CRAFTON OUTLASTS COMPETITION EN ROUTE TO CHARLOTTE WIN

 

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For the second consecutive week Matt Crafton is celebrating in victory lane. This time at the site of his first ever win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Crafton led a race-high 47 laps on the way to his second win of the season. The two-time series champion knew his truck was dialed in for a big afternoon.

"This thing was unbelievable from the time we dropped the green," Crafton said. "I mean we just made air pressure adjustments, at least that's what I was told. Pretty much after the first lap I knew that they were going to be in trouble, I knew we had something to contend for a win. Then we went through (turns) one, two, three and four and I'm like this feels really good unless it really, really falls off or something dramatic happens, I felt we could battle for a win for sure."

The win marks the first time in Crafton's championship career he has won back-to-back races and the driver of the No. 88 DampRid/Menard's Toyota is proud to have accomplished this feat after being close before.

"It feels very, very good," Crafton said. "Somebody brought that to my attention last week after we won Dover that it's never been done for me. We won Atlanta last year and we were leading on a Green -White-Checkered at Martinsville, lost it and then went and won the following one after that. We've come close and it feels very, very sweet to say we've done it back-to-back."

"Maybe we can go for three."

Kyle Busch, who piloted the No. 18 SiriusXM Radio Toyota, managed to lead 27 laps but was forced to the rear of the field following a pit road speeding penalty. Busch recovered well but couldn't grab the final spot on his comeback and had to settle for a second place finish. 

Busch now has nine top-ten finishes at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

"Our truck was okay there early on in the first half of the race we were pretty good and then in the second half of the race something happened on the right front," Busch said. "Once we got back in traffic after that bad pit stop where we got a penalty and something broke so I was just super, super tight after that, laying on the splitter."

Crafton's former teammate Johnny Sauter, now with GMS Racing, made a long fuel run in the race's final stages to hang on for a third place finish. Sauter led a lap before being passed by Crafton with less than five laps-to-go. The finish is Sauter's third career top-ten finish at CMS.

Brad Keselowski Racing's Tyler Reddick finished in the fourth position. 

Rookie Matt Tifft was able to keep his No. 11 NASCAR Heat Toyota clean all race and managed to drive home in the fifth position. The finish for Tifft is the best in his short NCWTS career.

Tifft, who was named to the NASCAR Next class of 2016 earlier this week, battled changing race conditions all race.

"We started the race just a bit too tight," Tifft said. "I fought through traffic just a little bit there. It kind of got us in a spot where we were in a position to come down and top off the fuel and ultimately that was the biggest payoff for today. We were able to play a little bit of strategy and luckily we were able to stay out and that played to our favor. We've had really fast trucks over at Red Horse (Racing) but it's the first time we've been able to finish out a race so it's really cool."

Spencer Gallagher finished in sixth place followed by Timothy Peters, Christopher Bell, Daniel Hemric and rookie William Byron rounding out the top-ten.

After a busy month of May, the truck series now takes a break until it returns to action Friday, June 10th at Texas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race Number 6
Unofficial Race Results for the 14Th Annual North Carolina Education Lottery 
200 - Friday, May 20, 2016
Charlotte Motor Speedway - Concord, NC - 1.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 134 Laps - 201 Miles
Leader
Fin    Str    Trk    Driver    Team    Laps    Pts    Bns    Driver Rating    Status    Tms    Laps
1    17    88    Matt Crafton    Damp Rid/Menards Toyota    134    37    5    133.0    Running    2    47
2    5    18    Kyle Busch(i)    SiriusXM Toyota    134    0        121.6    Running    4    27
3    4    21    Johnny Sauter    Water Pulse Chevrolet    134    31    1    91.2    Running    1    1
4    6    29    Tyler Reddick    Cooper Standard Careers for Veterans Ford    134    29        79.0    Running        
5    9    11    Matt Tifft #    Toyota    134    28        65.8    Running        
6    2    23    Spencer Gallagher    Allegiant Travel Chevrolet    134    27        69.5    Running        
7    20    17    Timothy Peters    Red Horse Racing Toyota    134    27    1    106.2    Running    1    11
8    15    4    Christopher Bell #    Toyota Toyota    134    25        84.2    Running        
9    8    19    Daniel Hemric    DrawTite Ford    134    25    1    116.9    Running    2    15
10    1    9    William Byron #    Liberty University Toyota    134    24    1    116.3    Running    1    25
11    14    71    Brandon Jones(i)    Hope For The Warriors Chevrolet    134    0        77.2    Running        
12    21    8    John H. Nemechek    Chevrolet    134    21        85.3    Running        
13    16    00    Cole Custer #    Haas Automation Chevrolet    134    20        82.3    Running        
14    3    33    Ben Kennedy    Jacob Chevrolet    134    19        84.7    Running        
15    18    13    Cameron Hayley    Cabinets by Hayley Toyota    134    18        81.6    Running        
16    11    05    John Wes Townley    Jive Communications/Zaxby's Chevrolet    134    17        59.5    Running        
17    12    41    Ben Rhodes #    USA Cars Toyota    134    16        67.5    Running        
18    13    92    Parker Kligerman    BTS Tire & Wheel/Advance Auto Parts/Valvoline Ford    133    15        60.3    Running        
19    23    02    Tyler Young    Randco Chevrolet    133    14        46.7    Running        
20    10    98    Rico Abreu #    Safelite Auto Glass/Curb Records Toyota    133    14    1    81.2    Running    1    1
21    24    22    Austin Self    AM Technical Solutions Toyota    133    12        49.2    Running        
22    22    81    Ryan Truex    SeaWatch Toyota    133    11        60.7    Running        
23    7    51    Daniel Suarez(i)    ARRIS Toyota    132    0        80.3    Running    2    6
24    25    66    Jordan Anderson    Columbia, SC Famously Hot Chevrolet    132    9        43.0    Running        
25    28    44    Tommy Joe Martins    Diamond Gusset Jeans Chevrolet    132    9    1    39.0    Running    1    1
26    19    86    Brandon Brown    Jeff Gordon Children's Foundation Chevrolet    132    7        46.5    Running        
27    26    63    Bobby Pierce    Mitler Bros./Champion Oil Chevrolet    130    6        35.5    Running        
28    31    10    Jennifer Jo Cobb    Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet    128    5        30.7    Running        
29    29    07    Garrett Smithley(i)    Chevrolet    111    0        34.8    Running        
30    27    50    Travis Kvapil    Gas Buddy Chevrolet    106    3        29.7    Running        
31    30    49    Timmy Hill    Chevrolet    82    2        24.7    Suspension        
32    32    1    Andy Seuss    FDNY Chevrolet    20    1        24.3    Accident        
 Race Comments:    Matt Crafton won the North Carolina Education Loterry 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his 13th 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. 44 (missing drivers meeting).
 Failed to Qualify:    (4) 2, 75, 30, 20.
 Time of Race:    1 Hrs, 25 Mins, 01 Secs.    Average Speed:    141.855 MPH    Margin of Victory:    5.748 Seconds
 Caution Flags:    3 for 14 laps: Laps: 24-28 (#1 accident turn 2 [10]); 68-71 (Caution clock expiration [63]); 73-77 (#4 spin turn 4 [44]).
 Lead Changes:    14 among 9 drivers: W. Byron # 1-25; T. Martins 26; R. Abreu # 27; K. Busch(i) 28-40; D. Hemric 41; K. Busch(i) 42; D. Hemric 43-56; K. Busch(i) 57-68; T. Peters 69-79; M. Crafton 80-122; D. Suarez(i) 123-124; K. Busch(i) 125; D. Suarez(i) 126-129; J. Sauter 130; M. Crafton 131-134.
Top 10 Driver Points:     (1) M. Crafton 161;(2) T. Peters 149;(3) D. Hemric 144;(4) S. Gallagher 139;(5) W. Byron # 135;(6) R. Truex 129;(7) J. Nemechek 127;(8) T. Reddick 125;(9) C. Bell # 124;(10) J. Sauter 120.
Keystone Light Pole Award    : Not Awarded, #     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    : Matt Tifft, #11 
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race:    Jun. 10, 2016 - Texas Motor Speedway

 

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