CONCORD, N.C. – It took Matt Crafton nine years of racing in the Craftsman Truck Series and 178 race starts, but at last the driver of the Menards Chevrolet made his way to victory lane in an emotional win at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Crafton’s victory in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 proves the driver of No. 88 truck is a force to reckon with, as Crafton now sits just 45 points out of the series’ lead.
“Finally we can shut them up,” a jubilant Crafton said in victory lane as he celebrated his long-awaited triumph. “Now they can say, ‘When’s the second one coming?’ ”
Friday’s win by Crafton marked the second victory for ThorSport Racing and its first since 1998.
“Perseverance pays off and we never gave up and we've got a really good crew,” Crafton said. “We've got great owners, Duke and Rhonda Thorson. Our Crew chief is awesome and everyone was behind me and that's what it's all about in this deal. We just never gave up and put ourselves in the right position each and every week and finally got a win.”
The night took shape for Crafton when race leader Eric Darnell spun his tires on a restart with seven laps to go and lost several positions. Johnny Benson, who moved by Darnell on the outside at the start-finish line to take the lead, was ordered by NASCAR to pit road for jumping the start.
The exchange gave Crafton the lead with just three laps of the regularly scheduled distance left and set up a fierce battle for second that ended with Todd Bodine spinning Ron Hornaday just past the start-finish line at the entrance to Turn 1.
Once the dust settled, all Crafton had left to do was hold off a charging Chad McCumbee on a green-white-checkered restart. And he did, despite McCumbee's attempts to make a run down the backstretch on the final lap.
"I always remember that a friend telling me to flip the mirror up when you are leading at the end of the race and look out the front of the windshield,” Crafton said. “He said as soon as you start looking backwards that you are already halfway beat, so I never looked back and looked out that front windshield and drove my tail off. When the race went green, the pedal never came off the floor and we finally got our first win."
In all there were 35 crash-filled laps at the end of the race, but the resulting finish marks the biggest race of Crafton’s nine-year Craftsman Truck Series career. Crafton also made his mark in the record books as his 178 career starts are the most in the Craftsman Truck Series for a first-time winner.
