do his work. We were, like I said, working on it all day. A little bit of air pressure here, a little bit of air pressure there, and finally this thing was right on. This thing had great, great horsepower all day."
Crafton, who won back-to-back championships in 2013 and 2014, was able to punch his ticket to the Truck Series' newly formed Chase for the Championship by driving away from Kyle Busch Motorsports' No. 51 entry which was driven by Xfinity series regular Daniel Suarez.
Suarez was the first to admit he was giving it all he had to try and walk away with his first victory in the series.
"Honestly, I was trying to drive the wheels off of it to try to complete the pass," Suarez said. "I felt like we were a little bit faster than the 88 (of Crafton). But you know, clean air is a big difference here. I was trying to find a different line and just trying to find a little more speed to complete the pass. But he was pretty good. It seemed like I found something in (Turns) 1 and 2, but it wasn't working as good for me in (Turns) 3 and 4. I don't know."
Suarez's KBM teammate and last week's winner at Kansas, William Byron, was dealt a bad hand of cards in the race's late stages. Byron led the race's first 80 laps after starting on the pole due to qualifying being cancelled. The driver of the No. 9 Liberty University Toyota fell back to sixth place where he was then cited with a penalty on pit-road for one of this crew members going over the wall too soon.
The third KBM truck driven by Christopher Bell finished in third place. Johnny Sauter took home fourth place with Cole Custer, Spencer Gallagher, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Truex, Daniel Hemric and Kaz Grala rounding out the top-ten finishers.
Crafton's crew chief Junior Joiner believes this win could have great importance but doesn't foresee the team moving too far away from the strategies which have brought them this far.
"We definitely want to get out of the box, per say, but at the same time we enjoy winning races -- that's what it's all about," Joiner said. "When you have something you know can go out any given week and contend for the win, it's really hard to steer too far away from that."
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race Number 5
Unofficial Race Results for the 17Th Annual Dover 200 - Friday, May 13, 2016
Dover International Speedway - Dover, DE - 1 Mile Concrete
Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 200 Miles
Leader
Fin Str Trk Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Status Tms Laps
1 5 88 Matt Crafton Chi-Chi's/Menards Toyota 200 36 4 142.2 Running 1 76
2 6 51 Daniel Suarez(i) ARRIS Toyota 200 0 120.8 Running
3 9 4 Christopher Bell # Toyota Toyota 200 30 106.3 Running
4 15 21 Johnny Sauter Allegiant Travel Chevrolet 200 29 91.1 Running
5 7 00 Cole Custer # Haas Automation Chevrolet 200 28 100.3 Running
6 21 23 Spencer Gallagher Allegiant Travel Chevrolet 200 27 81.5 Running
7 16 29 Tyler Reddick Cooper Standard Ford 200 27 1 102.1 Running 1 39
8 18 81 Ryan Truex SeaWatch Toyota 200 25 81.7 Running
9 8 19 Daniel Hemric Oakmont Management Group Ford 200 24 84.9 Running
10 22 33 Kaz Grala Allegiant Travel Chevrolet 200 23 68.8 Running
11 1 9 William Byron # Liberty University Toyota 200 24 2 115.1 Running 1 80
12 3 11 Matt Tifft # Autism Delaware Toyota 200 21 88.7 Running
13 11 24 Ben Kennedy Jacob Companies Chevrolet 200 20 62.0 Running
14 17 17 Timothy Peters Red Horse Racing Toyota 200 19 66.9 Running
15 19 8 John H Nemechek Cricket SX3 Chevrolet 200 18 71.5 Running
16 14 49 Nick Drake Haas Automation Chevrolet 200 17 67.7 Running
17 26 1 Austin Hill A&D Welding Ford 198 16 49.9 Running
18 24 66 Jordan Anderson Columbia SC - Famously Hot Chevrolet 198 15 46.0 Running
19 4 13 Cameron Hayley Cabinets by Hayley Toyota 197 14 91.5 Running
20 2 71 Brandon Jones(i) AAA Car Care Center Chevrolet 196 0 79.7 Running
21 27 02 Tyler Young Randco/Young's Building Systems Chevrolet 196 12 38.7 Running
22 13 98 Rico Abreu # Safelite/Curb Records Toyota 196 11 59.9 Running
23 30 50 Travis Kvapil Gas Buddy Chevrolet 195 10 38.0 Running
24 29 44 Tommy Joe Martins Diamond Gusset Jeans/M.Tech Control Chevrolet 194 9 34.0 Running
25 31 07 CJ Faison Chevrolet 190 8 31.3 Running
26 28 63 Bobby Pierce Chevrolet 176 7 42.0 Accident
27 12 92 Parker Kligerman BTS Tire/Solid Rock Carriers/Advance Auto Parts Ford 136 6 45.5 Rear Gear
28 10 41 Ben Rhodes # Carolina Nut Co. Toyota 131 5 57.2 Running
29 20 05 John Wes Townley Zaxby?s Chevrolet 128 5 1 49.8 Accident 1 3
30 32 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet 65 3 24.7 Brakes
31 23 86 Brandon Brown Coastal Carolina University Chevrolet 56 2 37.0 Suspension
32 25 22 Austin Wayne Self AM Technical Solutions Toyota 41 1 32.0 Engine
Race Comments: Matt Crafton won the JACOB Companies 200, his 12th career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following truck dropped to the rear of the field for the reason indicated: No. 24 (backup truck).
Failed to Qualify: (2) 2, 6.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 47 Mins, 45 Secs. Average Speed: 111.369 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.571 Seconds
Caution Flags: 6 for 29 laps: Laps: 44-48 (No. 22 Spin in Turn 2 [63]); 57-60 (No. 86 Spin in Turn 4 [92]); 62-66 (No. 41 and 98 Accident in Turn 4 [1]); 81-84 (No. 07 Spin in Turn 4 [66]); 133-138 (No. 05 Accident in Turn 4 [24]); 169-173 ( [1]).
Lead Changes: 3 among 4 drivers: W. Byron # 1-80; J. Townley 81-83; T. Reddick 84-122; M. Crafton 123-200.
Top 10 Driver Points: (1) M. Crafton 124;(2) T. Peters 122;(3) D. Hemric 119;(4) R. Truex 118;(5) S. Gallagher 112;(6) W. Byron # 111;(7) J. Nemechek 106;(8) T. Young 101;(9) C. Bell # 99;(10) T. Reddick 96.
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race : Triad Racing Technologies (TRT), #88 Mobil 1 Driver of the Race : Matt Crafton, #88
Sunoco Rookie of the Race : Christopher Bell, #4
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: May. 20, 2016 - Charlotte Motor Speedway